Oct 29 2014
I had my wife buy me some pecan halves at Sam’s the other day. I wanted to find a good recipe for smoking some for the holidays. I ran across one that had hickory bacon salt added so knew that had to be good. Most recipes were using JD’s hickory bacon salt I looked for a recipe to make your own and found one at Honestly Yum by Karen Chan that looked great so I used it. I don’t remember where I got the recipe for the pecans but it was for oven baking and I smoked mine in my Traeger.
I smoked some of my butchers thick cut smoked bacon yesterday on my Traeger at about 325 deg. grill level for about 50 minutes and thought it was well over cooked as the recipe calls for. After cooling it was a little moist yet so let it dry in the fridge overnight. I was not going to do the pecans until today anyway.
Just before noon I processed the bacon until I got a med coarseness to it. It still seemed pretty wet to me so it was spread on a plate and in the fridge about two hours before I mixed it with the salt and pepper. I think next time after it’s well browned I will lower the smoker to smoke mode about 170 deg. and do for an hour or more to dry it some. My final mix looked about the same texture as the photos with the recipe.
I got all my ingredients measured out and mixed all with the pecans, spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I didn’t have the same chili peppers as the recipe so I used a teaspoon each of Penzey’s ancho ground pepper, regular chili powder and smoked paprika. I did them on my Traeger pellet smoker for an hour at 250 deg. grill level for an hour. I stirred them half way through.
I let them cool about 20 minutes and then separated the pecan halves and let them cool and dry another couple of hours before placing them in the jar. There was a lot of sampling them before they all got in the jar! Dang are they good! The recipe said they will keep for two weeks in a sealed jar at room temp. I don’t think so!!
Getting the bacon salt made
Mixing and Smoking the pecans
Smokin Don
Recipes
Smoked pecans with hickory bacon salt
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons hickory-flavored bacon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed chipotle chili
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked serrano chili powder
2 egg whites
1 pound pecan halves
Parchment paper
1. Preheat smoker to 250°. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until foamy. Add pecans, tossing to coat. Add spice mixture, tossing to coat.
2. Spread nut mixture in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
3. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, and break pecans apart. Cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Note: I didn’t have the same chili peppers as the recipe so I used a teaspoon each of Penzey’s ancho ground pepper, regular chili powder and smoked paprika. Mine was pretty mild so If you want heat add hotter chili powder.
Smoked hickory bacon salt
12 ounces of bacon
3/4 cup of sea salt, I just used 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the smoker to 300 to 325 degrees grill level and smoke the bacon until it is very very crisp and cooked. This is the one time you want to overcook bacon.
Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes in the smoker or until the bacon is very dark and crisp. Drain on paper towels and pat as much oil off the bacon as possible.
Allow bacon to cool completely. Process bacon in a food processor until they turn into grainy bits.
Mix thoroughly with 3/4 cup of sea salt and add a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Pack into small air tight jars and store in the fridge.
