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Bacon may be the most beloved food in America because it combines two of our favorite flavors: salt and fat. Essentially, bacon is just thinly sliced pork belly dry-cured in salt, or wet-brined in a salt-heavy solution. Sometimes other seasonings are added, but the results are basically the same: deeply savory, salty strips of meat with lots of marbled fat to render them to crispy perfection. The only thing missing in the equation is a hint of smoke.
While some bacon comes smoked, it's not a requirement, though it infuses bacon with another layer of rich flavor. That's why liquid smoke is a seasoning you should care about. It offers a fast, easy way to make your bacon taste like it's fresh from the smokehouse. The really cool thing is that liquid smoke is exactly what it sounds like: smoke that's been condensed into liquid and bottled as a way to infuse meat with smoke flavor, even if you don't have a smoker.
The method is also fairly simple. Just add a little liquid smoke to your frying pan and brush it around to evenly coat before adding your bacon. If you're cooking your bacon the easy way in the oven, mix the liquid smoke with a few teaspoons of water and brush it onto the strips (just don't make them too wet). A little goes a long way, so start with a scant four or five drops per batch of bacon.
Read more: 14 Old-School Ground Beef Dishes No One Seems To Make Anymore
Bringing smoke to bacon without setting any fires
Though liquid smoke usually comes in a glass bottle you can pour from, it's best to decant it into a spray bottle right after opening. Since it's so concentrated with an intense flavor, storing it this way prevents mistakes, including accidentally dumping a teaspoon of it into your frying pan, which makes your bacon taste as though it was cooked in a house fire. Additionally, the aroma of liquid smoke intensifies as bacon cooks, meaning your home could smell like stale smoke for a while if you use it incorrectly.
A misting bottle gives you a little more control over exactly how much liquid smoke you use, and helps more evenly distribute it along the bottom of your pan. You can also use the misting bottle for oven-rendered bacon by adding just a small amount of liquid smoke to the bottle and diluting it with water. That way, you can spritz it over the bacon without fear of overpowering the bacon's flavor with pure smoke.
Once you've mastered the art of adding just the right amount of smoky goodness to bacon, you can put said bacon in practically everything. From using it as an unconventional but delicious ingredient in chili and smoky chipotle BLTs to heavenly steakhouse-style smoked Cobb salads, there are few dishes that can't be elevated by the addition of liquid smoke-infused bacon.
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Read the original article on Chowhound.
