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I want to make bacon powder, I assume the means cooking all of the fat out without burning the meat. Is this right? if so how should I do this? If not what should I do? How should I turn the bacon into powder? just in a blender?

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Bacon powder doesn't contain the actual bacon, it's a mixture of bacon fat and starch. How you turn that into powder? I have no idea :) – Binary Worrier Jul 13 '10 at 15:36
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@Binary Worrier, I can answer that. render out the fat, and mix it with tapioca maltodextrin which stabilises the fat into a solid. Then pass through a sieve to get a powder. But this (whilst delicious in the right context) has no substance (as as soon as you put it in your mouth the liquid destabilises the tapioca maltodextrin and releases the bacon fat), whereas crispy bacon, powdered, is a little crunchy. and this is what I'm looking for. – Sam Holder Jul 13 '10 at 15:40
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To make bacon powder, just get me to pan cook it. It seems like every time I try, it gets beyond crispy and brittle. One bite and you'll swear it's powder. – Dinah Jul 14 '10 at 21:27
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Mark, as I mentioned in the other post where you pasted that link: that article (which cites a study from 1973, which is far from recent) says that nitrosamines aren't necessarily bad. From the article: "It is unknown at what levels, if any, nitrosamines are formed in humans after they eat cured meat products, or what constitutes a dangerous level in meat or in humans." and "Although nitrite is a controversial food additive, recent studies indicate that nitrite can inhibit the production of malonaldehyde, which may be toxic to living cells." – stephennmcdonald Oct 28 '10 at 19:01
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Do you mean Bakin' Powder ;) – JD Isaacks Dec 8 '10 at 14:37
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8 Answers

up vote 22 down vote accepted

My wife loves bacon that's cooked to the cusp of burning, so I've got a good knowledge of the properties of bacon on that fine line. It's so brittle, you can powder it very easily.

I myself would probably just stick it in a plastic bag, and whack it a few times with a pan, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't put it in the blender. I have a nice mortar and pestle I use for powdering things, but that's probably overkill in this case.

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and how do you recommend best getting to the cusp? low heat, long time? high heat regular turning? Under the grill (broiler)? In the oven? frying pan? – Sam Holder Jul 13 '10 at 15:36
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@sam holder: Low heat, long time all the way. If you cook it on high heat, it'll burn before all the fat cooks off. – Satanicpuppy Jul 13 '10 at 15:52
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I think the degree of 'pulverisation' of the bacon will depend on it's intended use. if you're going to use it like cracked pepper, then a fine powder is unnecessary. However, with a fine powder like preparation, it's idea to use on sweet and savoury dishes where 'crunch' is undesired. – Pulse Jul 13 '10 at 22:59
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It's a lot easier if you use a George Foreman grill. I swear that thing was invented to cook bacon. Slanted surface drains the grease automatically, so you can get crispy bacon very fast. – Jin Jul 14 '10 at 3:32
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OMG bacon pepper! Yes! – Michael Haren Jul 16 '10 at 19:32
up vote 6 down vote

You can make bacon powder simply by frying some bacon until it becomes crispy (don't let it burn) when done place on paper towel for until cool then wizz it in a food processor with a little fine powdered sugar. Keep wizzing until it stops sticking and you have a fine powder.

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Interesting. why the sugar? – Sam Holder Jul 13 '10 at 16:20
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Powdered sugar has corn starch in it. I'll bet you can get by with just adding corn starch (or any other starch) to crispy bacon... Cool technique! – Harlan Jul 13 '10 at 16:27
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My mother used to bake bacon in brown sugar. Result: candied bacon, possibly the most deadly food product on the planet. – Satanicpuppy Jul 13 '10 at 21:24
@sam That's just the recipe I'm familiar with. I guess one could use any fine starch powder and which you choose will largely depend on the purpose of the bacon powder, i.e. will it be used in a sweet or savoury dish. – Pulse Jul 13 '10 at 22:53
@Harlan probably correct, see my comment to Sam. The starch is only being used as a binding and a carrier. – Pulse Jul 13 '10 at 22:54
up vote 3 down vote

To make the bacon to make power out of I have a trick.

Place the bacon on a wire pan grate and let them cook in a oven on medium heat. The fat will then drip off leaving a bacon-chip.
(Remember to have something below collecting the dripping fat.)

/L

(Wire pan grate: An non-English, I am not sure I use the right term. Normally in for the oven there is a wire-grid which you can place pot and pans on. Am I using the right term?
So please edit here!)

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In American English, that's generally referred to as a "rack" in that context. – Dennis Williamson Oct 26 '10 at 19:56
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I think Leif is describing a cooling rack on a sheet pan. And this method does produce nice low-grease bacon, with the option to cook it really slow if desired. – RBerteig Dec 5 '10 at 3:04
up vote 3 down vote

You could try to freeze the cooked bacon. Then quickly put it in a cold blender or coffee grinder. I don't like bacon that's well done I think it tastes burnt. Using this method will allow you to get it in a powder before the fat starts to melt. The ultimate would be to put the bacon in liquid nitrogen then blend it.

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up vote 1 down vote

If you literally want a powder, you can use a standard blade coffee grinder. Not the ones where the coffee goes in one end and then comes out another, but the ones where you take off the lid, fill it up, put lid back on and grind, then dump it back out (just a blade at the bottom of a bowl). I have used this device to powder many different things. Just get some nice crispy bacon and use a paper towel to get the grease off, then crumble it up and stuff it in there. It will powder it very quickly, like 8 seconds. Again, this is if you really want a powder rather than just bacon bits that you would get from pounding it with a hammer.

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up vote 0 down vote

powdered bacon with the maltodextrin has a long shelf life since the only ingredients are the fat and the starch. How long will the powdered bacon last?

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@Positano - Welcome. As you gain reputation around our community you'll gain the ability to post comments like this one. This answer would best be posed as a comment rather than an answer. – justkt Nov 15 '10 at 17:07
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Or just post another question entirely, and reference this one. That's what I would recommend in this case - it's perfectly reasonable as its own question and you will probably get an answer quickly. – Aaronut♦ Nov 15 '10 at 17:10
up vote 0 down vote
  1. Render out the bacon fat by cooking the bacon in the oven on a broiler pan. The fat will drain off the slotted top into the bottom
  2. Rough chop the bacon with a chef's knife or meat cleaver
  3. Place chopped bacon in food processor or blender and process to desired texture.
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up vote 0 down vote

I suggest cooking the bacon in a fry pan with some water. This allows the fat to render and produces crispy bacon.

  1. Add enough water to cover the bacon in a fry pan
  2. Cook until fat is rendered and water evaporated
  3. Cool bacon
  4. Pulverize in a food processor

Alternate Modernist Method
1. Render bacon as in step 1 and 2 above
2. Separate the liquid fat and cool
3. Combine bacon fat with tapioca maltodextrin in 60:40 ratio by weight
4. Pulverize in a food processor

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