How do you make something that is good even better? Wrap it in bacon, of course. You'll have to try this recipe from Napoleon Grills!
Serves: 4+ Total Time: 110 Minutes / 1 Hour 50 Minutes
Ingredients:
3 large white onions
2 packages of bacon
bamboo skewers (optional)
Maple wood chips (or your favorite)
Napoleon Smoker Tube
Shōchū BBQ Sauce
2 tbsp. bacon fat
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, grated or crushed
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Japanese Shōchū
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. sambal olek
Directions:
Step 1
Set your favorite wood chips to soak in water.
Step 2
Make the Shōchū sauce. Melt the bacon fat, mince the shallots and grate the garlic. Add the shallots to the pot, cooking for about 2 minutes, or until they become translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add the Shōchū, brown sugar, and ketchup.
Step 3
Add the rice wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sambal olek. Bring the pot to a boil for 15 minutes, until thickened. Allow the sauce to cool enough to touch before starting the rings.
Step 4
Assemble the ingredients for the smoke rings. Slice the onion into rounds, more than 1/2 an inch but less than 1 inch thick.
Step 5
Break the rings apart so that you have separate rings with two layers of onion in each. Dip each onion ring in the Shōchū BBQ Sauce, and then wrap with two to three slices of bacon. Make sure that you overlap the bacon so that when it shrinks, it will still cover the ring.
Step 6
Fill your Napoleon Smoker Tube with wood chips, or a foil packet with holes poked in it, with the soaked wood chips. Remove the grids on one side of your grill, and place the tube either directly on the burners (If using a TravelQ™) or on the sear plates (If using a full sized grill). Turn the burner that the tube is on to low. Let the grill heat up, and the chips start to smoke. You're aiming for around 220 to 250°F.
Step 7
Once heated, place the Bacon Wrapped Onion Rings over indirect heat and close the lid. Let these bad boys smoke for 90 minutes, checking only if you are worried it's stopped smoking.
Step 8
Your smoke rings are done after 90 minutes, once the bacon is crispy and that smoked red color. Remove the rings from the grill and serve however you like them with extra Shōchū sauce.
Recipe from Napoleon Grills.
