Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple

Step 1

Pick up the pineapple. Sniff the base—it should smell slightly sweet.

Remove one of the leaves, which should come out easily with only a little resistance. If it comes off too easily, it means the pineapple is overripe.

Press the pineapple skin with your fingers. It should yield slight pressure to show that it is ripe.

Wash the pineapple skin and let it dry before you prepare it. You will discard most of the surface, so you don’t need to scrub very hard.

Step 2

Shave away the top of the stem where it meets the fruit, creating a "handle" with the stem.

Step 3

Set the pineapple on your cutting board. You will need a very sharp knife to peel the pineapple well.

Place the pineapple on its side and cut the bottom off horizontally.

Step 4

Start at the top of the pineapple and slice through the outside peel until you reach the bottom. You can cut in a slight outward-facing arc in order to save more fruit.

Step 5

Turn the pineapple clockwise about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) and repeat. Turn, slice, and repeat until you have removed the peel and only the eyes remain.

Discard the skin of the pineapple in your compost or garbage can.

Step 6

Hold the pineapple vertically and notice how the eyes are arranged in diagonal lines. Removing just the eyes will reserve the largest amount of fruit.

Step 7

Place your knife to the left of one diagonal row of eyes. Cut in at a 45-degree angle just underneath the eyes.

Pick up your knife and place it to the right of the same diagonal line. Cut in at a 45-degree angle in the opposite direction. When you slice this groove into the pineapple, the line of eyes will come free, keeping most of the sweet flesh on the rind.

Step 8

Turn the pineapple a quarter turn and repeat. When you have worked your way around the pineapple, you will have a beautiful spiral pattern and bright yellow flesh.

Step 1

Season the pineapple thoroughly with BBQ spice.

Step 2

Layer the bacon on a cutting board with one strip overlapping the other one until you get a “bed sheet” of bacon layers. Make sure the sheet is as wide as the pineapple and that the bacon strips are long enough to wrap the pineapple, as it will shrink when it hits the heat.

Step 3

Carefully wrap the pineapple with the bacon. (Tip: Use the flat side of a knife to gather all the slices together.)

Step 4

Cut the butcher's twine into several long strips (enough to tie all the bacon slices) and tie bacon slices around the pineapple, spacing them evenly. Keep the ties about 1 inch apart to keep the bacon in place while cooking.

Step 1

You can cook the pineapple in a variety of ways. We have used a drum smoker to hang it near the fire, but not so close that it burns.

To smoke the pineapple, stand the pineapple upright in a drum smoker and smoke at 240°F for 3–5 hours. Make sure to rotate the pineapple to ensure the bacon is crisping all the way around.

We also like to cook it on a rotisserie for about an hour or more, depending on how hot the fire is. To finish, you can brush some sweet BBQ sauce over the crispy bacon as a glaze. When the pineapple is finished cooking, remove it from the fire, cut off the strings, cube up the pineapple and bacon, and discard the core.

Step 2

Another variation we like to do is to stuff the pineapple with boneless BBQ spiced pork rib and cook until the pork reaches internal temperature of 160°F.

To stuff the pineapple, slice off the top of the pineapple, remove the core, stuff the pineapple, then place the top back on, securing it in place with toothpicks.