Another Bacon Tongue Explosion

I made another Bacon Tongue Explosion and tried to see if I could fix the problems I had last time. This time I slow-roasted the tongue in a slow-cooker for three hours instead of trying to par cook it in boiling water, and roasted it while rolled up in the bacon for about twenty minutes at 350 degrees. It turned out pretty good, but I need more patience.

I probably should have roasted it for four or five hours, because the skin wasn't ready to peel off yet when I got impatient and pulled it. Additionally, the roasting did do a good job of cooking the bacon without overcooking the tongue, but next time I'll go with 30-35 minutes of roast time in order to get a crispy shell. Despite my errors, it was still good, and I ate the whole thing before the day was done. Call me strange, but I hardly mind the skin at all; my attempt to peel it off is only to practice aesthetics and texture for my developing chefdom. But even if you don't mind the skin either, make sure to cut up thoroughly any pieces you put in the microwave, otherwise the pressure will build up and cause a concussive explosion sufficient to destroy the microwave. That's one lesson I'll only need to learn once.

At the very least, I did solve one problem. Last time I mentioned that it was hard to make this dish aesthetically pleasing since the bacon grid kept coming apart as I tried to roll it over the tongue. Well, I remembered watching how Alton Brown rolled a cookie dough once, so I constructed the bacon grid on parchment paper and then pulled the paper over the tongue to do the rolling for me. Worked beautifully and made everything much more attractive, regardless of how awkwardly the tongue might be shaped. I'll do this from now on with all Bacon Explosion variations.

All in all, still a recipe in progress.