I made some Yakitori Sauce the other day and wanted to make some meat and veggies to go with it. The pork bellies and green onions were super delish by the way! The Big Green Egg was already lit, so I tried some bacon wrapped asparagus yakitori for this round.
Preparing the Skewers for Grilled Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori
So, I made a bit of a mistake here. I soaked some wooden skewers for a few hours and used them for the asparagus. Easy peasy, right? Stand by to see what happened.
Insert the skewer into the asparagus and wrap the asparagus in a spiral fashion with a slice of thinly sliced bacon. I thought about using my home cured bacon but I made those into thick cuts. So, I used a generic store-bought variety. The photos show how the end result should look.
Preparing the Big Green Egg for Grilling
I have a Big Green Egg, but you can grill these on any style of grill. For the BGE, set up the grill for a medium heat direct flame configuration. Just take out the plate setter and light the coals.
I usually let the grill heat up for about 20 minutes, which is plenty of time to get hot. After it reaches 400-500 degrees, reduce the bottom and top vents to bring the temperature to 350.
You will want a good even burn in the coals.
I had just grilled the Pork Belly Yakitori, so the coals were evenly lit.
Add the Skewers to the Grill
And here is where things started to run amiss. I added the skewers to the grate and closed the lid. I knew the asparagus wouldn’t take long to cook and set the timer for three minutes. When I went back out to turn them over, I noticed that there was a pretty good flare up.
The bacon fat had rendered and dripped into the charcoal which caused a good flare up. Oh well. That side of the bacon wrapped asparagus yakitori was a bit “crispy.” Ha ha~
I turned the asparagus over and brushed on the yakitori sauce. Unfortunately, I let the lid stay open too long, and the flames burned the wooden skewers clean away.
In two minutes the vegetables were done. The bacon was thoroughly cooked and looked delicious!
Preparing to Eat the Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori
Without the skewers, it was a bit more of a challenge to eat. We broke out the forks and knives and cut the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle a bit more yakitori sauce on top, and mercy, did that taste good!
All told, this dish only took a few minutes to put together and about five minutes to cook. It was fast and easy (minus the skewer incident).
Lessons Learned
There is a reason that the street vendors in Japan use long, thin grills. The wooden skewers are protected from the heat and the cooking is centralized over the meat or vegetable. I have seen folks in the United States use foil wrapped bricks to rest the wooden skewers on. That protects them burning too.
My other option is to use the metal skewers. Unfortunately, it just isn’t quite as much fun to eat off of the metal skewer as it is holding a wooden one.
I’ll try this again in the future and report back if I was able to find a better technique. The dish was delicious!
Ingredients
- One dozen Asparagus Spears
- One package of thinly slice bacon
- Yakitori Sauce
Instructions
Prepare the Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori
- Carefully insert the skewer into the Asparagus Spear
- Wrap a single slice of bacon in a spiral around the asparagus
Prepare the Big Green Egg for Grilling
- Using the direct heat method set the temperature for 350 degrees
- Add the skewers to the grate
- Check the asparagus after three minutes. The bottom side should be close to being completely cooked.
- Turn the asparagus over
- Brush with the Yakitori Sauce
- Remove the Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori from grill after another three minutes, or when the bacon is completely cooked
- Serve!
