May 5, 2013 Bacon Freak six pack post 1 of several

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a tour of some Bacon Freak fare.  I've been to their site several times, both to buy bacon as well as to get bacon-themed gifts for my friends.  A great resource for all things bacon... as for the bacon itself, we'll see, won't we?  AND THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST IS A MUST-CLICK.

BACON IN THE NEWS.  HuffPo posted about bacon last week and gave a tutorial (which I supplemented) on "how not to cook bacon" and it was a true classic.  However, this week, a generally good site called MAN CAVE DAILY said that the bacon thing has gone too far!  The concept is sacrilege, but the guy does make some interesting, and valid points.  Here's one of them:   "...we have giant, festering piles of products that are bacon-flavored despite nature’s insistence that bacon remain bacon and refrain from crudely inhabiting everything else."  With that, I must agree.  The Novelties section of the BaconFreak site is an example of some really over-the-top stuff, but hey, it's fun!

MY BACONFREAK.COM ORDER:  I ordered their special six-pack; you can see the ad on last week's post and probably still take advantage of their discount.  Here's their main logo - what's not to like about this? 

I like the logo, but I think the pig itself is putting on airs.  He seems to be a bit self-absorbed and a little too happy for a critter that's about to be torn limb from limb and used as sustenance for the human race. Interestingly, pigs are one of the few animals, that when some of the population are near others being slaughtered, they don't seem to mind at all, and just continue wallowing in the mud and eating their food.  And they're supposed to be smart?

I sense a little smugness in Mr. Bacon Freak, too.  He certainly appears to be better fed than Porky Pig.

Look at how innocent little Porky Pig looks.  Nice red bow tie and jacket.  He just wants to have fun.  OK, enough with the dissection of pig images.  Let's get to the good stuff: the bacon.


THE PACKAGE CAME WELL DESIGNED and the bacon inside was cold.  Here's what the box and the cold pack look like as they come from Bacon Freak.

BABY BUBBA'S 14 OUNCE, BUTCHER BLOCK, HICKORY SMOKED PEPPERED BACON was first up.  All the packages were listed as 14 ounce.  I think the bacon industry continues to try different weights other than the traditional one pounder in an effort to increase their margins. 

Baby Bubba's certainly had attractive packaging - each flavor has its own artwork and label.  This one weighted in at 14.6 ounces with a partial slice included.  To me, this means that their QC is paying attention.  If the automated weight is a little less than the net listed on the package, they have someone put in another piece.  Very well done, Bacon Freak, very well done.  A .6 ounce bonus, which probably translates into a .15 ounce cooked piece.  Every slice counts, folks.  Post cooking, it weighed in at 6.4 ounces, and generated 115 ml of bacon lard.

Upon opening, the bacon smelled like beef jerkey, and very sweet!  It cooked nicely as you can see from the pictures.  My review?  A little sub-par.  Thick, but hard to chew.  Not crispy at all, and with an oily aftertaste (non bacon oily).  Very peppery.  I guess if you really like beef jerky, you'll love this one!


SMOKEY'S SAVORY SELECT, DRY CURED, APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON was up next.  Net weight was 14.2 ounces with that little bonus piced in there. 

This one smelled great out of the packaging (of course, just like when tasting fine wine and scotch whiskey, I do a little olfactory and palate cleansing between rounds).  Nice applewood nose to it, without any processing smells or cure aftersmells.  During cooking, the pointy ends curled up (this is a rare, pointy-ended slice).  It was prototype applewood smoke, with a nice balance, but not crispiness or succulence.  Texture was more like Canadian bacon.  Post cooking weight was 7.1 ounces and about 120 ml of lard.


BUBBA'S APPLE CINNAMON was the last to be reviewed this week.  It came in with a .9 ounce bonus weight!  Immediate notes of french toast upon opening, a theme which continued throughout the cooking and tasting.  Very thick.  Very sweet.  Too sweet.

This is truly an apple cinnamon cake of bacon.  If you like French Toast, you'll love this bacon.  You won't mind spilling the maple syrup on this bacon.  However, if you are a purist, this bacon falls short.  It had consistency characteristics very similar to the SAVORY SELECT.  Post cooking, it was 7.7 ounces, and produced 140 ml of oil. 


These will be summarized in a table in the future, but for now, I leave you with a reason I miss New York City so much. 

THE BACONERY  (CLICK THE LINK TO THE LEFT!)  As a result of reading the Man Cave article, I followed a link to The Baconery at 911 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY.  This is truly paradise.  A bakery where everything is made from bacon.  Go to their site. Visit their store. Don't you love life?  I leave you with a sign that is posted there, courtesy of the Man Cave Daily: