BACON IN THE NEWS starts with the Atlantic City Bacon Fest! Yes, it's another in a series of bacon themed events across the United States. It features items like a BLT with a full pound of bacon! This one is at the casino "Tropicana" - I wonder if they are combining bacon and OJ. Oh, wait, OJ is on a starvation hunger strike - but I digress...
A REAL DOWNER article in the Montreal Gazette belittled my original home state of NJ and its Bacon Festival at Atlantic City this week (come on, Canada, get with the program!) A quote from the article: "Humans should be setting a sustainable standard of living, not promoting and celebrating the ingestion of bacon." Whoah. Don't you know that the Primal lifestyle, promoted by world-class scientists, says that bacon is good for you? Check out the article "How I lost 130 Pounds and Fell in Love with Bacon." And, dear Gazette, didn't you know that the feral pig problem in America is reaching epidemic proportions? Here's an article in Wildlife News from May of this year that talks about the problem. Let's get those razorbacks and eat 'em!
WZZM in GRAND RAPIDS tested the Bacon Bowl... they got similar results as I did in my review last week. You can watch their positive video review here. I still don't think it's worth the purchase price, although if truly only $10 when sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond, I might reconsider. Definitely not worth buying online with $12 S&H on top of each one you buy.
MULTIPLE FOLKS TOLD ME ABOUT THE CURRENT FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE, and one friend even gave me a copy! Go pick it up at the newsstand, as I did. Great articles, including a 50-recipe insert from our friends at Oscar Mayer. A bacon buying guide along with a fun quiz. Here's the LINK.
VALENTINE'S DAY WAS FRIDAY, as you all know, and I trust that you did something special for your honey. Last week, I posted a link to a video on how to make a bouquet of bacon flowers for that special someone. I did something a little simpler. I went down to Walgreens and got myself a fake rose plant in bamboo. The kind that sits in a dish full of wet gravel. I made my bacon 'rose' thusly:
Take one slice of bacon, and roll it up. Tie it together with a bit of kitchen twine and sit it vertically in a ramekin dish on top of some paper towel. Stuff paper towel on top, and microwave on high for a little over a minute, and here's what you get (above). A little shrinkage, but a perfect shape! And no need to use power tools as in the video.
I think you'll agree that the 'rose' shape is nearly ideal. A tenth of the time that it took those ladies, and no damage to the cupcake tin.
The finished product came out great; I won't tell you how well (or not well) it was received. And yes, I DID also give traditional flowers.
ON TO THIS WEEK'S BACON!
Wisconsin "Gas Station" Bacon and some authentic Razorback Bacon are my test subjects today.
I was in Central Wisconsin last week, but unfortunately, I couldn't shop for any of the several butcher-crafted bacons because of their silly Blue Laws - all the retailers were closed on Sunday. So I stopped on the way home at a gas station, and behold - 12 ounces of bacon packaged just right, and for only $3.89! So I snapped it right up. When I arrived home, my friends at Field Agent came through and on my doorstep was a package from Arkansas - real Ozark Peppered Bacon!
First up, the GAS STATION BACON. I know it's somewhat disparaging, but I'm just having fun! Based on the label, it's from a place called "Custom Meats of Marathon, Inc." which appears not to have a traditional website, but does have a facebook page. Their storefront is nondescript (see above), and they have a very funny post from the other day that says "Planning a romantic dinner at home? Stop in to Custom Meats and we can set you up with the best cuts of meat!" The meats in the case aren't exactly packaged in a super appetizing way. Take one look at their retail location... would you buy a romantic cut of meat here? But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and try the bacon.
Here is the 3-way shot; pre-cooked, cooking, and post cooked. It was labelled at 12 ounces, and I got 12.4 ounces out of it net. It cooked down and produced 70ml of rendered fat. This had to be the widest bacon I have ever cooked. At first, I thought it might be jowl bacon, but it's not. Uncorking this vintage, it had just about no nose at all; surprising for supposedly hickory smoked bacon. Plain color, but as you can see, that developed during cooking. It had an interesting appearance, accentuated by it's difficulty to chew and overall lack of flavor (1.5). Didn't really crisp up (2); had little succulence (2). Not sure what I would use it for. It only cost me $3.89. I'm sure they have really good stuff at Marathon; I just didn't get the right batch.
ON TO THE OZARKS!
Again, thanks to my buddies at Field Agent! Watch the 90-second video and sign up as an Agent - and if you're a business, every organization can use Field Agent! After attending the Arkansas-Kansas basketball game (about which I posted previously), they made the commitment to ship me some real razorback bacon. It was Ozark Trails Brand hickory smoked peppered bacon. In fact, it's featured in a bacon flight at BarBacon - a must-stop when in NYC. My wonderful daughter Caitlin got me a T-shirt from there when she visited recently. On the right is a shot of the BarBacon 'flight' from their website. Can you pick out the Ozark?The package came from Zingerman's, which has a whole host of great bacon-themed foods and products.
This bacon is quality. Upon opening, the aroma was classic Hickory Smoke. Coloration was excellent out of the 12 ounce package, which netted exactly twelve ounces - a sign of good QC. It produced only 60 ml of rendered fat, with very little shrinkage. Exactly twelve ounces and twelve slices - do you think maybe there's a biblical connection? Hmmm.
Here's the 3-way shot. I'm not a particular fan of peppered bacon, but as you can see, this was precisely the right amount of pepper. It was very flavorful bacon, pepper appropriate. Crisped up great (3.5), had average succulence (2.5) but was excellent on flavor (3.5). A definite re-do. The bacon disappeared from my test kitchen quickly. One note to my Arkansas friends - this bacon comes from the Ozark mountains - of which 75% or more is in Missouri! I want real Arkansas-bred pig bacon! Next visit....
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