September 21, 2014: The Fresh Market "Weekend" Bacon and Medicinal Bacon!

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a trip to The Fresh Market for some "Weekend" bacon, and a review of the news.

BACON IN THE NEWS - incredibly, they've found another very cool use for bacon.  In an act of desperation, doctors shoved bacon up a kid's nose to stop the bleeding, and it worked.  The team of doctors won the famous Ig Nobel award from Harvard University for this possibly life-saving act:

"Michigan doctors who used cured pork to stop a nosebleed won a 2014 Ig Nobel prize, awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine at Harvard University for especially imaginative scientific achievements.

Dr. Sonal Saraiya and her team at the Detroit Medical Center decided to try the folk remedy as a “last resort” after failed attempts to stop an uncontrollable nosebleed in a 4-year-old who suffers from Glanzmann thrombasthenia, a rare condition in which blood does not properly clot.

They stuffed strips of cured pork into the child’s nostrils twice, and the hemorrhaging ceased.

Why did it work? “There are some clotting factors in the pork,” she said, the Associated Press reports, “and the high level of salt will pull in a lot of fluid from the nose.”

PULLING THE BACON OUT FROM UNDER THEM is how I would characterize the dastardly acts of the Allstar Products Group, the company that owns the rights to the "Bacon Bowl" - a bacon-making device I reviewed a while back.  Seems that US Dinnerware, Inc., an American company based in Port Gibson, Mississippi, began making the bowls, hiring over 60 people working around the clock.  Then, Allstar pulled production and moved it to China.  Another reason not to buy the Bacon Bowl is that you can use an upside down cupcake tin, although you need to put something under it to catch the oil.

RED ROBIN 'ALL IN' WITH BACON SHAKE.  Yes, the chain famous for its outstanding burgers just introduced a bacon milkshake.  It also has bourbon in it - definitely NOT "to go"... and they've also introduced more bacon burgers!

"Red Robin, the casual dining chain already widely-known for putting pretty wacky things into its milkshakes, has just rolled out the Beam-N-Bacon Boozy Shake. And, yes, that Beam part of the shake is, indeed, Jim Beam Maple Bourbon.

But it's the bacon, not the booze, that's causing a stir. There's social media buzz aplenty over what's actually placed in the shake to stir it: a long, candied strip of bacon. That's right, a strip of bacon baked in brown sugar is stuck into each shake as a veritable stirring spoon. And sprinkled on top are bacon bits."

THIS WEEK'S BACON is the aforementioned "Weekend" bacon from The Fresh Market.

The label says "All Natural - Dry Rubbed Center Cut Uncured Bacon" and lists the net weight at 12 ounces.  Unfortunately, they gypped me and it weighed in at 11.5 ounces.  Post cooking, it was 4.8 ounces; it was very thick and didn't produce a lot of oil, coming in at a measly 75 ml. 

No aroma upon opening, the bacon tasted smooth and appetizing, but unsurprising.  The flavor was rich, and I'll give it a 3 out of 5.  Didn't crips up much at all (2) but was quite chewy (3.5) - makes sense as these two characteristics are the opposite sides of the coin.  Succulence was just average.  An "OK" bacon, but if you're going to spend this kind of money, go for Nueske or Oscar Mayer!!

See you next time.