May 10, 2015: Rooster's Bacon (Charlottte) plus Braised Belly; a Krispy Kremem bacon-covered Hot Dog!

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with the previously mentioned Rooster Restaruant (Charlotte, NC) pork belly prepared two ways, and some interesting Krispy Kreme news.

BACON IN THE NEWS - all I have this week that's newsworthy is the announcement about the new Krispy Kreme hot dog. This is a creation with the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a minor league baseball team. Sorry, this is the only picture I could get... cropped on the right. I don't think I would eat this:

WCNC TV, an NBC affiliate announces: Krispy Kreme coming out with hot dog, bacon-covered doughnut

"WILMINGTON, DE -- Minor League Baseball teams sometimes have to get creative in efforts to fill their seats. It means wacky give-aways, interesting food, and over-the-top mascots.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks are depending on that creativity to name their newest delicacy... and we use the word "delicacy" loosely.

The hot dog is served in a Krisy Kreme doughnut bun and topped with bacon and raspberry jam. While the team offers no details on calories, here's our estimation:

Hot dog: 151 calories, 13 grams of fat

Krispy Kreme donut (the actual bun is likely larger): 190 calories, 11 grams of fat

1 T bacon: 44 calories, 3.3 grams fat

1 T Raspberry Jelly: 51 calories, 1 grams fat.

A conservative estimate puts the yet-to-be-named food at 436 calories and 28 grams of fat. Not bad compared to the five-pound Fifth Third Burger at the stadium in Grand Rapids or the Big Mother Funnel Burger with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Initial reaction seems to be two sticky thumbs up.

Now, the team has to decide what to name the donut dog. They're holding a naming contest online."

THIS WEEK'S BACON is indeed from the Rooster restaurant in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the awesome farm-to-table restaruant I visited recently on a business trip, with a very nice menu of savory delights. Above is a chunk of the bacon as I sliced it. Nice color and aroma!

I did fry up the bacon after hand-slicing it. Nearly cut my finger doing it! One of these days I'll have to invest in an electric slicer... maybe for my upcoming birthday?

This bacon had a most unusual aroma. Kind of like how I might imagine Rocky Balboa's sweat, if I were to actually imagine it. Below you'll see the three-way shot, and a little teaser.

I fried up some of the remaining Rooster's restaurant bacon on the griddle, and with a nice hunk of pork bellyleft over, decided to use this recipe for braised pork belly with tofu. Prep was pretty easy except for the hot sauce, which took a little bit of time. The first step was to crisply fry the cubes of belly, fat side down, in oil. Those are some pretty looking cubes. The assistant chef at Roosters told me that the bacon was brined for a week in Sriracha sauce, and then smoked. I actually then took the bacon, put it in a vacuum sealed bag, and cooked it for two hours Sous Vide style, to ensure cooking thoroughly. So this bacon has been cooked three times, minimum.

Next, I sauteed the onions for ten minutes, and added the sauce, which I prepared in the small food processor. The aromas were incredible. Here is the dollop of hot sauce on top of the onions:

Then, the recipe says to 'nestle' the cubes among the onions and cover with water; bring to a boil and then simmer for 90 minutes. An appropriate use of the word 'nestle'.  Finally, add cubed tofu and basil, and cook for another 30. This was really tender and flavorful belly!

The bacon version of the same belly was ok but not outstanding. Didn't crisp up as much as I like, but the flavor was 'interesting' - somewhat chemical tasting - hard to identify exactly, but those flavors were not evident in the braised version.

I actually did a 'cook-ahead', preparing two additional bacons and had folks try each one. Reviews of these in future weeks.