Okay, I know I mostly post about bacon novelty products because even I am constantly amazed at what they will think of next. But let's face it, facon does not taste as good as it smells. Some prime examples:
1) J&D's Bacon lipbalm - Smells just like heavenly, delicious bacon. Tastes like metal.
2) Jones Bacon Soda - Smells and tastes like involuntary convulsions. I'll never forget a defining statement from Jason, "That stuff could end wars." In fact, this is probably the worst fake bacon product I have ever tasted and I don't suggest trying on your own. It has a taste that you can never forget. You will never be the same.
3) J&D's Bacon Gravy - I recently regifted this to poor Clara during a white elephant gift exchange. She said she gave it to some of her Jewish coworkers. It smells and tastes pretty weird.
4) Bacos - Salt salt salt. gross gross gross
5) Moca Java Maple Bacon Morning coffee beans - This is actually a good product. However, I would argue that there really is no bacon smell or taste at all. Its all maple but since we associate maple with bacon, its genius!
6) Bakon Vodka - I bought this for myself for my birhday and I made a Bakon Mary for myself. Let's just say that this has been sitting untouched in my bar ever since. Well, everything is worth a try.
7)J&D's Bacon PopCorn - This is actually an amazing product. Get it! and make your own while you're at it.
Even though there are a bunch of terrible and not-so-terrible facon products out there, I trust this new product will be a wonderful investment! Introducing Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale. It is a limited edition ale so I wll be purchasing this asap! Some people are already posting reviews and it promises to be smoky with notes of maple. Yum!
You can find it here
Thanks for the find Daryl!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
an impressive bacon novelty product
I know it has been awhile since I've posted about the heavenly, processed goodness that is bacon. Clearly, my priorities have not been straight. I'm back on the straight and narrow path just in time to present to you, Bacon Lube!
"You've always been a lover of bacon. Well, now you can be a bacon lover with baconlube, the world's first bacon-flavored massage oil and personal lubricant.
No more horrifying bedroom experiments with bacon grease or 3rd degree skillet massage burns.
Just Keep It Sizzlin' with baconlube. They'll be bacon for more."
And it's only a mere $60. Christmas and Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Think about getting your loved one a gift they'll never forget.
Thanks to Jemimah for the find!
"You've always been a lover of bacon. Well, now you can be a bacon lover with baconlube, the world's first bacon-flavored massage oil and personal lubricant.
No more horrifying bedroom experiments with bacon grease or 3rd degree skillet massage burns.
Just Keep It Sizzlin' with baconlube. They'll be bacon for more."
And it's only a mere $60. Christmas and Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Think about getting your loved one a gift they'll never forget.
Thanks to Jemimah for the find!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Recipe: Arctic Char BLT
I found this simply delicious variation of a classic sandwich recipe in a magazine while getting my nails done.
Arctic Char BLT
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
8 slices bacon
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp each Dijon mustard and garlic paste
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
8 (1-inch-thick) slices brioche or challah bread, lightly toasted
4 (5-oz) skinless Arctic char fillets, 3/4 inch thick
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp each kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 small Boston lettuce leaves
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
1. Heat a stovetop cast iron grill over medium heat.
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. While bacon cooks, in a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, orange zest and juice, mustard, garlic paste, and pepper. Spread half of the mayonnaise mixture over one side of bread slices. If you don't like mayo, leave it out.
3. Brush both sides of Arctic char fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill fillets 4 minutes on first side; carefully turn and grill second side until just opaque but still moist in the center, about 3 to 4 minutes longer.
4. Place lettuce on 4 of the bread slices, followed by tomato slices and crisp bacon strips. Top with grilled fillets. Spread tops of fish with remaining mayonnaise mixture, then place remaining bread slices on top, mayo side down.
Makes 4 servings. Each serving: 460 cal (really?), 19g fat, 27g protein, 43g carb.
Arctic Char BLT
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
8 slices bacon
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp each Dijon mustard and garlic paste
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
8 (1-inch-thick) slices brioche or challah bread, lightly toasted
4 (5-oz) skinless Arctic char fillets, 3/4 inch thick
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp each kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 small Boston lettuce leaves
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
1. Heat a stovetop cast iron grill over medium heat.
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. While bacon cooks, in a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, orange zest and juice, mustard, garlic paste, and pepper. Spread half of the mayonnaise mixture over one side of bread slices. If you don't like mayo, leave it out.
3. Brush both sides of Arctic char fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill fillets 4 minutes on first side; carefully turn and grill second side until just opaque but still moist in the center, about 3 to 4 minutes longer.
4. Place lettuce on 4 of the bread slices, followed by tomato slices and crisp bacon strips. Top with grilled fillets. Spread tops of fish with remaining mayonnaise mixture, then place remaining bread slices on top, mayo side down.
Makes 4 servings. Each serving: 460 cal (really?), 19g fat, 27g protein, 43g carb.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Bacon is the gateway drug
Lately, when someone tells me they are vegetarian, I look concerned before reassuring them that one day, they too will fall into a shame spiral of bacon lust. I mean, think about it, how many people have told you they once were vegetarian but missed bacon so much that they had to return to their carnivorous roots. The connection is so universal that even NPR had to write about the Gateway Meat.
Recently, an old friend who's been a vegetarian for more than 15 years shocked us with a story: Last weekend, she ate bacon. Several strips. Straight out of the frying pan where her boyfriend was cooking it.
This wasn't the first time she'd encountered it sizzling there, in all its glistening glory. But for some reason, this time it overpowered her. She was guilty yet gleeful when she told us that she'd allowed bacon back into her life.
But she's not alone. We've heard this story before from many people. It seems that bacon has a way of awakening carnivorous desires within even some of the preachiest of vegetarians. And we set out to find out why.
We asked some scientists who study how food tantalizes the brain, and sociologists who've looked closely at vegetarianism, about bacon's seductive powers.
Our story was familiar to Johan Lundstrom. He's a scientist who runs a lab at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. He studies how the brain processes sensory information, like smell, for a living. He also told us he had an ex-girlfriend who became an ex-vegetarian once she tasted bacon.
Because bacon is one- to two-thirds fat and also has lots of protein, it speaks to our evolutionary quest for calories, Lundstrom says. And since 90 percent of what we taste is really odor, bacon's aggressive smell delivers a powerful hit to our sense of how good it will taste.
"There's an intimate connection between odor and emotion, and odor and memory," Lundstrom says. "When you pair that with the social atmosphere of weekend breakfast and hunger, bacon is in the perfect position to take advantage of how the brain is wired."
Indeed, the social experience of eating bacon also seems very important, says Donna Maurer, author of Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment? Opportunities to try new foods, like chocolate-covered bacon, with friends might push some vegetarians over the edge.
Bacon has special status in foodie circles, and that too seems to have enhanced its power over wavering vegetarians. Some have dubbed 2011 as the Year of Meat. BaconToday.com is a veritable daily bacon news source. And in New York you can find Bacon-Palooza, an event NPR covered on All Things Considered last year.
We even talked to a vegetarian, Gwen Sharp, about this, who said, "I have long thought if for some reason I ever started eating meat again, I would start with bacon." We also discovered a chapter — from a scholarly food book — titled "'Bacon sandwiches got the better of me:' Meat-eating and vegetarianism in South-East London."
Still, bacon has plenty of thoughtful opponents, among them Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the recent bestselling vegetarian treatise Eating Animals. Even Stephen Colbert was unable to convince Foer to eat bacon.
Sure, it's loaded with fat and salt, and Americans eat far more of it than what's good for the planet. But in the immortal words of Homer (Simpson, not the other one), "Mmmmm. Bacon."
Recently, an old friend who's been a vegetarian for more than 15 years shocked us with a story: Last weekend, she ate bacon. Several strips. Straight out of the frying pan where her boyfriend was cooking it.
This wasn't the first time she'd encountered it sizzling there, in all its glistening glory. But for some reason, this time it overpowered her. She was guilty yet gleeful when she told us that she'd allowed bacon back into her life.
But she's not alone. We've heard this story before from many people. It seems that bacon has a way of awakening carnivorous desires within even some of the preachiest of vegetarians. And we set out to find out why.
We asked some scientists who study how food tantalizes the brain, and sociologists who've looked closely at vegetarianism, about bacon's seductive powers.
Our story was familiar to Johan Lundstrom. He's a scientist who runs a lab at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. He studies how the brain processes sensory information, like smell, for a living. He also told us he had an ex-girlfriend who became an ex-vegetarian once she tasted bacon.
Because bacon is one- to two-thirds fat and also has lots of protein, it speaks to our evolutionary quest for calories, Lundstrom says. And since 90 percent of what we taste is really odor, bacon's aggressive smell delivers a powerful hit to our sense of how good it will taste.
"There's an intimate connection between odor and emotion, and odor and memory," Lundstrom says. "When you pair that with the social atmosphere of weekend breakfast and hunger, bacon is in the perfect position to take advantage of how the brain is wired."
Indeed, the social experience of eating bacon also seems very important, says Donna Maurer, author of Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment? Opportunities to try new foods, like chocolate-covered bacon, with friends might push some vegetarians over the edge.
Bacon has special status in foodie circles, and that too seems to have enhanced its power over wavering vegetarians. Some have dubbed 2011 as the Year of Meat. BaconToday.com is a veritable daily bacon news source. And in New York you can find Bacon-Palooza, an event NPR covered on All Things Considered last year.
We even talked to a vegetarian, Gwen Sharp, about this, who said, "I have long thought if for some reason I ever started eating meat again, I would start with bacon." We also discovered a chapter — from a scholarly food book — titled "'Bacon sandwiches got the better of me:' Meat-eating and vegetarianism in South-East London."
Still, bacon has plenty of thoughtful opponents, among them Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the recent bestselling vegetarian treatise Eating Animals. Even Stephen Colbert was unable to convince Foer to eat bacon.
Sure, it's loaded with fat and salt, and Americans eat far more of it than what's good for the planet. But in the immortal words of Homer (Simpson, not the other one), "Mmmmm. Bacon."
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
All part of a well balanced brunch
The ultimate Sunday morning breakfast/brunch should begin with bacon pancakes:
You could opt for a slightly healthier version of carb meets bacon concoction by simply adding bacon and maple syrup to oatmeal. Speaking of maple and bacon,
if you are like me and can't do anything until you've had a cup of Joe, then you should probably make a cup of maple bacon coffee first:
The smell alone will give you happy memories to live on for at least a week. I would argue, however, that the taste and smell of maple is much more prominent than anything resembling bacon. Thus, I recommend equalizing the taste with bacon coffee syrup.
It's not brunch though until you add a little alcohol into the mix. You know where this is going... Bakon Mary's!
• 1½ oz. Bakon Vodka in a pint glass filled with ice.
• Fill glass with tomato juice
• 1 dash each of celery salt and ground black pepper
• 2-4 dashes each of Worcestershire sauce and bacon hot sauce
•1/8 tsp. horseradish
For those of you who don't feel like cooking breakfast, you can always head out to Traif for heavenly bacon doughnuts.
or you can have brunch at my new favorite gastropub in Brooklyn, Strong Place. Sample their bacon chocolate chip pancakes. They also have a large selection of microbrews for only $5.
Stay tuned for a dinner and dessert bacon special.
You could opt for a slightly healthier version of carb meets bacon concoction by simply adding bacon and maple syrup to oatmeal. Speaking of maple and bacon,
if you are like me and can't do anything until you've had a cup of Joe, then you should probably make a cup of maple bacon coffee first:
It's not brunch though until you add a little alcohol into the mix. You know where this is going... Bakon Mary's!
• 1½ oz. Bakon Vodka in a pint glass filled with ice.
• Fill glass with tomato juice
• 1 dash each of celery salt and ground black pepper
• 2-4 dashes each of Worcestershire sauce and bacon hot sauce
•1/8 tsp. horseradish
For those of you who don't feel like cooking breakfast, you can always head out to Traif for heavenly bacon doughnuts.
or you can have brunch at my new favorite gastropub in Brooklyn, Strong Place. Sample their bacon chocolate chip pancakes. They also have a large selection of microbrews for only $5.
Stay tuned for a dinner and dessert bacon special.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Bacon happy hour
A bar in Baltimore that goes by the appropriate name, Bad Decisions, is giving every one a lesson about happy hour. Apparently, I have been doing happy hour all wrong.
I never had a reason to visit Baltimore until now. Giant bowl of fried bacon to wash down my beer followed by a whiskey float with bacon ice cream, HERE I COME!
...and again, thanks for the find Jemimah!
I never had a reason to visit Baltimore until now. Giant bowl of fried bacon to wash down my beer followed by a whiskey float with bacon ice cream, HERE I COME!
...and again, thanks for the find Jemimah!
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