Maple-basted bacon with freshly cracked black pepper received the most votes for ‘favorite bacon’ at Baconalia! My working hypothesis is because it was so dang tasty. I paired it with Tyranena’s Benji’s Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter, which only seemed like a good idea. See, it’s an imperial porter, and I thought the bitter of the coffee would complement the sweet of the syrup. Chocolate never hurts. As a bonus, this beer advertised that it had some (chipotle) pepper in it, to give it a bit of a kick; that was the same reasoning behind my cracking black pepper over my bacon! I felt a certain kinship with the brewers. While I did not take an official beer vote, I am pretty sure that this would have come in dead last – behind Labatt, even. See, I bought a four-pack of this, which yielded me sixty-four ounces of gross beer. Since it’s a tasting, everyone gets a glass and then you sort of pour as you go/desire, also rinsing as you go/desire. More bottles are opened as we go/desire. As we went, nobody really desired this one; the total consumption averaged less than one ounce per person, meaning I was left with three bottles of this guck. I tried it a second time, thinking maybe the situation and pairing was what made it bad. It wasn’t; I poured it down the drain.
NOTE TO MY FATHER: Please note that as I did not like the beer, I threw it away. I only drink things I like.
All right, so we’ve established that the bacon was amazing and the beer was awful. Let’s delve a bit deeper into the why. With regard to amount and frequency that I baste and crack, I follow my heart versus any specific standards. This means I make it with love; there is nothing that tastes better than love. I also am a bit of a syrup snob, so totally use the good stuff – pure maple syrup versus maple-flavored product. The only good thing about maple-inspired sticky product is some of the commercials. They are very heartwarming and I often feel like I can relate is they frequently take place in the tundra. Anyway, because of my spot-on instincts, this sticky bacon was just the right combination of sweet and salty, with a hint of a kick from the pepper. It didn’t hurt that it was shiny and pretty.
Continue reading ‘Baconalia Review: Maple-Basted Bacon with Freshly Cracked Black Pepper and Tyranena Beer’
Bacon Yields Free (Admission to Buy Overpriced) Beer
Tags: bacon, beer, contemplations, deliciousness, fun for me, helpful tips, I win!, life, random, recipes, that's just me, tundra living
I love hosting Baconalia parties, but the prepwork leaves a bit to be desired – predominately because it pretty much all takes place immediately before the party. In addition to that being annoying and kinda stressful, it leaves me and my kitchen greasy and gross. (Aside: I’m not sure which I’m more bothered by people seeing greasy and gross.) Anyway! I’ve been playing around a bit with bacon baked goods. Last week I made some bacon-fat ginger snaps; the recipe and photos will eventually follow. The positive and negative of this is that I end up with a fair amount of bacon-based baked goods. When I know how much bacon fat is in each cookie (it’s around 1t) it is less-than-appealing to gorge on a dozen in one sitting. That dozen cookies contains 1/4c of bacon fat. At present my blood pressure and cholesterol are fantastic; I’d like to keep that way at least until I hit 35.
Continue reading ‘Bacon Yields Free (Admission to Buy Overpriced) Beer’