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International Bacon Day 2014
This year, Bacon Day landed on August 30th.
I was lucky enough to have a wonderful co-worker (Megan) switch Saturdays with me this year. This meant I was able to get up early, get ready and immediately start cooking bacon.
We had an awesome guest list: My pops (Gerald) and mom (Sandra), Ric’s mom (Carolyn) and her friend David, my brother Jimmy, sister in law Robin, nieces Cameron and Morgan, cousin Stephen, Charlie, Rebecca, Autumn, Rick, Brook, Evan, Aaron, Jill, Alex, and MacKenzie.
Everyone showed up with various bacon goodies, packages of bacon, booze, and other supplies. We were so overwhelmed with the generosity from all of our family and friends. This year really showed us how much Bacon Day can be so amazing! In fact, we were so overwhelmed with food that Ric and I were unable to do a couple recipes we had on hand. One of which was Chocolate Covered Ice Cream Bacon Tacos. But don’t worry all these recipes will make it to the blog!
Here is the menu from Bacon Day 2014:
(Breakfast)
* Bacon Maple Donuts, from Nicola’s Donuts – Brought by: Rebecca & Charlie
* Breakfast Shots, By: Elle – Enjoyed all day
* Elvis Sandwiches, By: Ric
(Snacks/Appetizers)
* Sweet & Spicy Bacon Twists, By: Robin
* Bacon Wrapped Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rinds, By: Rebecca
* Crab Dip with Bacon Cups, By: Autumn (pending recipe)
* Pringles: Bacon Flavored – Brought by Jimmy/Robin/Cameron/Morgan
(Lunch/Dinner)
* Bacon Burger Sliders, By: Jimmy (pending recipe)
* Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, By: Stephen
* Bacon Jalapeño Corn Bread, By: Charlie
* Vanilla and Corn Infused Bacon Gravy and Brioche Biscuits, By: Jill (pending recipe)
* Curry Bacon Pasta, By: Elle
* Bacon Explosion, By: Ric & Elle
(Desserts)
* Bacon Rum Cake, By: Rick (pending recipe)
* Fireball Candied Bacon, By: Autumn (pending recipe)
* Bacon Chocolate Chip Bacon Bars, By: Robin
* Bacon Wrapped Twinkies, By: Ric and Elle
(Drinks)
– Bacon Bloody Marys, By: Autumn (pending recipe)
Bacon Explosion News from Bacon Day:
* We decided to try yet another type of meat mixture for the “meat blanket” portion of the Bacon Explosion: Pork Chorizo and Breakfast Sausage from Petty’s Meats in Longwood and also some ground pork from the supermarket.
* For the bacon lattice, it came together wonderfully.
*…… then, I had the bright idea of putting a little coconut oil on it between going from the oven to the grill…. and it actually EXPLODED. But, don’t worry, we had plenty of bacon. I removed the outside lattice and the inside was cooked enough that it held together. I made another bacon lattice, wrapped it back up, and started over with the cooking. Turned out great!
And CHRISTOPHER DANIELS????
Wait. You don’t know about this? There have been some words going back and forth with Bacon in the Oven, The Read Pile and Christopher Daniels leading up to Bacon Day. To sum it up, I challenged Daniels to a Bacon-Off to take place on Bacon Day. The results to all of this turned out wonderfully! If you unfortunately missed out on all the fun through my twitter and The Read Pile’s shows, don’t despair: Elle vs Daniels.
After thoughts of Elle:
I am so happy with how Bacon Day went! We had lots of food, great company, a comical event took place, and I discovered “coconut oil bad for grill”. But as with every Bacon Day that passes, I instantly think of more ways to celebrate and immediately start thinking of next year. 🙂
– Elle.
Looking for Bacon Holiday Treats?? Try Baconery!
First let me tell you about Baconery. It’s a bakery located in New York City that creates bacon treats that would make your toes curl. They take the basic bacon delights you’ve probably tried before and somehow make them so much more. Improvements to these dishes are done with talent. They perfect ingredients, presentation, and simplicity.
Baconery’s To-Go Menu
They have much to choose from if you are lucky enough to live near by or happen to be visiting the city. On their menu, they include a mouth-watering list of baked goods, chocolates, candies, snacks, sandwiches (savory and sweet), beverages, and even bacon merchandise. But don’t be sad if you can’t find yourself near by, they ship! I live in Florida and received an assortment of goodies. They arrived within a couple days – wrapped, freshly made, and exploding with flavor.
I was nice enough to share my goodies with my husband, Ric and we want to share our experience:
Packaging:
Our treats were sent in one box, where they used brown crinkle cut packing filler – totally awesome bacon relation! Inside our box, we found our mini pie and other baked goods were sealed in air tight packaging. And our bacon soap was wrapped individually with white paper and brown/white stripped string. I was pretty amazed at the detail put into keeping the bacon theme, even with packing. I’m not sure if I am over-thinking it, but it definitely got bonus points from me. I always pay attention to detail and make note.
Product Size:
I was pretty happy about the size of the baked goods. They were normal size, but that was a point to make because I have received treats that were have the size and the same price. You will get more than you expect for the price you pay. For bacon fans, we used Mr. Bacon to show the size of the baked goods.
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- Brownies
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- Cookies
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- Pecan Pie
Maple Bacon Blondie:
At first smell, I thought of a thick, fresh baked cookie. The blondie was spongy and moist. On first bite, you could taste saltiness of the bacon and then the vanilla and brown sugar arrive creating a wonderful mixture of flavors. You could taste every ingredient in the mix and it all worked so well together. It was like eating a piece of heavy yellow cake with the sweetness of brown sugar and heavenly kick of bacon.
Ric said, “I don’t want to finish. The smell is so wonderful. I want to wear it like a necklace.”
Bacon Brownie:
It was delicious cake brownie with yummy gooey pockets of chocolate and bacon. You could tell with every bite that real cocoa was used. It was very sweet – but a glass of milk would help out with that.
Ric said, ” It was very smoky and would be better with more sweetness. I think it would go best with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.”
Red Velvet Bacon Brownie:
It was a delightful spongy, moist cake. I’ve always loved red velvet cake. The hint of cocoa, the cream cheese icing… But there was no icing here. But don’t worry, they fixed the problem perfectly. They added white chocolate chunks in the mix. As you eat the cake, you get small pieces of the white chocolate that are the perfect substitution for the icing. And with the saltiness of the bacon, it just made things so much more better.
Ric said, ” It was super sweet and super salty – the perfect amount of both. You have no idea of the amount of bacon until you break into it.”
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon Cookie:
I’m not a big fan of peanut butter cookies. I just want to be up front about that. For a moment before trying the cookie, I actually thought to myself that I would just have Ric do a review on his own. But I put my negativity aside and dove in. I was surprised! It didn’t really taste like that usual peanut butter cookie. I’m sure most peanut butter fans would still love it, but it offered something different. The saltiness of the bacon, the dark chocolate, and chucks of peanut butter worked so well together… but Ric said it best…..
Ric said, “It’s like a Butterfinger with Bacon! But the dark chocolate seemed to mask the bacon.”
Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookie:
Don’t roll your eyes. I know, everyone has done a bacon chocolate chip cookie. But this well? It’s important that the simpler ones get done just right too. They loaded this buttery cookie up with bacon and lots of gooey chocolate chips. The cookie was one to enjoy with some vanilla ice cream.
Ric said, “It was super sweet, has a wonderful flavor and you can taste a sweet bacon flavor in it.”
White Chocolate Macadamia Bacon Cookie:
And now on to my favorite cookie. White Chocolate Chip Macadamia has been my favorite for years. So, when I discovered Baconery made one with bacon, I went a little crazy. I was so excited to get this one in the mail. It was moist and a little crumbly. The bacon was a wonderful addition to this sweet and nutty cookie favorite. This cookie is positively a dunker.
Ric said, “The cookie was airy, full of nuts and bacon. Just fabulous.”
Oatmeal Cranberry Bacon Cookie:
It was very sweet, a little tart with the cranberry and hint of saltiness with bacon. I did feel that the sweetness overpowered the bacon in this particular cookie. You could tell there was chucks of bacon but the flavor didn’t blend as well for me. I loved the cookie overall but hoped for more bacon flavor.
Ric said, “Very sweet. I loved the use of real fruit but it may have overpowered the bacon. It was more sweet than salty. I missed the bacon flavor.”
Bacon Pecan Pie:
OMG. My favorite pie! You first look at the mini pie and see whole pecans covering the top. And around the pecans and underneath are big chucks of chewy, smoky bacon. The filling was creamy, buttery and oh so sweet. The thin, light and flaky buttery crust under it all just absorbed all the flavors of the pie. Every bite made my mouth water. Make sure you have a glass of milk on hand.
Bacon Soap:
I was genuinely surprised. I usually hate bacon soap. Any time I ever had the chance to try someone’s bacon soap, it always smelled like a dirty gym sock that some kid left in their locker for a year. And when you go to use it, your hand would reek for hours until you scrubbed it out with something else.
But not with this bacon soap! I did get a bit of a funky smell, but it smelled more smoky than dirty. The soap lathered up rather nice and left a clean, soft feeling on my skin. And as for the after-smell, my hands just smelled clean with a very faint smoky scent.
As for bacon soaps, I would rarely use it as an every day soap. But with this concoction, I would put it on my list of gift ideas and also as a necessity for Bacon Day use!
I also did a review comparing their Bacon Salt with J & D’s Bacon Salt. Baconery destroyed their competition with their simple and flavorful ingredients. Check out the comparison: “Product Review: Let’s Compare Bacon Salt”.
If you’re looking for something to fill the gap on your Thanksgiving dessert table or a way to check off a bacon lover on your Holiday gift list, make sure to keep Baconery in mind. They can help you put an amazing twist on your holidays. There is a variety to chose from and they even have dog biscuits for your furry pal!
The best part of this bakery is how fresh everything tastes and how much bacon they pack into every recipe. They put thought into every recipe and make everything a unique and satisfying experience for your taste buds. Everything tastes exactly as you would hope and you’re left with a full belly that you’re proud of.
Check them out:
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- Website: Online Shipping Menu, Blog
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- Updates on happening at the bakery!
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- Updates on happening at the bakery!
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- Pictures of their awesome bacon creations!
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- Pictures of their awesome bacon creations!
LOCATION:
911 Columbus Avenue, New York, New York
(104 & 105th)
HOURS:
9:00am – 9:00pm
– Elle.
International Bacon Day 2013
This year, International Bacon Day landed on August 31.
We were lucky enough to have MANY guests for Bacon Day this year! I want to thank everyone who came to participate in Bacon day: my husband Ric, Jimmy, Robin, Morgan, Cameron, Stephen, Travis, Charlie, Aaron, Jill, Billy, Heather and Ronnie. And Creepy Cat joined us, along with Mr. Bacon (thanks Aunt Benna!). Don’t forget to check out the Bacon ‘Stashes aquired!
I did have to work the morning of Bacon Day, but I showed my bacon love by wearing a pink and brown scrub combo. And of course I did my nails!
This year we met up at a home my cousin Stephen, brother Jimmy and his family rented for the Labor Day weekend. We went with a potluck idea. Everyone to bring a recipe to try out. Well, my family always goes above and beyond and of course brought many. 🙂 And of course we had friends that brought their recipes too! I’ll list the full menu below and links to recipes if they were provided:
Breakfast:
Bacon Muffins with Bacon Guava Paste – By: Elle
* We also ate straight bacon strips dipped into the Bacon Guava Paste
Lunch:
Inside-Out BLT’s – By: Stephen
Bacon Mac N Cheese – By: Jimmy
Bacon Salad – By: Charlie
Bacon Scotch Eggs – By: Jill
Bacon Guava Paste Covered Pork Ribs – By: Ric
Snacks/Appetizers:
Bacon-Wrapped Dates – By: Elle
Bacon Rinds – By: Jimmy
Bacon Wrapped Smokies with Brown Sugar and Butter – By: Stephen
Dinner:
Bacon Explosion w/Filling – By: Elle and Ric
Dessert:
Bacon-Wrapped Twinkies – By: Elle and Ric
Bacon Peach Pie – By: Ric
Mocha-Hazlenut Bacon Cream Pastry – By: Elle
Drinks:
BBQ Bloody Mary (with Beer) and Bacon Garnish – By: Stephen
Bacon Champagne – By: Elle
I feel as though this year was a BIG success. We had repeat offenders for bacon day, new faces, old recipes, and new ones. Most of the recipes turned out fantastic! Bacon Peach Pie didn’t do so well this year. We used bacon that was too thick. It does require thin bacon for the top. I also feel that the Bacon Champagne didn’t turn out well. The idea was to put a cooked bacon strip and fruit into a glass and pour chaampagne over it, hoping that the “bubbly” would release some bacon flavor. It did not. But I am determined and will continue my efforts to bring more bacon cocktails to this blog.
I already can’t wait for next year! I’m pretty sure I have the perfect plan…..
I leave you with video and photos of our bacon celebration. I have noted the photos taken by our Official Bacon Day Photographer, Charlie. 🙂 And the video was compliments of my husband, Ric with help from Robin!
– Elle.
bacon in the oven 