What would you do if you were completely out of bacon and your next Monthly Gourmet Bacon Club “Membership-ment” wasn’t due for another 4 days?

How would you satisfy your need to feed on the world’s only “Perfect Food,” what we have come to call Bacon? Obviously it would be physically impossible to go without bacon for 4 days, so that option is simply ridiculous.

Would you risk buying mass produced, store bought bacon. That’s pretty dangerous because, as you know, once that stuff gets into your fridge, it will eventually get moved into your freezer, then out the garage freezer and over time, it’ll be completely forgotten about and therefore never, ever go away!

Well, thankfully we now finally have “the answer for” you that we believe can help you get through the mistake of not ordering enough gourmet bacon to safely and comfortably get you through your month.

Special Thanks to Dan S. of Los Angeles, California, who had the interest, time, energy and clever idea to assemble a special forces team of 12 serious “Baconistas” to go out and compare / compile a rating system, grading (A) The actual quality of the bacon that is used, as well as (B) The over-all taste, quality and enjoyment of the menu item served up at 12 of the most visited fast food restaurants.

As explained by Dan the grading system is thoroughly logical and quite easy enough to understand. Each of the 12 members of the team of the rank the restaurants from #1 to #12, so that when scoring, #1 gets 1 point and #12 gets 12 points. Like in golf, the lower the score that you receive, the better the ranking the restaurant gets on the list.

Then all 12 grading sheets are carefully tabulated, and the restaurant with the lowest number … wins.

Let us know what you think of the results of Dan and his team’s investigation and we hope this helps those of you who usually don’t do the fast food thing, but simply have to get your “Bacon Fix” before you totally lose it. Thanks Dan.

Here’s what the team concluded when it came to fast Food restaurant with the best Bacon Meal available out there:

#1: Wendy’s

#2: Subway

#3: KFC

#4: Starbuck’s

#5: Quiznos

#6: Carl’s Junior

#7: Del Taco

#8: Arby’s

#9: McDonald’s

#10: Dairy Queen

#11: Taco Bell

#12: Tie Between Sonic and Burger King

Let’s say you drink wine. On a weeknight, you might be happy to come home after work and pop open a simple blend that goes with a grilled burger. It tastes good enough to suit a Monday night.

Fast forward to the weekend: You crave a more complex wine, so maybe you’ll search your stash for an older Bordeaux or fine Pinot Noir. We like those sophisticated wines when we have the time and energy to savor them.

That’s also how we feel about bacon. Yes, BACON. There are Monday bacons, and there are weekend bacons. We love them, both but the weekenders are extra-special.

Such specimens can be found in the selection of fine bacons from Johnston County Hams in Smithfield, N.C., a southern pork mecca where the 60-year-old company has been cranking out heritage-quality hams and other smoked meats with an emphasis on quality. The company even produces a boutique-level ham that rivals Italian prosciutto. And that’s what we call good.

But you know us. We’re bacon people. We love the stuff. And we love the dry-cured bacon slabs and sliced bacons from Johnston County Hams. We think the samplers are the way to go, but we’ll let you decide. Take a look here:

Still not sure? Consider Johnston County uses the old-school curing process. It’s a craft based on the traditional curing process used by early American settlers and perfected by the legendary curemaster Jesse Brown. Plus The New York Times, Esquire, Wine Spectator, Men’s Journal and Southern Living are just a few of the media outlets that have featured the quality of Johnston County’s cured pork.

Try the bacon. Maybe a ham, too. We think you’ll taste something special. Of course, we won’t be surprised if you start building a special dry-cured pork collection for those weekend indulgences. Just like that special wine. 

Johnston was kind enough to give all Bacon Today readers a 10% off coupon on their fine products.  At the time of checkout enter the coupon code: bacontoday10.

Enjoy

So, just what exactly is it that makes Sticky Pig Candies so bacon freakin’ amazing?

Well, I suppose it’s pretty darned simple to do the math and come up with the right answer: Gourmet Bacon + Delicious, Handmade Artisan Candy + Hot, Playful & Classy “Bacon Vixen” = 5 Snout Salute from Bacon Freak.

The genius behind the entire operation, Tara Simon, also known online as “The Bacon Vixen,” was inspired to artistically combine everyone’s favorite flavor; gourmet bacon, into some of the most mouth-watering, remarkably fine, elegant confections that you will ever come across, presented in a succulently sweet and salty, sensuously “suite and sultry” tongue tempting taste treats that are truly as visually stunning and aesthetically inspiring as they are delightfully and decadently delicious!

Guess what … SHE SUCCEEDED!

Literally blowing your taste-buds out of this universe with such luscious flavors as: Maple Cinnamon, Apple Pecan Dulce de Leche, Raspberry Jelly Doughnut, Coconut Curry Lime, Orange Ginger, Maple Sriracha, “The Sticky Pig” even pays an homage to everyone’s favorite childhood indulgence, “S’mores” and then honors the King himself with an amazingly scrumptious candied concoction proudly named “The Elvis,” consisting of bacon, peanut butter and of course, banana.

As if that’s not enough, and thankfully “The Bacon Vixen” declared that it most certainly is NOT, each month, there is Special Monthly Flavor, available ONLY in that month and then disappearing at the stroke of midnight when the month comes to an end. Some of these monthly works of art include: Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Irish,

Pig in a Blanket, Vanilla Cognac & Tobacco, Napoleon Dynamite, Amusement Park, Vin Santo Fig Newtonian, Dark Chocolate Peppermint.

The latest flavor is “HOT Mama – Spicy!” which is a wonderful combination of cool mango and lime paired with some muy caliente’ cayenne and ancho chili peppers, topped off with a candied jalapeno pepper some dried mango. Warning, this baby is pretty spicy and not recommended to the “fein of heart!”

Sticky Pig is absolutely awesome because Tara, The Bacon Vixen herself, as well as Sticky Pig owner / creative culinary chef is just as amazingly clever, fun, creative, playful, cool, alluring, classy and mysteriously mesmerizing as the Candied Bacon Confections that she so deliciously brings to her table of temptingly, tantalizing taste treats.

Bacon Freak enthusiastically gives “Sticky Pig” bacon featured fine candies, a definite 5 snout salute!

We often get letters touting the bounty of bacon served at some restaurant or a creative bacon product new to the marketplace. We’ll weave the tale into an article here on Bacon Today taking bits and pieces and adding our own spice. Every so often though, we get a letter that speaks for itself. This is one of those times and here is the letter in it’s entirety…enjoy…

Gentlemen,

I have just had the most slamatocious, porklicious, bacon laden meal of my career as a füdist (to clarify, foodies are who eat to be erudite in cuisine… füdists who eat for gratuitous self gratification). This meal was so insane, it was dirty… like a 70′s porn flick dirrrrrtay.

The meal started out with a snack of something called “F&D Poppycock”- which consists of fried peanuts, spicy pork rinds and toffee popcorn. As the pork rind seems to be the bastard cousin of bacon who shows up drunk to family reunions, I trust you will approve of this choice.

This was followed up with an open faced sandwich although that’s an almost embarrassing description because “The Ripper” is no standard grade sammich. Rather, it involves a bacon crusted pork sausage on a little toast (I liked the fact that there was more meat than bread) with mustard and relish. The y then surround this baby with a bed of homemade potato chips and deep fried pickles and onions. The sausage is house made and the bacon is definitely not understated.

But finally, and the primary reason I am writing, I had the pièce de résistance… lovingly called “The Pig Licker”. The name alone and the fact that it was on the dessert menu should have you scrambling to book a flight to Austin, TX immediately.

Gentlemen, you have covered the notion of chocolate covered bacon in the past… but this was different… this was (dare I say it?)… special.

“The Pig Licker” is thick cut praline dipped bacon covered in dark chocolate, served with a side of bacon root beer and a pork rind churro.

No.

Really.

You heard me correctly.

I tasted the bacon rootbeer first and I have to admit the bacon flavor matched with that of a good quality rootbeer did not suit my palate until I made a discovery… this dessert had a rhythm to it. The fulcrum of the dessert was the pork rind churro.

The pork rind churro was bubbly chunk of fried pig skin sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. It was, by far, the biggest surprise of the evening. The sweet and cinnamon flavor and light texture of the churro balanced this decadent dessert to porktastic perfection. Everything came together in a blaze of glorious pig-o-rrific fury when I took a bite of the chocolate covered bacon, followed that with a bite of the churro and then took a swig of the rootbeer.

I discovered that the difference between state fair or novelty chocolate covered bacon and this epicurean delight was, in my humble opinion, the cut of the bacon and the balance of salt. This bacon was cut almost a quarter inch thick. From there, it was coated in a sugar coating with just a hint of salt and roasted to that just-before-crispy point… after which it was coated in a layer of fine dark chocolate. It was salty, sweet, rich and bacony…

I nearly wept. It was as good as most sex… and I am not the kind of chick who says that over cupcakes.

You need to come to Austin, TX and have a meal at Foreign & Domestic (http://foodanddrinkaustin.com)… I’ll be happy to meat you there.

Signed,

Agent N.

Our sponsor BaconFreak.com gave us some samples of their Bacon Jerky. We passed quite a few flavors around the office and the majority vote was a big thumbs up!

Sweet, salty, chewy and oh so delicious. Buy a pack or two of some of the great flavors of bacon jerky. This stuff is great!

Here are the flavors of bacon jerky they offer:

• Jalapeno
• Pepper
• Cajun
• Honey BBQ
• Maple
• Summer BLT

The fine folks over at Boca Java sent us over a bag of their special “artisan roasted coffee” flavor Maple Bacon Morning™ to get our opinion. Well, let me start off by saying WOW — that’s a mighty fine coffee!

I had some family in town so I thought what a better way to taste test a maple bacon coffee flavor then on a bunch of folks too polite to say no. I brewed up the first batch of Maple Bacon Morning™ and just as the coffee maker started to drip I heard the first “What is that? It smells like…maple syrup!” comment. The news trickled throughout the rooms of the house as quickly as the maple smell reached the noses of the family members. Their interest was peaked and a line was forming around the coffee pot.

This particular brew of coffee is on the light side, which matches up perfectly with the hint of maple syrup taste. While there is not actual bacon flavor noticeable, this coffee does make a perfect compliment for a bacon-enriched breakfast as my family & I certainly proved on the morning of my little experiment.

We had pancakes, eggs, and thick-cut bacon with a side of toast and with the addition of Maple Bacon Morning™ coffee, no one left the table disappointed. In fact, they asked where they could get a bag for themselves.

A recent trip to Superior, WI provided an unexpected bacon experience. We stopped at Vintage Italian Pizza (VIP), which is connected to the Capri bar and grabbed a bacon & pineapple pizza.

The pie arrived not long after we ordered and was steaming hot. Complimented by a pitcher of tasty beer the pizza really hit the spot. If you’re ever in the Superior, WI area and have a bacon craving, swing by VIP & the Capri to get your fix.

On a side note, my buddy Matt debuted his latest concoction – the BeerMosa. Similar to the traditional champagne/orange juice Mimosa found on so many a Sunday brunch, this drink is simple…beer & OJ. Give it a shot. Matt promises it’s excellent.

Traveling for business often means scrambling for bacon wherever you can get some. In our travels we’ve tried the bacon various fast food restaurants: Wienerschnitzel, Tim Horton’s, Burger King, Hardee’s and Sonic to name just a few.

One place that really impressed us with their fast-food bacon was Sonic. We enjoyed their bacon so much in fact we built a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with 30 slices of bacon. Unfortunately, the next bacon we got from Sonic was not so splendid.

Here’s how the morning went down when I got my Sonic breakfast. I ordered the CroisSONIC™ Breakfast Sandwich, but the particular Sonic I want to was out of croissants. So I opted for the BREAKFAST TOASTER® with bacon instead. Take a look at the photos above. The bread was torn and rather soggy and upon opening the sandwich only a few torn, beat-up looking specks of bacon were present. Those tiny pieces of bacon were overcooked and not very tasty either.

In fact, I even ordered a side of bacon and the guy behind the microphone said “uh, I don’t see a place to order a side of bacon here so uh, I’ll just give you some extra bacon.” I never received that extra bacon and boy did my sandwich need some bacon help.

I’ll give Sonic the benefit of the doubt and try their bacon again but this bacon lover, while not quite scorned, hath shed a single salty tear.

Stopped by Starbucks the other day for a quick meeting. Since they had hot food and I was hungry I decided to give their bacon a try. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have much hope for bacon at a coffee shop.

The sandwich (referred to as an “Artisan Bacon” by the barista) was decent. That’s about all I can say about about it. The bacon was quite weak, the gouda cheese was minimal and the eggs were bland. The saving grace for this one is the artisan roll. The bread was quite good and saved the sandwich from being a real stinker.

If you’re in need of a shot of bacon to go with your espresso, I’d say hold off until you get somewhere that carries a better brand of the good stuff.

If there is a heaven and you arrive at the pearly gates around lunchtime, it’s likely they’ll be serving the PBLT from the Delta Diner. This heaping hunk of a sandwich is simple in concept but gargantuan in flavor. I’m salivating just thinking about this spectacular sammy.

The Delta Diner is a fun little spot in the middle of the northern Wisconsin woods with a quirky menu and amazingly attentive staff. They have quite a few bacon items on the menu but I opted to test out the PBLT (Perch – a local freshwater fish, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich for this taste test.

I hesitate to be so bold, but on first bite the PBLT joined my all-time sandwich top five. The perch was fried with a light and tasty batter, the tomatoes were perfectly ripe, the lettuce was from-the-garden fresh, the bread lightly toasted, the secret sauce tangy, and the bacon – heavenly. The three think and perfectly cooked strips of bacon were smoked locally from Ashland, Wisconsin’s Sixth Street Market and some of the best bacon I’ve ever tasted…and I’ve tasted a heck of a lot of bacon. Lucky for me I live a few blocks for the Sixth Street Market — look for a profile of their bacon in the near future.

Bottom line, if you’re ever in Northern Wisconsin or Minnesota make your way to the Delta Diner. I hear there’s a bacon steak there that is a bacon lover’s dream come true. I’m grabbing my car keys now to go give it a try…