Not too long ago I went to Fresno to watch two friends get joined in the holiest of matrimonies. Good for them.

But the REALLY exciting part of that weekend was the random buffet we stopped to have breakfast at on the way home. It was a cute little Mexican restaurant and sadly, in my ensuing glee over the bacon I found inside, I failed to take note of the name. I’m sure some of you will have suggestions to write in the comments below.

Breakfast buffets can be dicey. Sometimes that back is mass cooked and super soggy, and this buffet was no different, but they also did something that very few buffets ever take the time or effort to do – they made a separate stack of crispy bacon in the bacon tray. As the check dumped the new pile of bacon into the warming tray, he used the tongs to pull aside the crispiest pieces into a separate pile. He must know that there are people in the world just like me who like their bacon crispy and he wins extras BT points for making that distinction.

Random chef in random buffet, we salute you.

– Mr. B

P.S. – They also had handmade, fresh cooked tortillas. Mmmm!!!

There’s a little corporate sandwich hole in the wall in Irvine, CA called Stuffers. It’s one of those places that has 101 sandwiches listed on the wall, which is a number they achieve by listing every combination of sandwich accessories as a separate sandwich. Thus, Turkey-avocado might be sandwich #1, which means turkey-avocado-cheese becomes sandwich #2 and turkey-avocado-cheese-bacon might become sandwich #3. Regardless, it makes for a good looking, oversized wall menu that really draws in the suit-and-tie customers.

I drop in from time to time if I am in the neighborhood on a weekday and I am always pleased with the product. They do a really good job of putting together a tasty sandwich there. Yay for them!

I recently decided I wanted to try a tuna sandwich and I figured that I would add bacon, of course! Their back was crispy, salty and (this earned them extra points) broken into small pieces. Yes, folks, real live bacon bits! Awesome!

Way to go, Stuffers, you have earned a place in the collective hearts of BT.

– Mr. B

The chain-store local-deli-style restaurant with the funny name is famous for delicious and creative sandwiches on fresh baked bread, but did you know they also do breakfast sandwiches? On a recent early-morning excursion I was feeling the need for a little breakfast filler, and I just happened to notice that my local Schlotzky’s was open for business.

But at 7:00 am? That seems strange!

It turns out that they have a limited (but delicious!) breakfast menu. I ordered up an egg sandwich with bacon, of course.

The bacon was quite smasty™ and the egg was well cooked but not too greasy. My only complaint is that even though I was the only one in the store, it took about 10 minutes to get my sandwich, which seemed a bit long for this kind of thing.

Plus, I ordered the large sandwich, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake, because it is HUGE!!! I know that the picture doesn;t do it justice because there is no sense of scale, but the large was about 6 inches across. It was a lot of food.

A mouthful both in name and flavor-packed taste, the Baja Chipotle and Sun Dried Tomato Bacon Wrapped Chicken I made tonight was absolutely killer. Here’s a meal fit for a king but simple enough even for the court jester to pull off with ease.

Start with two or three medium sized chicken breasts. Marinade them in a tangy chipotle marinade. Slice the breasts open sideways, kind of like you’re filleting a fish. Do the same thing with an equal number of string cheeses and slide the cheese halves into the chicken pocket you’ve created.

Get yourself some quality bacon. I recommend Rocco’s Sun-Dried Tomato bacon to add a little zest to your meal. Wrap the stuffed chicken breasts with the bacon and place in a baking dish.

Bake the bacon-wrapped chicken in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. While the chicken is baking, make your side dishes. You’ll probably have a couple extra slices of bacon after wrapping the chicken, so I suggest making some sauteed carrots with fresh garlic, pepper, and tasty bacon. Combine all those elements along with a couple tablespoons of butter and a some olive oil and let all that saute for 15 minutes or so.

I also warmed up a few sweet potatoes to balance out the meal. Overall this was an amazingly delicious and extremely simple meal to make. It will be sure to impress bacon lovers and casual porcines as well.

Smaste™ rating: 49.842

One of the nice things about writing for the world’s best bacon news site is that people occasionally send us free stuff.

Our most recent form of free stuff was a set of coupons to go try out the new Applewood Smoked Bacon Deluxe burger at Wendy’s. No complaints here; I really like Wendy’s to begin with. They have variety – you can get a burger, chili, a potato or all three. Plus, they still have the best dessert deal in all of FastFoodia – the junior Frosty. Where else can you get the perfect amount of post-meal suckable ice cream for $0.53?

But, let me assure you that bacon remains king, and even though I like Wendy’s (and they had sent me free coupns), I went in with the mindset that if it sucked, I would tell the world about it. Frankly, I had very low expectations – I have rarely (if ever) had fast food bacon that really passes the test. Sometimes it is acceptable, sometimes it is limp and soggy, but never has fast food bacon been amazing.

Until now.

I’m not kidding.

WOW!

Here’s the thing – the Bacon Deluxe starts off like any other bacon burger. It has meat, cheese, lettuce, ketchup, tomatoes, onions, mayo, pickles and buns.

And then they add bacon. Applewood smoked bacon. CRISPY, thick, straight-from-the-breakfast-table Applewood Smoked Bacon.

At a fast food establishment, I have never met its equal. The truth is that rapid, high-volume production and bacon are not a match made in heaven. Fast food bacon is usually limp and soggy as a result. In order for bacon to be truly delicious it must be given some time, love and attention in the kitchen.

With this burger’s bacon, Wendy’s seems to have bridged the great fast food bacon divide. I don’t know how they did it, but it seems like they stole it from somebody’s kitchen table.

This is my friend Jonathan inspecting the quality of his burger before tasting. His only complaint was that the lettuce was kind of pale green in comparison to the thick, rich, Al Gore green that was depicted on the Bacon Deluxe standee that was on the floor a few feet away from us.

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And then it was time for the taste test. We were both blown away! I think it’s worth mentioning again that Wendy’s sent us free coupons for the burgers, but the burgers were ALSO delicious. No kidding. I loved this thing. The burger itself was up to snuff with all the other standard burgers on the Wendy’s menu, but the bacon blew this thing off the charts. The Bacon Deluxe unequivocally has the best fast food bacon I have ever tasted.

This is one of me testing out the bacon by itself. Mmmm…

It’s good, fellow Baconites. It’s really good.

Jonathan’s Smaste™ Rating: 38.000

My Smaste™ Rating: 44.971

– Mike

My trip to Virginia was quite fruitful when it came to bacon. At Tractor Supply Co. alone I found two gems — the How to Raise Pigs book and what I’m about to share with you now.

Bacon Dog Food.

That’s right, now your pooches can be fed as they should — with bacon. Beef, bacon, and cheese to be exact. Retriever brand dog food comes in a variety of flavors but you know what your pet is really going to love.

Just imagine the look on Rover’s face when he hears the crack of that tin lid. I’m betting he’ll quickly turn down every other food in favor of the taste of sweet, sweet bacon in a baste of beef & cheese. That mouth-watering goodness will become Rover’s main meal for years to come.

Regular price for this K9 delicacy is only 89 cents. Think about that, you can make man’s best friend infinitely happy for under a buck a day. What’s stopping you? Run out to your local Tractor Supply Co. and get your pup what he or she deserves — bacon.

Walking through Tractor Supply Co. in rural Virginia, I noticed a book on the shelf titled “Home Sausage Making”. I took a quick glance around the book rack and was initially disappointed that their only meat preparation book involved bacon’s compressed cousin.

Upon closer examination though revealed that Tractor Supply Co. has it’s priorities straight. I spied the book “How to Raise Pigs” — in a way a book about bacon from start to finish.

This book is filled with everything you need to know about raising pigs and preparing them for a future as sweet, sweet bacon. Just look at the table of contents – this sucker is action packed!

Chapter 1 – An Introduction to Pigs & People
Chapter 2 – Getting Started
Chapter 3 – Pork Production Systems – What’s Your Plan?
Chapter 4 – Breeds of Pigs
Chapter 5 – Pork Production Systems – Organic, Sustainable, and Convential
Chapter 6 – Housing and Facilities
Chapter 7 – Fencing and Enclosures
Chapter 8 – Nutrient Management
Chapter 9 – Breeding and Reproduction
Chapter 10 – Feed for Profit and Production
Chapter 11 – Managing Your Pigs
Chapter 12 – Marketing Meat
Chapter 13 – Home Butchering
Chapter 14 – Exit Strategies
Chapter 15 – Showing Pigs
Chapter 16 – Country Living
Chapter 17 – Help and Advice

Here are a couple sample pages. Run out and buy this one, start raising some pigs, and document the process. We’ll start a new series on Bacon Today featuring your entry into the world of start to finish baconing!

I recently took a trip to the east coast and spent some time in the small town of Mineral, VA. While there I shopped at the Food Lion grocery store. My trip was very short, so I didn’t get a chance to cook up any of the local bacon and taste what Virginia had to offer.

Here are some photos of the bacon selection in the Food Lion. If anyone knows how these bacon varieties taste, please let us know. I’d like to know what to choose the next time I’m down in Mineral.

You remember it, don’t you?

It’s the fabulous Bacon Today turbaconducken!

And it’s coming back this Thanksgiving, only this time it called Turbaconduckensgiving. This year the glorious gorgefest will be held on November 26th, and we want to make it AMAZING, so we’re holding an online gathering, of sorts.

Here’s what we want you to do…

1) Check out the original article on the great Turbaconducken.

2) Get your hands dirty and make your own Turbaconducken for Turbaconduckensgiving, or make one now just for fun.

3) Send us a picture or video of yourself with your Turbaconducken. It can be of you making it, cooking it, eating it – whatever! Try any variation you like and be sure to tell us the whole story.

4) We’ll share all the great Turbaconducken pictures and stories with the whole BT community, and you will officially be part of Turbaconducken history.

– Mr. B

Pre-bacon is our alternative to saying “pig”, “swine”, “hog”, etc. We all know that the animal is destined for the bacon factory anyhow, so we might as well just call it pre-bacon. The only alternative that we’ve heard lately that is even remotely acceptable is “bacon in training”, which was the title of this great photo from roving reporter Mike (photo taken at the Orange County Fair).