When faithful Bacon Today reader Alana Muir visited family members last fall in Duluth, Minn., she had a near-religious experience while dining out. And no, it didn’t involve Norwegian-style Lutefisk, that air-dried whitefish loved by the Norwegians and Swedes who settled in Minnesota.
So what was the focus of Muir’s spiritual moment, even though she didn’t get to try the dish? Look no further than The Duluth Grill, a family-owned eatery in town that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh, and a little dessert called the When Pigs Fly Sundae.
But what does this have to do with bacon, you ask? Easy: the When Pigs Fly Sundae a delicious dessert built with three scoops of vanilla ice cream, crispy applewood-smoked bacon, caramel, hot fudge, saltine crackers and a cherry. The dish costs about four bucks for a sweet-and-salty finale to a satisfying Duluth Grill meal.

We’d order that in a minute, but Muir lives in Scotland, which is a little far for takeout ice cream, no matter the bacon content. That’s why you should take time when cruising through Minnesota to check out the restaurant’s site to see what looks good. You might want to call ahead while you’re at it and mention the When Pigs Fly Sundae. On its own the sundae might make the trip worthwhile, although we think the list of burger options might also get us there.
So thanks, Alana, for alerting us to this bacon-fueled dessert. We hope you’ll come back and order a When Pigs Fly Sundae so you can let us know what you think. Now, how far is it to Duluth…

As you know, we here at “Bacon Today” pride ourselves on consistent ability to always be 3 or 4 steps ahead of the game when it comes to everything worthy of being known in the wonderful world of bacon.

Clearly one of our huge advantages in being able to stay well ahead of the game is the very positive, close-knit relationship that we have with out loyal, long time readers and friends.

Here’s a perfect example of that personal “heads up” connection that keeps us on the cutting edge whenever anything of note is about to, or has just taken place, anywhere on the planet, that involves gourmet bacon.

Here’s an important communiqué’ that just came into us from our good friend “Doctor Atomic” regarding his latest and possibly greatest creative, culinary concoction from his esoterically eclectic laboratory deep within his mysterious, secret lair.

This is the good Doctor’s story, as expressed in his very own words:

“I make ice cream at home and a friend requested a Bourbon and Bacon flavor from me. After thinking about it for awhile what I came up with was Butterscotch and Bourbon Ice Cream with Bacon and Butter Toffee chips.

I started by making a reduction of Markers Mark Bourbon and Butterscotch. I’ve tried baking Bacon before, but I find that good old fashioned frying in a pan gives the best result.

The rest was normal fair ice cream base, eggs, milk, cream and sugar, all organic. I do heat my base to make a custard. Once I had incorporated the syrup and base I put them in the fridge to cool over night, as well as the now fried and chopped bacon.

The Toffee chips went into the freezer. The next day the mixture went into the ice cream maker. The bits were added near the end. With the Bourbon I wanted to give the ice cream a good amount of time to set so it was placed into the freezer overnight.

The next day we enjoyed the result! The flavors came out in layers. The first thing you taste is the slight bite of the Bourbon followed by the sweet of the Butterscotch. The chewy Bacon then jumps to the front with it’s smoky and saltiness followed closely by the crunchy sweet of the toffee.”

Doctor Atomic – Keeping the world safe for Ice Cream

As a Baconographer I continually ask myself, “What’s next?” What’s next for bacon? What’s the next great thing? Is there another bacon cinnamon roll or Turbaconducken on the horizon? Some bacon brownies coming our way?

I think, maybe, the next great thing on the strip could be bacon apple pie. Bacon Today reader Darryl B. wrote to us to share his pie story and also sent some cool pictures. 

I may not get the chance to make this for a few weeks, but I plan to replicate this tasty dessert as soon as possible. 

Read on for the full story in Darryl’s own words…

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I wanted to relay the story of the Bacon Apple Pie, as this site has certainly had an influence on expanding my own personal baconology.

Some friends and coworkers and I decided to put together a little party on February 7th called ‘Baconfest’. The theme for the party was, well,
fairly obvious. Most everyone attending brought in a dish they prepared using Bacon in an interesting fashion. After 15 entries and using the
basic Iron Chef voting system, the grand champion elected was: The Bacon Apple Pie.

The results of this warranted the pie being in demand, so for a recent work pot luck I baked two pies, decorating the top with pie crust cut into
the shapes of pigs and apples. Attached are the photos of the trophies from Baconfest that we had custom made, and the finished product of the
Bacon Apple Pie. Below is the recipe if anyone wishes to recreate this absolutely fantastic bacon dish. (However I must say the general public is a bit skeptical of the combination before tasting).

Recipe for Bacon Apple Pie:
 
First off I used pre-made rollout pie crust.  It’s much easier and saves a great deal of time.
 
You will need:
1 package (2 rolls) of premade roll-out pie crust.
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
6 medium pink lady apples
2/3 pound bacon
1/4th stick butter
 
 
In a small mixing bowl combine the white sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg, stirring until well blended. 

Fry up bacon – do not cook until the bacon completely crumbles, but instead for a more chewy, solid bacon.  I fried up the full pound of bacon, and you can optionally add this much, but I found about 2/3 of a pound was plenty. 

Peel apples and slice into 1/8th of an inch wide slices and collect in a large mixing bowl. 

Once all the apples have been cored and sliced up, blend in the bacon by cutting (or tearing apart with your hands) into the size of large bacon bits. 

Once the bacon and apples are together, mix well and slowly pour over the sugar mixture while blending together the apples and bacon to evenly cover the apple mixture.

 
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.  Layer in apple/bacon mixture into pie shell, start with about 1/3rd of the mixture, then slice up little pads of butter and lay them atop the apple mixture, about five thin slices, then add second layer of apples and repeat until apples are gone.  Apply top shell of pie and cut holes to vent.  Bake for 45 minutes, checking in the last ten minutes to ensure the crust is not overcooked.
 
Recommended to be served warm, optionally with a slice of cheddar cheese on top!

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The Bacon Today bacon apple pie and Smaste™ rating will follow in a future post.

– Mike

In high school, video day was always a special day. If you were burned out on the normal grind it was a day when you would get a different visual stimulus for a while. If you were goth it was an opportunity to sit in the dark for a few minutes. If you were sleepy, it was a chance to take a nap. “Real Life” isn’t much different from high school. Even adults get bored, and it’s the official position of Bacon Today that we are here to combat repetitive bored-ness.

It’s been a while since we brought you a video and today’s filmstrip is a “cool” one. Yes, it’s bacon ice cream! In this video, a hoity-toity chef tell us how to make this 2-day hoity-toity dessert. It’s made of bacon and eggs, so it’s basically breakfast served on a fancy plate with a different name, but it looks interesting regardless.

The only really strange thing are the mushrooms that look like raisins. I can’t say that this looks like the most delicious bacon dessert I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t repulse me, either. 

-- Mike

Yes. It’s true. We finally did it. If you liked bacon cinnamon rolls, you’re going to love this. The picture above is the result of the coming together of two major food groups. Meat and brownies (yes, they’re a food group) have finally found common ground and joined forces to form a uniquely irresistible combination of flavors. Not since chocolate and peanut butter came together to create the peanut butter cup have we seen the introduction of such a Smastey™ dessert food. The good news is that you too can make bacon brownies. Here’s how.

The bacon brownies started, like so many other delicious dishes, with a trip to the grocery store.

There it is. This huge stack of fresh sliced bacon is selling for $3.49/lb. (That’s US$3.49/450g for all you international bacon fans.)  I only used 4 slices for the bacon brownies, but I can always eat more, so I bought a full pound of bacon.

Next, I needed to get the brownie mix. I guess it’s been a while since I made brownies, because I was blown away when I discovered that there are no fewer than 20 types of brownie mix. No-Pudge Fudge, Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter. The list is long and delicious. I settled on the Betty Crocker Turtle Brownie mix. (It comes with a bag of caramel – how could I resist?)

Next up, eggs and vegetable oil.

Okay, time to get down to it.

1) Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.

2) Grease a 13”x9” baking pan. (8” and 9” square pans will also work just fine.)

3) Heat up a frying pan. Pre-cook some bacon for about 3 minutes per side. Not too much – we don’t want to totally fry it, we just want to get it a little past raw. Raw is bad for taste as well as for your intestinal tract. The bacon should just be starting to brown and might be a little crispy.

4) When the bacon is ready, set it aside on a plate lined with paper towels to help drain some of the grease.

5) Following the directions on the box, combine the brownie mix, vegetable oil, water and eggs.

6) When the batter is ready, pour slightly less than half of it into the pan.

7) Now add the bacon. You can go as big or as small as you like. That’s the great thing about bacon – there’s no wrong amount unless you don’t have enough! For this batch, I used four strips of bacon. I only added bacon to half the batch because I wanted to be able to compare the taste of bacon brownies to regular brownies. If I were making a full batch I probably would have used 8-10 slices.

Now add the rest of the brownie batter on top of the bacon. Be sure to cover it all up.

9) A little tasty caramel to finish it off.

10) It’s ready for the oven, so take another look at the box and bake it for however long it says. Betty Crocker suggested 27 minutes, but I found that the brownies were done in just 22.

11) Let the brownies cool for a few minutes, then cut with a sharp knife and make your wife/husband/neighbor/friend/stranger walking by come taste them with you.

I have to say, bacon brownies are a clear winner. There is something magical about the combination of chocolate and bacon. In fact, we did a post some time ago about chocolate covered bacon. Bacon brownies are no exception. The creamy, gooey caramel. The moist chocolate. The salty bacon. This batch had a near perfect bacon infusion. The taste of bacon was subtle, coming through on the finish instead of overpowering the palette, which was the problem with bacon lemon bars. (Coming soon, I’m sorry to say.)

I highly recommend that every one of you run out and buy some bacon and some brownie mix and try this one for yourselves. Bacon brownies blew away the SRI with a Smaste™ rating of 54.639, which is the highest Smaste™ rating ever! An amazing dessert that can be eaten at any hour.

Life is good. Bacon is better.

– Mike

There’s a stylish little restaurant at the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas that was still busy at midnight and references bacon in its name. BLT Burger is the chef’s interpretation of the classic American burger joint. From the looks of the menu, he took burger influences from all over the country and from several different eras.

The restaurant itself is presented very well and was full of what appeared to be happy customers. Their signature burger, the “BLT” is made with 7oz. of Angus beef, double smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato and BLT burger sauce. I applaud any chef who takes the time to double smoke his or her bacon. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to eat at BLT burger on this trip, but I will be bringing my $13 with me the next time I’m in Vegas so I can try the BLT for myself.

For those of you with a sweet tooth, there’s even a special dessert bar, where you can order cakes, shakes, floats and ice cream to go.

Based on general aroma and a clean, stylish look, I give BLT Burger a preliminary Smaste™ rating of 30.0215. There’s also a BLT Burger in Manhattan.

– Mike