Bacon is the new black

Can't swing a dead pig without references to bacon somewhere these days, whether it be maple-bacon doughnuts, gummi bacon, bacon brittle, or even a bacon bra. So naturally the new foods at the Minnesota State Fair include bacon items this year. I paid them a visit last night on opening night, trying to avoid the weekend crowds, and had to give these two a try:

Piglickers: This invention from Famous Daves BBQ combines bacon and chocolate. Right. The actual presentation is five half strips of crisply fried bacon in a conical paper cup (like a snowcone cup), with one end of each dipped in dark chocolate. The unfortunate thing is that they're served cold out of a mini-cooler on the counter. Bacon bits on a salad aren't bad, but a long cold piece of bacon is just off-putting somehow. The taste combination wasn't bad, but it's seriously overpriced at $5.

Big Fat Bacon: In keeping with the fair's theme of hicks, chicks, and food on a stick, this is bacon on a stick. They claim it's a quarter to a third pound slab of bacon. Maybe precooked. What it really is is a nice thick-cut slice of bacon threaded on a stick. Some reports have claimed they're deepfried. From what I could tell, they were par-cooked in some fashion, probably an oven, and they then finish them for serving by frying on a griddle. They're described as having a maple glaze. Well, there's some kind of syrup coating because the bacon and the stick are both very sticky and messy, but I didn't particularly notice any maple flavor. Which is a good thing as I generally don't care for the flavor. There were also sqeeze bottles of sauce to apply at your discretion. The orange-chipotle was quite yummy. In fact, the whole item was delicious, if seriously unhealthy. But that's fair food for you. Be prepared to have to clean up afterwards, though. And it's a bargain at only $3.

Comments

[Starrtoons]

I can picture a thick-sliced bacon strip zigzagged onto a teriyaki stick and deep-fried -- that would probably be a great way to cook it thoroughly and sufficiently crispy. After all, the best breakfast sausages are often done that way, whether they're skinless or old-fashioned. It's a handy little technique the waitrons won't tell you about, but leaves them well done and less greasy, since the deep-frier will cook 'em hotter than lying around on the edge of the grill.

Dunno about the chocolate-dipped cold bacon, but it's got to be better than the Gefilte Fish On A Stick that I sampled there at the fair a few years ago. I would not make up a thing like that.

[RMA]

Oh, I know you're not kidding. I saw the gefilte fish, but I won't touch that stuff under any circumstances. However, it reminded me of a seriously warped item I had at the Florida Strawberry Festival years ago: BBQ porkchop on a bagel. My head nearly asploded from cognitive dissonance.