Benton's Hickory Smoked Bacon

Bacon. The mere mention of the word brings forth a rush of memories from my childhood. When we went to my grandmother’s house on Sunday, it was always mass in the morning and then a full sized breakfast. The menu was fairly basic, with fluffy pancakes, bacon, eggs and toast, with plenty of ice cold milk and orange juice to boot.

My grandmother would fry up the bacon in her trusty cast iron skillet, followed by the eggs. She used to cook them in the bacon grease, carefully flipping hot grease on top of the egg. I shutter and delight at these family memories, fearful for the clogging effect, delighted by the gentle grin on my face as I type these words.

I’ve never been a bacon connoisseur, nor sought out artisinal bacon. I fear it would take over, with a mad desire to try all that could be found in the quest for that perfect bite of crisp, sweet and salty. After attending PRIMAL, the hunger took over. Think vampire craving. You know you want the bacon, but you know it isn’t good for you. With a slight hesitation, you give in and then the damn bursts and it is on in full, the unabashed consumption to fill a craving that has no end. I put Benton’s Bacon (along with some others) on my wish list and behold, my Mrs. Clause came through with 4 lbs of heavenly pork delight.

The first pound and a half was sacrificed on Christmas morning. The pieces were cooked from medium to crispy, something I’ll have to keep under control the next go ’round. With the oven on a warming 170 degrees, the bacon did get a tad more cooked than the family preferred (except me, I love it crispy and crunchy), but it was still scrumdeliumptious.

The quality of the bacon could be seen in how they didn’t shrink by 50% like the typical grocery store fare. It was thick, meaty and very smoky. If you don’t care for hickory, you are sticking your snout in the wrong trough. Only those with a penchant for well smoked meats should order. I loved the taste and while everyone else gave up after a few pieces, I kept on digging in. This is some rich, stomach filling delight. Next time, I’ll definitely get some ripe tomatoes, crisp romaine lettuce and hearty bread to make BLTs with this.

Bacon lovers, do yourself a favor and order the 4 lbs. It will cost you just over $30, which is a bargain for such porky delights. Imagine all the gastro delights you can make with this. Wrap it around scallops or filet. Make BLTs or throw it onto a cheeseburger. Eat it with your morning biscuits and wave good-bye to the golden arches. Just do yourself a favor and order some, if not for yourself, then the pork lover in your life. They will thank you the world over.

Haiku
Crispy pig belly
Salty hickory delight
Gastro ecstasy

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Ever wonder how much flavor you can get for the least number of ingredients? There should be an acronym for that…like QPI…yes, Quality Per Ingredient. I mean, sometimes less is more. Well, this past weekend I had the great fortune of attending a great tasting at the Whole Foods in Duluth. I’ll post about that tomorrow, as it will take more time than I’m willing to give it right this second.

After the tasting, we did some shopping. While picking up a couple of cheeses for the evening dinner, we spotted something in the cheese case. Three ingredients, a price of $.99 and more flavorful than even anticipated. They were so darn tasty, I didn’t even think to grab the camera and take a picture. Honestly, I doubt I’d have posted it anyways, as these were not the most attractive looking of gasto-delights.

Okay, enough filler. They were prosciutto wrapped, gorgonzola stuffed dates. First, you get the smoky aroma of the prosciutto, along with a slight saline quality and the creamy texture. The sweetness of the date quickly takes over in about 5 seconds, candied without being overwhelmingly sweet. Finally, the gorgonzola waves farewell, like it was waving from the flavor train caboose. I love gorgonzola and the first bite, it was missing in action. I must have missed it in that bite because every bite after that went through the same evolution.

These were paired with a sparkling wine, but if served as their own course, I’d do something else. I’m thinking a nice 4 puttonyo Tokaji Aszu that was on the younger side. The stone fruit flavors and vibrant acidity would work well with all the components. Guess I’ll have to try one next time I have one of these tasty treats. If I did sparkling wine again, I think I’d go with a California rosé sparkler.

While I really loved these little delectable morsels, I’d cap myself at two. They just became too rich for my blood after the second one. I love simple dishes like this and plan on discovering more of them. I’ve got this one, bacon wrapped grilled scallops, and thanks to Hardy, fig and goat cheese bites served with Fume (aka Sauvignon Blanc). Now I’m off to create and or discover some more.