The Yelp newsletter just sent me this. They are psychic about my love for bacon? This is a PSA for all my bacon loving friends.
Aaah… the smell of bacon. Its seductively sweet aroma can arouse almost anyone from a coma (read: hangover). As the Candy of Meats, bacon has broken its breakfast banality and is enjoying a successful crossover career in a dinner, dessert or even a drink near you. This week we strip away your bacon speculations and showcase the work of noble and ambitious bacontrepreneurs around the Twin Cities.
If indeed the best things in life are free, Joshua A’s discovered hump-day heaven at Triple Rock’s Free Bacon Wednesdays. His suggestion for those in search of bacon bliss? “Order a Bacon Mary and tater tots, then wrap ‘em up with bacon and dip the tots into your Mary.” Sounds worth the work, but there’s hope even if you’re feeling too lazy to chew. Kelsey K fell for the bacon ketchup at the Chef Shack and implores any meat-eater to give it a try. Mmm… saucy! Meanwhile, Jim M drops some knowledge about Kings Wine Bar in Southwest Minneapolis. They offer up “housemade tots with a bacon Gruyère dipping sauce.” Bacon and cheese––is there a happier marriage?
Do your slices seem sissy? Elizabeth S points us to the bacon appetizer at Manny’s. She “thought they’d get strips, but instead got a delicious, indulgent mass of meat, fat and grease.” Don’t forget to save room for that steak, Liz! And while hot dogs with bacon might seem more LA than TC, those with the craving ought to grab a stool at The Wienery. Amy B’s sizzlin’ suggestion? The Upsetter. But don’t let the name fool ya, you’ll be anything but upset with this dog topped with bacon and an over-easy egg. Consider it a “breakfast-y spectacular” any time of day!
Are you part of the infusion revolution? Quit porkin’ around and belly up to the bar with Ralph M at Town Talk Diner and order a Bacon Manhattan. If you prefer a sugar buzz to an alcoholic one, Ashley F recommends the breakfast cupcake at Sweets Bakeshop. “A core of frosting and bacon, topped with maple frosting and another piece of bacon––it’s kind of like pancakes and bacon.” And aficionados of the frozen ought to grab a cone of maple bacon ice cream with Jim A at Crema Café. We just might have to get a pint for the road and scoop it on a warm stack of flapjacks!
Today we headed over to the mission american kitchen for the fork the fire event, a charity event to benefit Heidi’s and Blackbird restaurants. These two restaurants and a bunch of local shops tragically burnt to the ground a few months ago, and Heidi’s was one of our favorite little French places.
The following restaurants were in attendance, many of them we’ve been to and love:
Here are some not so great photos of the food at this event… I didn’t want to be a rude mofo and turn on the flash, so a lot of them turned out too blurry or dark. I need to figure this restaurant-food-picture-taking-in-darkness skillset, any suggestions?
This was one of my favorites, because it looks like a cake but it’s not really a cake! The brown part is a pumpernickel bread, the pink “frosting” is a salmon pate, and it’s topped with large mustard seeds which look like caviar. Genius.
This is a salmon with beet puree and fried brussel sprouts and a bechamel sauce. I surprisingly loved the beet puree, it had a yam-like texture.
Steak with mushrooms, puff pastry with fois gras and chanterelle mushroom pate, topped with dried apricot. This was probably my least favorite dish in the bunch, the pate didn’t taste that great, almost flavorless and had the texture of cold butter. MEH.
This is uh… the destruction I did before I remembered that I should take a picture of this. It’s a delicious fish taco. The waiter came by as I was photographing a plate of mostly eaten food, and I explained to him that I needed to catalog the destruction I did to this taco.
O. M. G. I ate two or three of these. Small toasted pita round topped with mozzarella cheese, wrapped in prosciutto, drizzed with balsamic and olive oil. How do you not eat two or three of these geeeez.
This was my first picture and it was terrible I apologize. But I included it because it was pretty tasty. I had no idea what this was at first, but it’s red bell pepper on the outside, and white navy beans on the inside, oh and I think a mediocre scallop. I probably won’t order this at a restaurant, it is lacking something, like bacon.
Dessert my favorite! Chocolate moose, with a nutty flaky crust. How do I not love you. This was unique in that the mouse was very dense, almost an ice cream texture as Travis pointed out.
Red velvet cupcakes… dipped in chocolate ganache… with a cream cheese frosting drizzled with dark chocolate… I may or may not have eaten two of these, and commented to Sean that we need to go to Target like right now so I can pick up the rest of the ingredients for a red velvet cake STAT.
and last but not least, because this was the FIRST thing that I ate… a delicious macaron. I was mad because when I went back for seconds, they were all gone, and I totally didn’t even touch the pistachios flavored ones. *sob*. I think I see a lot of macaron baking in my future.
For tonight, my blog contribution consists of the Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of one hundred foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their life. Created by Andrew Wheeler of Very Good Taste, and as seen on Chocolate and Zucchini, copied from Raccoon and Lobster, and brought to you by the letters N, O, and M.
To participate
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. [AS IF!!!! Then my blog name wouldn't be true]
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
Andrew has also published a FAQ answering some of the more obvious questions that come up from seeing this list.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile – I’m counting this because I’ve had alligator, tastes like chicken.
6. Black pudding – Ronnie counted blood tofu, so I am going to as well.
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart - I can almost say I did this in Mexico to make it more hardcore but the dude was totally not there when I remembered!
16. Epoisses – I suck at cheeses.
17. Black truffle – You’ve never had a burger until there’s fois gras and truffle on top.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - I’ve had some super sweet Japanese pear wine… tasted like syrup ugh.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes – I think I get extra points for growing them.
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras – moar please.
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese - love this stuff, want to make but too scared.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – does putting them in a salsa count? I’m counting it.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters – big ones, little ones, cooked ones, raw ones, and even oysters the size of a fist.
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda – oh wow this looks delicious, do want.
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - eww, sourdough, why ruin the clam chowder that way?
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut – welcome to scandihoovia also known as minnesota.
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea – I’m a tea snob, creams do not go in teas. That’s just so… British.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O Shots
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail – hmm I just realized that I didn’t post my oxtail stew…
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects – I swallowed a bug once accidentally. Then I burped real loud.
43. Phaal – very intrigued, would love to try.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu – I wish.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel – Mom used to buy these live and stir fry them. So good.
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut – What’s the hype? They’re not that good.
50. Sea urchin – a few times I’ve tried this… I think I like it?
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini – I prefer vodka. Gin tastes like pine trees.
58. Beer above 8% ABV – Once at Buster’s on 28th, I had a flight of 5 beers, 4 of which were above 8%… I was so wasted.
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads – mmm, innerds.
63. Kaolin – bwuh? [I left Ronnie's bwuh there, because... bwuh?]
64. Currywurst – I’m pretty sure I’ve had every kind of wurst there is to wurst.
65. Durian – mmm, stinky feet smell with rotten onion texture, how do you not like it?
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake – moar please.
68. Haggis - Just had this recently at L’Ecosse in Minneapolis. I would highly recommend it. And maybe order 2… because sharing 1 sucks.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini - I’ve had them separate of each other… but eating them together? Interesting…
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost – I am cheese fail.
75. Roadkill - ok cleetus.
76. Baijiu – hahaha Sean calls this Chinese moonshine.
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong - I’m going to say yes because last time I was in China, we did a tea house tour and tasted like 40 different teas… I’m pretty sure we covered this one.
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky – I got some in my pantry right now!
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – *sob*
85. Kobe beef – remember from up above I mentioned a burger with fois gras and black truffles on top? Well, it was a kobe beef patty. It also had braised short ribs on it.
86. Hare - one of my favorites.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano – I keep ordering this and struck out every time.
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake – tastes like chicken.
That is a total of 74, I tied you Ronnie dammit.
Ronnie’s additions to the list:
101. Jamon Iberico – mmmmm spanish bacon…. do want.
102-104. Tripe. Tongue. Trotters. – yum, I don’t care for tripe that much but I love a good tongue taco.
105. Marrow
106. Wild mushrooms
107. Huitlacoche - Ronnie this looks disgusting, but I’d try it. I wonder if I can find it at that Asian/Mexican supermarket.
108. Natto – I bet this isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.
109. Bitter Melon – ehhh it’s ok, and kind of refreshing in a way, but I still don’t think I’ll go out of my way to eat it.
Lets add a few more shall we?
110: Lutefisk – who doesn’t want a big glob of lye soaked fish? I still need to try this, and it’s not like it’s hard to get in MN.
111: Fermented Tofu – this is tofu fermented in white wine… I kind of love it.
112: Thousand year old egg – black eggs, ends up in a lot of episodes of andrew zimmern bizarre foods. Yeah it’s gross if you eat it as is, you gotta prepare it with something, then it’s pretty delicious.
113: Salted Duck Egg – Super high in cholesterol but oh man it’s worth it. The yolk is like roe. The white I can care less about.
114: PORK BELLY – I mean seriously, how do you make a culinary must-eat list and not include pork belly.
115: Shark fin soup – kind of a delicacy is it not? I don’t condone cutting fins off of sharks, but I do want to punch them sometimes.
116: Geoduck – they look so gross but they taste so good.
117: Chicharrones – basically pork rind, but if you’ve never had the skin of a perfectly cooked pig, you are not living life my friend.
I leave you with a picture of some roasted pork with the skin on. Crispy and delicious. Excuse the crappy iPhone picture, this is served at Mandarin Kitchen in Bloomington MN.
It’s suppose to be for breakfast traditionally, but this is what I had for lunch. It’s a hard boiled salted duck egg and fermented tofu over rice porridge.
Salted duck eggs when hard boiled, the egg yolk has a very grainy/sandy texture, it’s almost like a roe. The yolk of a really good duck egg is suppose to be bright orange in color, so this means my poor duck egg is of poor quality and needed to be salted more. Usually you can buy these in Asian grocery stores, either cooked or uncooked. The uncooked is usually packed in the salt it was brined in. As you can imagine, they are very salty and sadly high in cholesterol so don’t eat them every day.
The fermented tofu is basically what it sounds like. It’s placed in a salty white wine brine for probably a very long time, and tofu will take on the flavor of whatever it’s soaking in. You can get them in Asian grocery stores in jars. They are also very salty in flavor, and the texture is similar to blue cheese or a very soft creamy cheese.
Are you grossed out yet or intrigued?
