You'd never walk into anyone else's kitchen and begin listing all the ways various foodstuffs were being underutilized, and you wouldn't want anyone to stomp into your own space saying the same.
But, truly, it can be said of everyone making bacon at home: We're all doing it wrong. Well, "wrong" is strong -- clearly bacon buffs know how to sizzle up a strip to desire crunch-i-tude. Beyond that, though, bacon has taken off, way off, up into the stratosphere off, and every cook can learn a thing or two or 47 things at the third annual Bacon Festival, which takes over a chunk of Paramount Studios on Saturday, Feb. 7.
Nope, we're not trying to pick any fights or throw salt in wounds, but the salty meat left the frying pan years ago and now shows up in everything from scones to milkshakes to Bloody Marys to more offbeat cocktails that are not Bloody Marys.
How many years ago? About a decade, right? Social media and photo-sharing have been friends to dear ol' bacon.
The Bacon Festival isn't just for bacon-obsessed home cooks looking to pick up tips, of course; it is for eaters. Those eaters will snack up an array of bites from dozens of vendors over the course of the day, and sip brews from over 20 microbreweries.
Remember when the big drink that showed up alongside bacon was orange juice? Bacon for breakfast seems so very quaint, now.
Bling Bling Dumpling, Komodo, and Tart are three of the eateries expected, and as for the dishes? Past years have seen bacon-wrapped pineapple chunks with milk chocolate, bacon s'mores, and bacon-topped brownies (just to name three sweets).
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The organization behind the baconing? Drink|Eat|Play. Tickets? They're $65. And they're notorious for selling out ahead of the day. As notorious as that one cousin of yours who walks into your kitchen and informs you that you're not cooking something quite right or your under-using bacon.
Though if he says "you're under-using bacon" maybe he has a point. If the superstar meat of the moment is still only lining up alongside eggs and toast in your house, feast your eyes on a whole crispy caboodle of new baconesque ways of cooking/eating on the first Saturday in February.
