I just noticed I never posted my photos from Bacon Camp. I am a total slacker.
What’s that, you say? “What the heck is Bacon Camp?” Well I’ll tell you. Officially:
BaconCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment about bacon. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event. It is community driven and everyone is encouraged to participate by presenting (food, art, demo), judging, or volunteering. BaconCamp is not a spectator sport.
Short version? Lots of food. Bacon in everything. And bacon crafts. That’s crafts about bacon, as well as crafts made of bacon. Awesome
Click any of the photos for larger versions. These are mostly in the order I took them, so don’t look for any kind of narrative here.
Peanut butter and bacon cookies.
Chocolate cake with peanut-butter frosting, bananas and bacon.
Creme-filled maple éclairs topped with bacon on the bottom, bacon scones on top, held up by a bacon-ranch Pringles can.
Then the chocolate cake goes on with it. Elvis would have loved this as a birthday cake.
Apple pie, crust made with bacon fat instead of lard or butter, with a lattice-weave bacon top.
It was a little hard to slice it, since the bacon all fused together into one massive sheet of crispy deliciousness, but Oh My God was it good.
Bacon-mustard dip (with pretzel crackers).
The winning entry being prepared.
And here it is: Bacon and onion pirogies, with bacon-flavored sour cream. (Note the pig-shaped butter.)
You could tell these were going to win as soon as you saw people’s faces when they sampled it. It was an instant and universal “Holy cow!” eye-opener.
In the middle, we stopped for a bacon poetry slam. First up was a set of 10 bacon haiku. Then an absolutely hilarious riff on why you always choose bacon over sausage.
The judges were from the local food scene, including … oh, like you care, back to the bacon.
Bacon-pear-bleu cheese scones, and bacon-cheddar scones.
The bacon-cheddar were delish.
I mentioned crafts, right? How about a bacon bouquet. (Yes, it’s edible.)
Here’s Karl making the bacon soft tacos.
Bacontinis, made with bacon-infused vodka. (In the coolest bottle I’ve ever seen.)
Bleu cheese and bacon ice cream.
Chicken fried bacon. Yes … chicken fried bacon.
Pickles wrapped in bacon. (It doesn’t have to be fancy to be good.)
Strawberries dipped in chocolate, rolled in bacon bits and tobasco. Yeah, that was surprising.
More crafts: bacon bling.
Free bacon out front for passers-by.
Oh yeah, the sign.
More crafts. From a pair of pre-teen siblings, a pig named Michael Jackson.
Final craft: The bacon scarf. Yeah, I want this.
So that’s it for my camera dump. Sorry there’s not a better story weaving it all together, but I’m already nearly four weeks late posting this. If I told myself I had to write a story it would be even longer.
Thanks to all the folks at the Wild Goose for the hospitality. I look forward to Bacon Camp 2010.
16 Comments
OMG! And did you get any recipes you can share with us? Like, for instance, those pirogies? By the way, to cut the lattice top on the apple pie, one need only take a pair of kitchen shears and cut the lattice part, then use the knife, following those cuts, to carve out a portion of pie. You're welcome. (grin)
http://www.crystalheadvodka.com/
yes, that's Dan Aykroyd pitching the crystal skulls filled with vodka. Not cheap, either, so you had some real quality bacon alcohol going on there. I'm jealous… I love bacon. Not sure my arteries could have handled it, though.
Wow! So was there anything there that just really shouldn't have been paired up with bacon? Or doesbacon make everyhing better?
Great post, thx for sharing! I've always said *Everything tastes better with bacon*! Seems there are many who agree:)
These pics should be on http://www.thisiswhyyourfat.com. And that is in no way an invective. Ahhhhhhhhhh bacon….DROOL!!
Last weekend we participated in Baconfest. A taco truck was hired to dole out bacon tacos and burritos. We had everything from bacon aspic to red velvet cake topped with bacon bits. Needless to say, I'm still feeling it. Thanks for the great ideas for next year.
Wow what a great event! I have been looking for a cinnamon bacon recipe. Do you have any ideas? A friend of mine had cinnamon bacon on a burger at the Burger Bar in St Louis.My Son has been bugging me to try and make him some he loves bacon!
Thanks,
Margie
Misintx@yahoo.com
Dee, I asked about the pirogi recipe, and he said they kind of made it up on the fly. I've made them from scratch once, and the dough was the hard part for me. If you've got that part down, the filling was just mashed potatoes, sour cream, bacon fat, bacon bits and chives.
Meg, there were a few foods there that made you say, "Hmm, I didn't think that would work." This one was more, "Yeah, I didn't think so." Seemed like an interested idea on paper, but drinking bacon flavor didn't seem to work. Reminded me of Jelly Belly buttered popcorn flavored jelly beans. Yes, tastes just like it, but the texture is so wrong.
Stef, see the previous answer. Drinking it didn't work for me.
Sue, what was funny was some of the crafts were made by a sewing club where half the members are vegans.
Melissa, I didn't quite need a bib, but it was close.
Erin, the bacon taco sounded great right off the bat. Everyone else agreed … the tray was empty by the time it passed me.
Margie, I don't have one, but there's a few places you can order it: First one at Bacn.com, and the other at Father's Country Hams. That second one also has cinnamon apple bacon, cinnamon blueberry bacon … lots of stuff.
And speaking of ideas, cinnamon bacon rolls. Oh yeah, that's happening this fall.
Best thing I've ever seen–send me some of that apple pie, stat! Please:)
Interesting recipes. I know they sound weird, but you never know until you try do you. The apple pie crust sounds really good.
I wish we had Bacon Camp.
Also, I would do many, many things to get a slice of that bacon apple pie.
Jenni, Tony and Sweetbird, it's just a regular apple pie with some bacon on it. No reason you can't make your own.
That pie with bacon does look delicious. I am sure it is a slight health concern!! Oh, well…
Nope, no health concerns here. Now the sugar in the ice cream you would put on the side, that's a health concern.
OMG. this totally kicks my baconfest's ass.
http://www.wanlifetolive.com/2009/07/baconfest-aka-heaven-for-wan.html
I don't know, yours looked pretty good, too. And even if it wasn't, it was in California instead of Ohio. So you win anyway.