The day M’Oink meatballs and Scott met:  “Imagine your favorite spaghetti and meatball recipe,” Scott says of the bacon-wrapped meatballs with blueberry sauce from BigMista’s BBQ. “Then wrap some freshly roasted bacon around it. You’ll then have a recipe for the ultimate adventure. The bacon was large and impressive, fully conquering the meatball and violating it with a bacon twist.”

Scott’s excitement for the dish resulted in accidentally spilling some of his topped-off beer into the bacon and meatball platter. The woman representing BigMista’s was not pleased at all. “She gave me the look of the devil,” Scott says. “I apologized, knowing that she perhaps didn’t appreciate my beer in her masterpiece.” The two would soon meet again, however, as Scott jumped right back in line for more bacon-flavored meatballs.

“Words of pure bliss and joy do not do justice to these bacon balls; they are good – damn good,” Scott says. “These could perhaps be the best bacon meatballs one would ever experience in a lifetime.”

Cynthia on bacon mac and cheese: “I hold Beachwood BBQ fully responsible for my bacon-induced coma,” Cynthia says. “Its mac and cheese was creamy, rich, and topped with a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs that really added a depth of texture to the dish.” She soon started noticing something very peculiar about the huddled crowd that was digging into their little cups of mac and cheese.

“While I watched fellow Yelpers inhale their food, I couldn’t help but notice their eyes were getting glassy, their movements were slower and they were all moaning ‘baaaacoooon’ in kind of a creepy way – like they were becoming bacon zombies or something. It seems that I wasn’t the only one in a bacon coma.”  Beachwood BBQ actually had to turn one Yelper away, because he kept coming back for more.

Other highlights:

Chocolate covered bacon: This delectable frozen dessert is making its OC Fair debut this year. Scott found the chocolate a bit too overwhelming, while Cynthia had nothing but praise. “One strip of crunchy bacon is just enough,” she says. “Try it with the salt packet it comes with. It really makes a huge difference.”

Scott and Cynthia caught Yelper and Garden Grove, Calif.-resident Jose Encino wearing a “Bacon Makes Everything Better” shirt, carrying a bacon wallet (did we mention his lovely lady friend was a vegetarian?) and enjoying his chocolate covered bacon. Bacon overload? We think not.

All in all, a very good time.

…or a unique way to roll a greasy bacon spliff…

Either way, the site is written in Danish, so until we get a reliable translation, we may never know.

I will point out, though, that the pictures on this site are quite good. Good lens choice, shallow depth of field, tasty bacon – hard to go wrong. If you’re feeling really adventurous then try to make that concoction just by looking at the pictures. If you’ve ever bought anything from Ikea then that shouldn’t be a big challenge.

– Mr. B

diet coke

mints

bubblegum

toothpicks

pancake mix

salt

jellybeans

lollipops

dental floss

bacon gummies

chapstick

bubbles

icecream

vodka

cotton candy

pillows

tattoos

chips

In addition, I can think of the following items off the top of my head…

bacon jerky

bacon mayonnaise (”baconnaise”)

bacon brownies

turbaconducken

yogurt

burger

Spam

…and I’m sure there are many other things that also taste like bacon. What did we forget? There has to be more things out there that taste like sweet, sweet bacon.

Leave a comment or reach out on Twitter (@bacontoday) to let us know what your favorite (or least favorite) bacon flavored goodies are.

– Mike

front page photo credit

I’ve been eating Bush’s baked beans for years.I love the tasty bacon, the thick syrup and the pretty purple lid.

Today we review Bush’s Best Maple Cured Bacon Baked Beans. 98% fat free, Under $2/can and always high in fiber, these beans make the perfect companion dish to any meat entree.

Steak?

Beans.

Chicken?

Beans.

Beans?

More beans.

After all, in the can’s own words, “Bush’s Baked Beans are slow cooked, using only the finest ingredients and the greatest of care, so that you can taste our secret family recipe in every bean.”

In every bean.

That’s the the kind of quality I can really get behind.

Smaste™ Rating: 33.632

– Mike

P.S. – They weren’t kidding about being able to taste the secret family recipe in every bite. I tasted it, and I know exactly what it is…

Bacon Today reader R. Rothery pointed us to an excellent recipe for Lamb Bacon today. The recipe was published in the North Coast Journal out of Humbolt County, CA (an area sometimes known for another type of bakin’ — see what I did there?).

Now, the Bacon Today readers have spoken up in the past declaring that turkey bacon is not real bacon. Is lamb bacon really bacon? Author Darius Brotman uses lamb belly to create his bacon. Is this enough to qualify it as bacon? Many of you know much more about the home production of bacon than we do — after all, we’re just bacon reporters.

Let us know your thoughts about lamb bacon using the comments below after you check out his recipe for lamb bacon.

We’ve had scares in the past about bacon buildings on fire. To this point however, we’ve been lucky that the reports were either hoaxes or misinformation.

Today we are not so fortunate. Residents near the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant in Cudahy, WI were evacuated due to potentially hazardous ammonia fumes as the plant was engulfed in flames. A state of emergency was declared in the town by mayor Ryan McCue.

It has been confirmed that at least some bacon-related items were endangered due to this fire. Chief Operating Officer Bill Otis “said the area where the fire started contains dry storage, packing materials, and production with microwave bacon technology.”

Investigations as to the cause of this blaze are still being investigated. Our thoughts go out to the 19,000 residents of Cudhay, WI. We hope the damage is repairable and the plant can get back to full scale production soon.

Thanks to reader Bacon Dan for bringing this story to our attention.

Read more at: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/50015222.html

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aloi/65709310/

We’re not normally ones to brag, (oh, who am I kidding – of course we are), but we just had to bring you this story of triumph. It’s the story of how one website put a little town called Ladera Ranch on the map with such stalwarts as Seattle, San Francisco, Des Moines and Philadelphia. Onboard Informatics recently wrote an article that poses this question: “Where in the United States does meat candy reign supreme?”

Now, big cities seem the logical choice for top bacon cities. But why Ladera Ranch? Well, it’s the home of Bacon Today, of course. From the Turbaconducken to out heartwarming stories about bacon iphone apps, we apparently have done it all. And, with a crime index of 13, it’s safe to say that Ladera Ranch also qualifies as the safest bacon city!

So plan a trip and bring your bacon. Ladera Ranch is the new place to be.

– Mike

We’ve written about some interesting bacon tattoos in the past. In fact, we’ve even contemplated getting one of our own (okay, maybe just me and Mike said I might be slightly off my rocker). Today we bring you a find from our good buddy Brett who is a tattoo connoisseur of sorts and a big fan of bacon.

Brett pointed us to this photo on Flickr. The tattoo was done by Jason Standridge and the holder of the art is Chris Ford. According to Chris, “There was a conversation that took place between me and some friends and the outcome was me getting a bacon tattoo. When I sobered up, I remembered that I wanted the bacon tat and got it!”

Yes my bacon-loving friends, when we sobered up he remembered he wanted the bacon tattoo. Mention that to the naysayers that tell you only drunk folks get bacon emblazened on their bodies. Chris, you are a true hero of bacon.

Had this quick and tasty little bit-o-bacon-love last night.

It cost $3.

It took 3 minutes to cook.

I ate it in about 3 bites. (Okay, not really, but I had to keep with the theme of 3’s.)

You just micro it on the little silver tray and then fold it in half to make a little bacon flatbread foldover.

Smaste™ Rating: 28.347

– Mr. B

It all started with a pack of Wright Brand peppered bacon. From the looks of the bacon in the package the morning was about to get off to a good start. I just didn’t know how good.

Just look at that thick-sliced, black-peppered goodness. The slices are so big they almost overpower the pan. Even before they started to sizzle the bacony smell began to fill the kitchen.

I like my bacon non-crispy. This gives me the added bonus of getting my bacon before the crispy lovers out there.

Scrambled eggs are being carefully positioned on an oven-warmed tortilla. It was at this stage that I grabbed my first taste of that Wright Brand bacon. Salty, tender, with just the right amount of fat and that wonderful pepper coating…if that combination sounds appealing to you please stop reading this post and go buy some Wright Brand bacon. Seriously, it’s that good.

If you are looking at the above picture and say “wow, that’s A LOT of bacon” kindly leave this web site. If you look at the above picture and say “WOW, that’s a lot of BACON!!!!!!!!!!” please read on. You are about to learn the secret of life. Seriously.

What are those yellow and reddish chunks on top of the bacon you ask? You recogonize the shredded cheese but are confused by what lies between it and the glorious bacon. Peppers? Onions? No and no. These are both yellow and sweet potatoes, and one of them will bring eternal happiness to your bacon-loving soul.

Turns out if you slow-roast the yellow potatoes & sweet potatoes with some carlic, olive oil, pepper, and other tasty seasonings (the chef would not reveal all the secrets unfortunately) you get one of the most amazing taste combinations ever known to the human race.

What’s with the over-the-top, dreamily-worded article you ask? Nothing. I’m serious. Although to be perfectly honest I think it’s the combination of sweet potatoes (AKA yams) and the peppered bacon that really does the trick. The sweet and salty interplay made for an absolutely perfect and extremely portable breakfast meal.

Now, if I could only get the lunch truck to start making these…

Smaste™ rating for the Wright Brand peppered bacon: a whopping 43.959

Smaste™ rating for the complete breakfast burrito: 45.999 (I’m not even sure the Smaste™ scale goes that high)