Finally - Bacon done right in a Product!

Regular readers of my column will recall that I have reviewed and subsequently eschewed both Bacon Salt and Baconnaise. They are bad, chemically infused imitations of the truth, the bacon salt especially.

I then formally declared far and wide, to all those who would listen to my ramblings, that bacon is ONLY good in its original form. You cannot transform it into another substance. And so it was said and the people all obeyed me as they are wont to do.

BUT! I have been proven wrong in the form of Mo's Bacon Bar -- a product of a newish chocolate company - Vosges Haut Chocolate.

This is a tiny little picture, I know, but the real box is a thing of beauty. And the chocolate, well it worked! I was a bit dubious, given that the main ingredients on the box are listed as:

• applewood smoked bacon
• alderwood smoked salt (although I am recent convert to the salt + chocolate combo)
• deep milk chocolate (not my usual favorite, but they have just come out with a dark chocolate bacon bar! Let the world rejoice!)

But it found just the right balance -- the bacon actually hit your taste buds first, then, unexpectedly blossomed into chocolate. And, rather than seeming out of place, it was like a sense of deja vu, "oh there you are bacon and chocolate combination. I've always known about you in my heart of hearts."

Now, I could engage in a hearty round of mea culpa, but, upon careful inspection of the chocolate (the things I do for you people!), I find that I am actually seeing little bits of bacon embedded in the chocolate, so I am not wrong. Bacon is best in its original form and yummy when intertwined with chocolate.

But let me leave you with the words of the founder of Vosges Chocolate, who almost seems like a Colette for food. Her goal is to "Travel the World through Chocolate in a mission to create a sustainable, luxury chocolate experience, to bring about awareness of indigenous cultures through the exploration of spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, nuts, and the obscure."

And, here's how she (or a very clever copy-writer who is clearly my twin) describes this bar (I do like that she's a bit of a food whore like me):

"Breathe…engage your five senses, close your eyes and inhale deeply. Be in the present moment, notice the color of the chocolate, the glossy shine. Rub your thumb over the chocolate bar to release the aromas of smoked applewood bacon flirting with deep milk chocolate. Snap off just a tiny piece and place it in your mouth, let the lust of salt and sweet coat your tongue. "

I almost want to tell her to get a room, but I know where she's coming from. Enjoy!

Oh for heaven's sake, everyone knows that Hollandaise isn't Dutch!

A friend pointed me to an article on CNN about the origins of some condiments. It's a little bit interesting, but it's just your basic -- "and then they had a dude ranch and then they made ranch dressing." It's pretty light -- no backstory on the combining of the ingredients, the subsequent tastings, the discovery of what the condiment worked with and didn't work with...and so on..



Anyway, I think, and I'm not bragging kind of, that my post on the origin of Norman Bishop Dill Garlic mustard is far more informative. And it's totally 100% true!