There is a special kind of shame that comes when you tell someone that you have a food blog and the last time you posted anything was almost a month ago. This has not been by choice, but rather necessity. As many of my friends know, my teaching load this semester has been a particularly brutal one. Not so much in terms of how my students are (they are truly lovely this semester), but in terms of how many of them there are (about 100). With class planning, grading, emails, and other assorted administrative tasks, I have hardly had any time for my friends. Let’s be honest: I have barely had time to feed myself properly. Currently, my fridge has only two things in it: booze and soy sauce. Sadly, the soy sauce has been untouched for so long that it probably has become booze — a stomach-churning yet strangely intriguing thought…
However, at the prompting of Agrigirl (thank you, Tammy!), I am finally getting off my duff and giving an update on how the 2013 Brooklyn Bacon Takedown went.
What did I make?
I had big dreams for the Takedown. Starting last year, I had this marvelous idea of doing mini bacon éclairs stuffed with Velveeta crème. Disgusting you say? Well, I didn’t try to make them so I don’t know, but I suspect that they would have been AMAZING! I was so obsessed with the thought that I even did some bicoastal brainstorming with Paul over at That Other Cooking Blog who suggested that maybe hand-piping 250 mini-éclairs wouldn’t be such a chore if I froze the choux pastry ahead of time.
Well, that idea evaporated when time got away from me. I thus turned to thinking about things that wouldn’t need any cooking at all — like bacon “Napoléons” created entirely out of smashed Twinkies, potato chips, and bacon bits.
Earlier in the summer, I had the privilege to see the artist Émilie Baltz talk about food at a Creative Mornings event. That morning, she spoke about her book Junk Foodie, a tome dedicated to reproducing classic French dishes using only American junk food. She described in loving detail how she recreated a Napoléon using Twinkies and crushed potato chips (she scooped out the filling, reserved it, rolled out the cake, cut it into rectangles, and reassembled the whole thing with layers of crushed chips and smears of the reserved cream).
Equally disgusting you say? She claimed it tasted just like a real Napoléon and I believe her. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could ensure that the chips would stay crispy layered under all that moist Twinkie cake and cream for the duration of the event. Sadly, that idea got scrapped as well.
Finally, while texting back and forth with another Paul about Breaking Bad, he threw out the name “Bacon Bad,” and I found the name so irresistible that I had to use it.
For those of you who have not seen Breaking Bad, the series ostensibly tracks the evolution of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking crystal meth in order to secure a financial future for his family following his diagnosis with Stage III lung cancer. Being the careful man of science that he is, he produces a potent and chemically pure form of methamphetamine that is also blue.
With my teaching schedule, I knew that cooking something elaborate was going to be out of the question. But cooking several pounds of blue bacon rock candy was absolutely doable, especially with the help of my professional candy-making neighbor downstairs.
Did I win?
To my utter shock and surprise, I won Honorable Mention from the judges which netted me a T-Shirt, a Microplane grater, and a wallet printed with bacon strips.
That’s not all: I also won Best Booth which means that my table decorations scored me A YEAR’S WORTH OF BACON!
That’s 52 pounds of bacon, yo!
None of this would have been possible without the help of my friends. Thank you all for coming out and supporting me! And many thanks to everyone who voted!
Special thanks go out . . .
To Niki at Sweetniks NYC, none of this would have been possible without you! Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your kitchen, and your equipment. I am so thankful to have you as my neighbor and my friend! FYI, we have also been making last year’s Bacon Takedown entry for sale on her website. Candied Bacon Spiced Pecan Nougat makes a great gift for the holidays, I’m just sayin’ 🙂
To Kalay, many thanks and hugs for coming over early, feeding me, helping me get everything to Brooklyn, helping me throughout the event, and keeping me sane! I could not have pulled it off without you. Thank you for your friendship and support!
Thank you to the incredibly talented art director-extraordinaire Sharon for re-creating the Breaking Bad logo for the Bacon Takedown! It looked absolutely AMAZING; you nailed every single detail to a T. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Another heartfelt thanks goes out to Kelly O. for lending me the “lab equipment.” It pays to have scientists as friends 🙂 And I think you can continue to use those flasks for cocktails and for other off-label uses without fear 🙂
A big thank you to Paul, without whom I would probably have been serving reconstituted Twinkie mush. Thank you for the name, the fantastic idea, and the inspiration. You’re brilliant! And thank you for helping me get everything home!
A final thank you to Matt Timms for being such an amazing organizer, host, and friend. It is always a pleasure to be a part of your events and always an even bigger pleasure to share a beer afterwards. Here’s to next time!
For another write-up about the event, I direct you to Brooklyn Exposed’s photo gallery here.
Recipe forthcoming. I promise!
coolcookstyle 
That is so creative! Congratulations! What are you going to do with all that bacon?
By the way, I am planning to visit New York for a day or two Thanksgiving week – I plan to go to Momouku Milk Bar of course, maybe Shake Shack and Dominique Ansel. Any recs for only in New York?
Thank you so much! There actually isn’t much left. I gave most of the bacon away to friends!
As for NYC, there is so much to recommend! Send me a PM and I’ll send you a short list. If you have time, maybe we can meet up. It would be great to meet up in person!
Congrats! Next up, Chairman Kaga! Are you ready to rumble?!?!?! Hee hee.
Haha! Thanks, Mouse! I am ready to rumble 🙂
(Btw, my favorite part of the opening is when he chomps into that pepper!)
A year’s worth of Well done! I like crispy.
Thank you so much, Jordan! I like my bacon on the crispy side too 🙂
Absolutely fabulous, Daisy! What a great idea! Congratulations!
M and I are extremely jealous about year’s supply of bacon! 😉
xxx
Thank you so much, Birgit! If you were here, I would share and we could make our own Berner Würstel 🙂 Doesn’t that sound amazing?
It does indeed! One day… 🙂
Here’s a virtual glass raised to that! Yes, one day … 🙂
you go girl! congrats!!!
Thank you, Paul! I still have my mind on those bacon éclairs 🙂 Maybe next year!
Amazing! Congratulations!!! I’m so proud of and happy for you. But are you sure it’s safe to tell in not password-protected post about the size of your winnings? Bacon makes people do crazy things 😉
Thank you so much, Undina! Your comment made me laugh out loud! You are very right though: bacon makes people do crazy things. Thank you again!
Everything’s better with bacon. I hope you have more free time on your hands for the next take-down so you can make those eclairs. I have to agree with you, they would be amazing.
Thank you, Poodle! I hope so too. I bet those éclairs would have been awesome. And it would be guaranteed that no one else would be crazy enough to make them!
I guess there are no chances of you going vegetarian this year then! Congrats on your win and your very creative idea!
Thank you, Houndy! Did you know that I was a vegetarian for years? 12 to be exact. Then a month in Italy disabused me of that nonsense 😉
A year’s worth of bacon?! Amazing. Congratulations! (Also I’m a huge fan of wordplay so I think ‘bacon bad’ is genius)
Thank you, Edna! Thankfully, the year’s worth of bacon came in the form of vouchers because I would NOT have wanted to haul 52 pounds of bacon home on the subway! And “Bacon Bad” was so genius! I had to use it. It would have been a waste not to!
OH MY! You nailed another competition and won some great prizes! Congratulations. I’m looking forward to see what you’ll do with a year supply of bacon!
Thank you, dearest Lucas! Yes, I seem to have a knack for crazy food competitions 🙂 As for the year’s supply, I have actually given most of it away by now to friends. I couldn’t have pulled off the event without them and they deserve it too!
Wow, that was very thoughtful to share the “meat” with your supportive friends!
Hope I will see you a little bit more often from now on. I miss our talks.
I’m going to try to be more present! I miss our talks too! How are things?
Good. I finished my master dissertation experiments last week. It’s just the beginning, now I need to put all the results logether and start writing.
Congratulations on finishing up the experiments! That is exciting. Good luck on the next step!
thanks Daisy!
Congratulations on you win and 52 pounds of bacon…your refrigerator is not going to be empty now. )
Thank you, Karen! Thankfully, the bacon came in the form of vouchers but the idea of a having wall of bacon in my fridge makes me giggle with the awesomeness of it all. I still can’t believe that I won that much bacon!
Bacon Meth? That’s innovation right there. And I’m especially keen to understand what the hell you’re going to do with 52lbs of bacon.
Thank you so much trixfred30! Yes, as people were coming down the line, I kept handing out samples saying, “Bacon crystal meth?” A lot of people asked me how I made it to which I replied, “Oh, I got an RV … drove it out to the desert …” As for the 52 pounds, I have given the bulk of it away to very good homes! But there is still quite a bit left to do something interesting. Will keep you updated!
That is fantastic, Daisy!
Thank you, dearest Jessica! So happy to see you here!
YAY BB212!!!
Thank you, John! If only you lived closer and could compete yourself. You would be formidable!
I love/d Breaking Bad! Bacon Bad is awesome too.
Congrats to 52 pounds of bacon Is that really a year’s worth of bacon? If you run out before the year is up you ask for seconds?
Thank you! Yep, that’s how they guesstimate it: a pound a week for a year. I don’t think they let you ask for seconds . . . which is a shame because a pound of week is really not enough, is it? 😉
Soy sauce, booze and now bacon? I’m sure you can do something with that. Congrats Daisy!
Booze braised bacon with soy sauce! That’s an idea for sure! Thank you for the congrats, Michelle! Isn’t a trip back to NYC in the works soon? If not, it should be 🙂
A year’s worth of bacon AND a wallet printed ith strips of bacon??? Sounds like Christmas came early for you this year! Congrats to the Baroness of Bacon. 🙂
Thank you so much, dearest heidiskye333! It was definitely a shock. A pretty awesome shock 🙂 Wish you could have been there! You would have loved it!
PS. I’ve missed you!!!!
This was a fantastic idea and I LOVE Breaking Bad. So glad you got a mention and bacon! I’m not a bacon person at all but this looked and sounded amazing and original. Congrats! See you next month at yet another Takedown.
Thank you, Jenn! It was a great idea and it was a lot of fun to make. As for the Takedown, looking forward to seeing you too. Something came up and I will be there as a spectator though, not as a competitor. However, my vote is for you! What day are you competing?
Woohoo! You rock (candy)!
Haha! Love it 🙂 Thank you!