Everything's Better with Bacon

Welcome to Bacon Mecca; a bacon portal and source for all things bacon; bacon recipes, bacon cocktails, bacon trivia, bacon gifts and gear. Bacon, so versatile it can be added to almost any dish, and make that dish better. Before bacon, the BLT just sucked.

For most of us, bacon started out as a favorite side dish with morning eggs. As a child my mother got me to enjoy eating salads with the addition of bacon bits. And you know what made broccoli a whole better? yes- cheese, and bacon bits! In college bacon pizza was a favorite.

Later, as I grew up and discovered the joys of cooking, I became an advocate of the "pork can be pink movement." You'll see a little more about that below in a tribute to my hometown of Eaton, Ohio "home of pork improvement."

Join me now to bow down and give thanks for bacon.

When I moved to Preble County I found myself a neighbor to those that have toiled to bring bacon, or more officially, swine, into the limelight. Right in my back yard (literally) is the Preble County Fairgrounds, home to the annual Preble County Pork Festival.

The Fairgrounds bears the plaque pictured above. As it turns out, Preble County is to be thanked for our ability to eat pork pink!

As they describe it; "through the efforts of the late Wilbur Bruner, then the County Extension Agent and later to become a swine specialist with The Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Service, the first swine testing station was established in Preble County in 1946. We, therefore, claim the distinction of being "The Home of Swine Improvement in America". These early efforts of Bruner and participating local farmers helped bring the world leaner, higher quality, more nutritious pork." Yum, happy and proud!

Why not Dress for Excess?

The phrase "everything is better with bacon" had become such a rallying cry in our kitchen that my wife, a graphic designer, decided to design it and print it on a T shirt for me. Now we can just point to the shirt as we dump bacon bits on every vegetable that passes our lips! And you can too... click on the link below to visit her work on Zazzle; the shirts come in several colors and on aprons, magnets & mugs too!

Impress your friends

Bacon is one of the oldest processed meats in history. The Chinese began salting pork bellies as early as 1500 B.C.

Bacon doesn't just come from one place on a pig. In fact, English, American and Italian bacon comes from the belly of the pig while Irish and Canadian bacon comes from the back.

There are varieties of Beer, Vodka, Bourbon that are bacon flavored. But the Bacon Diet Coke is a hoax.

A lighthearted survey by Mapleleaf foods found that 47% of men would rather have bacon than sex & 23% ranked bacon as their favorite fragrance.

In 1924 Oscar Mayer patented the first packaged sliced bacon.

A serving of bacon is 3 medium slices weighing in at 100 calories, 8 grams fat and 440 mg sodium

11% of a standard pig's weight is bacon (a 200 lb pig yields about 20lbs of bacon)

Denmark consumes the most pork in the world. Interestingly enough, Denmark was also ranked as the "Happiest Place on Earth" by the University of Leicester. Coincidence?

The average American eats 17.9 pounds of bacon a year.

Always the Third Full Weekend in September

This is truly an AMAZING event that takes place every year here in our lil town of Eaton Ohio down at the fairgrounds. Everything swine related is celebrated, and eaten, and the entire event is FREE!

So what's going on at the annual Preble County Pork Festival?

FIRSTLY Eating. The main eating event, not for the weak or vegetarian is the BBQ Pork Chop Smorgasbord, for $13 dollars ($6 for kids) it's ALL YOU CAN EAT pork chops, sausage, cole slaw, potato salad, pickles and all kinds of pies. Because after eating 6 or 7 pork chops- you need apple pie right? I've managed to eat 3 huge pork chops but a good buddy of mine has put down 6 and still had room for pie. His name is Bob, but he can chow down like a Bubba.

OK, so if you can't eat THAT much- there's Porkhouse Short Order Restaurant, which means, you want to purchase one or two pork chops with no sides. And, that's OK too. But not nearly as fun as the Smorgasbord.

There is also a Sausage & Pancake Breakfast both mornings. Personally I'd skip breakfast and make more room for the Smorgasbord, but some folks like breakfast too.

Now- the other food available at this event- aside from the above is any kind of fair food you want- cotton candy, ice cream, PORK RINDS, kettle corn, all that good stuff.

WHAT ELSE? OK, ready- really I'm not kidding- Fresh Sausage Making Demo, National Pork Producers Cooking Demos, Pork Carcass Retail Cuts Demo, Chainsaw Art Demo, and several live music acts both days- OUR FAVORITE: Eric Loy, Preble county's own Master Guitarist. ALSO: Randy Allen and the Blues Bent Band, Tonic Sol-fa - Acapella Group, The McMechan/Reed Magic Show, Gospel music groups HOPE Singers

and the Zion Mountain Boys and there is a church service Sunday morning at 9am with Jerry Price.

For the KIDS! Petting Zoo, Just for Kids Farm Safety, Piggy Racing, Kiddie/Peddle Tractor Pull and more Ice Cream than they need. And cotton candy. And Ice cream.

SHOPPING! One of the LARGEST Arts and Crafts shows in the Area, approximately 500 Vendors in 750 spaces, Over 90,000 square feet.

GREAT IDEA: Energize yourself at the Smorgasbord and get a big head start on Holiday shopping?

The Preble County Pork Festival is a great family event celebrating a wonderful farm animal that's provided so much for Preble County!

Hope to see you there? I'll be at the Smorgasbord!

Check out the professionals Hog Callers from the Illinois State Fair... they know how to bring home the bacon.

Peace. Love. Bacon.

Ah the great pursuits, all together on one styling shirt. Gotta love it! Gotta have it to wear to the Preble County Pork Festival! And, perhaps for day 2 of the Fair, I'll put my Carnivore orientation right out in front... like there'd be any question at the Pork Fest... oh well. Its always fun to tease vegetarians with Bacon!

Bacon + Alcohol... what's not to love?

When you think you've thought of everything you find out someone else took it one step further. Meet the folks of Black Rock Spirits who infused Bacon into vodka and then sat back and watched the creative "Spirits" take over. Here are two of my favorite entries in their recipe contest. Judge for your self!

The Bacon Mary

The flagship Bacon drink. Perfect for a weekend brunch or a tailgate party. You won't find a better Bloody Mary!

- 1½ oz. Bakon Vodka in a pint glass filled with ice.

- Fill glass with tomato juice

- 1 dash each of celery salt and ground black pepper

- 2-4 dashes each of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco

- 1/8 tsp. horseradish

Shake and pour into a salt rimmed pint glass. Garnish with a celery stalk and your

favorite pickled vegetables.

The Elvis Presley

What a better tribute than to the King of Overindulgence!?

The King himself would have loved this amazing combination of flavors.

- 1 part Bakon Vodka

- ½ part hazelnut liqueur

- ½ part banana liqueur

- 2 splash of cream

Shake with ice and served like a Martini -or- strained into a shot glass.

Created by Scott Marx from Rock Bottom Brewery in Bellevue, WA.

Let's face it; making bacon is messy work. Takes time, takes elbow grease and lots of dish soap to clean up (off the pan, the stove, the cabinets, your shirt etc)... so in order to keep the bacon on hand at all times I've resorted to some tried and true time savers.

Here they are, my constant cabinet companions in their splendid smoky goodness. Most important ally is the "Hormel REAL Bacon Bits" (or as in this photo Bacon Pieces) - can't tell you how long it took me to figure out why Hormel makes two bacon bit bottles with different color tops...after about a year of buying both and vaguely wondering why I realized that one was "bits" and one was "pieces"! Of course, because it makes a difference to us bacon lovers... I prefer the pieces myself... more bacony morsels, same price. I should invest in this stuff.

Next is the Hormel Microwave Ready Bacon - a bit more likely to impress the ladies and much easier to keep in the BLT.

And, lastly is the Bacon Salt... bought it on a whim... because I HAD to... but the jury's still out. It has helped me slog through the gallon of pumpkin soup made with last fall's overabundance of Halloween pumpkins... but that was only because I was out of "Real Bacon Pieces."

I know you've been humming this little ditty subconsciously all through the page, so I will reward you know with a flash from the past, 1980 to be exact and the liberated Enjoli Woman bringing home the bacon.

from artist Mike Geno

I really like this artist's work. He paints pictures of meat, donuts and sock monkeys. He painted the Bacon Heart at the top of this page- and you can purchase prints of his work online at etsy.com/shop/mgenomgeno.

Great work Mike!