Delicious Times at the Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour

The Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour, sponsered by Vande Rose Farms made another stop in the ‘burgh this past weekend. It’s very much like a traveling version of the annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival held in Des Moines, Iowa each year. I seem to recall the Tour stopping in Pittsburgh once before and I had missed it. This time I made sure I would enjoy all the bacon-y goodness. Hosting the event from Harris Grill was the one and only Mr. BaconPants. He was joined by Heather Lauer from BaconUnwrapped.com, author of the book  Bacon: A Love Story: A Salty Survey of Everybody’s Favorite Meat.

Joining me on my quest to prematurely clog the arteries  and double my cholesterol were good friends Bobby Burdette (@bobbyburdette) and Derek Kalinosky (@dkalinosky). My main goal was to see what the masses would make of the Pittsburgh Penetrator. Bobby and Derek cared less about that and more about all out BaconComa^©. Having put myself on a diet after the Grill Around the Globe… I managed some measure of self-control and didn’t over eat.

What did you eat, Greg?

Excellent question. The Harris Grill, which serves bacon every Tuesday night FOR FREE, set up a nice little buffet area for all the wonderful dishes available to sample. Lets go to the lineup:

• Country Fried Bacon
• Bacon Perogies
• Bacon wrapped Shrimp
• Bacon Sushi
• and for desert… a Bacon Cupcake.

First up, the Country Fried Bacon. Now its probably not fair for me to judge this dish since I have such an unfavoring love for the Six Penn Tempura Bacon. Still, I found the breading a little heavy which prevents the bacon from really getting the kind of crisp you’d expect. It tasted good – but also very, very unhealthy. I could almost feel it coat the inside of my heart with a thin layer of slick grease. Definitely couldn’t manage more than one slice.

The Bacon Perogies were very nice. The bacon shared the spotlight with perfectly cooked onions. I believe there was bacon both in the onions and inside the perogie. Very understated presence but definitely there. The Bacon Wrapped Shrimp were outstanding. Seafood that sits in a chaffing dish can run the risk of ending up overcooked and tough but no chance here. Probably due to the shrimp not spending much time resting. They were gone in a flash. The Bacon Sushi, as I understand it, came in two varieties. I only had a chance to sample the Philadelphia – which had a nice cream cheese element that played really well with the bacon. It was by far the most… interesting dish I tried. And I’ll leave it at that.

The Bacon Cupcake was, in a word… redonkulous. Plain and simple. Candied bacon chip on top of what I think was a maple cream cheese frosting. I didn’t eat the actual cake so i can’t say much there. I can only assume it was good based on how quickly the cupcakes were flying off the serving trays.

There was beer too, right?

Local home-brewers club, Three Rivers Underground Brewers, were on hand with several styles. Three on tap included a nice Pale Ale, a curious Applewood Cider brew and the star of the day – an incredible Maple E.S.B. which is so good I have to believe someone somewhere is going to get rich off it. It was that good. Poured a somewhat cloudy tan with a slight head. Perhaps due to a combination of the portable tap system and the tiny little plastic cup they provided.

The aroma bore a strong scent of maple yet didn’t invade the taste of a tastefully hopped beer. At first I was a little confused by the mouthfeel. The typical crispness of a bitter was gone and in its place was a well-balanced, pitch-perfect beer. Bobby’s best guess is that the sweetness of the maple tipped the scales to even. The tiny little plastic cup wasn’t the only reason I went back for thirds, fourths, AND fifths. It was that damn good.

So what’s this about a Pittsburgh Penetrator?

One of my big goals for the day was to introduce my variation of the world famous Bacon Explosion – The Pittsburgh Penetrator. The premise is simple one. Add a little Pittsburgh flavor to what is already a fantastic dish. Construction is easy. Its a Bacon Explosion wrapped around a fresh kielbasa, the casing removed to allow smoke to penetrate fully. No pun intended. Ok. I lie… it was intentional.

I need to make sure I give credit where credit is due… the idea came from my boss. Several months ago he attended a party in Upstate New York and wanted to bring something special. Being an avid sport shooter, he described to me a type of ammunition known as a penetration round. The general idea is that the core contains a solid rod designed to punch through… things. Here we punch through your taste buds.

I was very happy with the overall reception. However, there seemed to be a bit of confusion around what it was exactly. I read one account in a blog that thought it was a pork tenderloin, which I totally don’t understand. I think some folks didn’t realize that it wasn’t a standard BE.

I didn’t get around to taking many photos when I made the Pittsburgh Penetrator but here are just a few. Also only snapped a few pictures from the event. My hands were too full of beer and bacon.

like that? try these...

• 6 July 2009 -- Bacon Explosion go BOOM!
• 14 March 2010 -- Smoked BBQ Potatoes
• 22 September 2009 -- Let’s go back in time
• 2 June 2009 -- Asahi Super Dry
• 10 March 2009 -- Sam Adams Boston Lager
• 29 December 2008 -- The not quite 12 Beers of Christmas
• 21 December 2008 -- 19 new (but old) beer reviews posted.