If you really consider yourself a bacon connoisseur, then the Bacon Making Kit from Williams-Sonoma is a must have. Get started with fresh pork belly and use the curing blend included in the kit to have your very own bacon ready to cook in one week. Coconut sugar, cracked black pepper, flaked sea salt, and plenty of recipes are included. And each kit makes five 2-lb batches of delicious, crispy bacon.
It might not contain any real bacon, but that's not going to stop us from devouring some Bacon Mustard. This gourmet sauce starts as a special recipe yellow mustard, which is mixed with ground brown mustard seeds, bacon flavored syrup, and a bacon concentrate. The finished product is a sweet/hot/smoky condiment that's great for cooking, as well as on top of anything that would normally be seeing the tip of a yellow French's bottle.
Spice up your breakfast with a couple slices of Habanero Maple Bacon. Coming to you from the good folks at Tender Belly in Denver, this delectable treat is made by rubbing their signature maple and habanero spice rub to the bellies, then dry curing and smoking them over cherrywood. All the ingredients are top notch, and you get a discount for buying multiple 5 lb. packs — so it's a great excuse to invite the whole neighborhood over for spicy BLT night.
Perhaps the toughest thing about life is not having ready access to bacon — either you're away from the kitchen, or your favorite brunch spot, and you get a craving that you just can't satisfy. Now, you could always have a supply of bacon on-hand, but that's messy, and hardly practical. But with Go Bacon, you can have bacon at your fingertips, in the form of delicious bacon jerky. Held in a portable four-by-six-inch resealable package, Go Bacon fits perfectly in the pocket of your pants or jacket, so it can go anywhere you do. Each package contains one-and-a-half ounces of premium, jerkied bacon, available in either original or a spicy sriracha flavor. Bacon lovers, rejoice.
As hard as it is to admit it, there are more options out there than standard American Bacon when you're looking for your pork fix — with Bacons of the World ($300), you get all the bacon this great nation has to offer, plus a few bonuses. With your purchase, you'll receive quarterly shipments of five pounds each, made up of half American Bacon, and half a second type. You'll get Guanciale, unsmoked Italian pig cheek; English Bacon, smoked loin with belly attached; Pancetta, the Italian cousin of American Bacon; and Holiday Bacon, a specially seasoned version of American Bacon.
If you're like us, you're fed up with the price of razors. And the mega shave company's plan to bring down the price by shaving with the same blade for a month is a disgusting recipe for disaster. Fortunately, there's Dollar Shave Club. They deliver amazing razors for a few bucks. Your first box comes with four cartridges and a free handle. Then every month (or every other month) you get a full sleeve of replacement cartridges for a couple bucks. That means you can afford to change blades as often as you like. That's an upgrade from scraping a month old blade across your face!
Presented by Dollar Shave Club.
Let's face it, just because you wore your shirt for one day to work, doesn't make it necessarily dirty — you sit at a desk all day, it's not like you're working up much of a sweat. The makers of Swash recognize that, giving you an alternative to taking your shirts to the dry cleaner after only one wear. It removes wrinkles and odors, while preserving and restoring your shirts for another wear. And because of its compact design, you can store it pretty much anywhere, saving you time and money at the dry cleaner, while keeping you looking great every day at work.
Presented by Swash.
Your bologna has a first name (it's O-S-C-A-R), so your bacon certainly shouldn't remain nameless. Treat yourself to the gift of bacon with the Oscar Mayer Bacon Gift Box Collection ($22-$28). Or, you could always drop subtle hints to your loved one ("Yeah, that was great, but it would have been better with bacon"). These elegant boxed sets come with your choice of bacon-themed cufflinks, a multitool, or a money clip — and of course a package of delicious, naturally-hardwood-smoked bacon.
It's hardly a secret that we have a bit of a taste for bacon — call it an obsession if you want. So, we were pretty excited when we found out that the mad culinary scientists at the Baconery had combined the awesomeness of bacon, the deliciousness of chocolate, and the luxury of gold to make 23k Gold Chocolate Bacon ($40). It's made with Nueske's Cherrywood Bacon, Guittard Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate, and 23k edible gold flakes. Put it on a sandwich, eat it with your eggs, we don't care. Just don't let it go to waste.
There's nothing better for bacon lovers than super-fresh bacon, and there's no better way to get it than by making it yourself. The Baconkit ($17) includes everything you need to make 5 lbs. of homemade bacon — save for the pork belly, which you can find at most supermarkets and butchers. Once you've got your meat, simply follow along with the instructions — after a week of curing, you can prepare it in the oven, or in a smoker for a more intense flavor — then cut it into strips, cook it, and eat it! It's that easy — just try not to eat all five pounds at once, or you may find yourself visiting the pig you just ate in very short order.
Add the lovely flavor of bacon to your next meal with Empire Bacon Mayonnaise ($9). Arriving in a 4 oz. jar, this specialty condiment is made from canola oil, pasteurized egg yolks, vinegar, salt, and bacon that was chosen to provide just the right amount of sweetness, smokiness, and rich flavor. The company suggests using it as sort of a bacon replacement, but if you ask us, it probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and use it alongside the real thing.
Pop quiz: how do you cook your food in bacon without actually cooking bacon? Cook it in Bacon Olive Oil ($15), of course. Okay, so it's not really bacon — it's vegan, and therefore simply bacon-flavored — but it is perfect for adding a bit of smokey depth to fried or sautéd foods, or for dunking sandwiches or fine artisan breads. Especially if the sandwich already has bacon on it (yum). [Scouted by James]
Bourbon meets bacon in this curious condiment. Jim Beam Bacon Mustard ($19/6-pack) is made using Jim Beam, adding a subtle bourbon flavor to the mustard, which mixes perfectly with the smokey, delicious bacon flavor. Warning: placing this on a beer-cooked brat might cause the universe to implode from boozy, meaty awesomeness, so use with caution. [Scouted by Ryan]
Sate your on-the-go hunger with some Bacon Jerky ($4). As the name suggests, this portable snack is made from hickory smoked slices of real bacon, letting you get your pork fix anywhere, anytime. A must-have for bacon-obsessed hikers and golfers everywhere. [Scouted by Shawn]
Yes, it's from Jack in the Box. But it's also a Bacon Milkshake ($4). Made with bacon-flavored syrup — instead of the blended bacon you might have been hoping for — this gloriously thick pig-shake is totally "not revolting," according to a review. Available for a limited time only, so hit the drive-thru immediately.
Worried about trying to actually bake with bacon? Wait until your cupcakes, cookies, or cakes are out of the oven and then amp them up with Bacon Frosting ($7). True to its name, this dark-red bacon-flavored frosting will add a blast of smoky sweet flavor to any culinary delight — just be careful, lest you be tempted to eat it all by itself like the weird bacon man is doing on the tube.
'Tis the season for eating stuff that you'll regret come summer, and since you're going to eat some diet un-friendly food anyway, why not gorge yourself on these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies ($20/6-pack). These chocolate cookies are spotted with what appear to be Reese's Pieces and chunks of bacon, giving them a rich, savory-yet-sweet flavor that you'll remember far into 2012.
What is there to say? We're quickly approaching the holiday season, and that means candy canes. So why not get some Bacon Candy Canes ($5) instead of the traditional kind? They look the same, but taste like bacon, which means they'll go down a lot easier with all the beer you'll be drinking. Just make sure you don't get them mixed up — because nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a peppermint Grolsch. And by "Happy Holidays", we mean "sorry for puking on your dog".
The glorious god of cured meat has bestowed upon us a new bacon-only bakery, aptly named The Baconery. Among the sweet, sweet offerings, we found their Bacon Pumpkin Spice Muffins ($22/6-pack) and Bacon Blueberry Muffins ($22/6-pack) to be the first things added to our cart. We've yet to taste the creations, but we're seriously doubting there's any way to screw up such a thing as these swine-y breakfast cupcakes.
Treat yourself to a Father's Day sweet that won't make you look like a sissy with this Smokey Bacon Maple Bar Cake ($35). Measuring 14" x 10" and serving up to 12 people, this delicious blend of fresh raised dough, maple, and bacon can, alas, only be ordered from Frost Doughnuts, which pretty much limits this one to those in the Seattle area. Although if you ask your significant other really nicely perhaps you can score a homemade version this Sunday.
Having conquered and bacon-ified nearly every other condiment imaginable, lords of the cured pork J&D's have turned their sights to a longtime grillmaster favorite: the dry rub. Bacon Rub ($6) allows you to give nearly any meat a bacon-wrapped flavor simply by rubbing in this mix of herbs, spices, and brown sugar, while keeping your health in check thanks to its all-natural, Kosher- and vegetarian friendly, zero fat credentials. Conveniently packaged in a 5.2oz jar, which might just last you all the way through summer.
