Slideshow: Baconopolis 2011
This bacon and blue cheese wedge salad was expertly prepared by Katie Okumura and Erin Warness and featured bacon from local purveyor Zoe’s Meats. Each dish cost patrons one ticket from a bundle they received at the door, and Okumura recalled a gentleman "pretending" to drop his ticket into the jar. She noticed, laughed, and gave him a salad anyway.
Diana Tran from Tom Douglas Catering prepared Elvis sandwiches. Peanut butter, caramelized bananas, and bourbon bacon were layered onto toast, which was then brushed with bacon fat and grilled. "Everyone said it was the worst combination ever," Tran said, "but when we ate it, we were blown away."
Damien Gonzalez from Tom Douglas catering prepared this Bacon Fat Confit, chicken liver wrapped in bacon and cooked with maple syrup. The bacon was sourced from Bavarian Meats in Pike Place Market.
"Bacon. It’s so good, I got it tattooed on my arm," Gonzalez said. The tattoo, of which only the midsection is visible here, wraps around Gonzalez’s arm and depicts a pig with all of the important meaty parts labeled. There’s also a glass of wine and some cheese.
Bacon brought over from Nodine’s Smokehouse in Torrington, CT accompanied steamed clams and garlic bread.
For this delectable appetizer, pork sausage was wrapped in bacon then cooked and sliced before serving. The bacon hailed from Hill Meat Company in Pendleton, OR.
Ah, the grits. Bacon and cheesy grits, to be precise. What they lacked in aesthetic appeal was more than made up for in taste. Baconopolis goers Jason Jonson, Justin Paulson, and Nick Charles all separately proclaimed that it was their hands-down favorite. "I walked up and [the server] said, ‘Want some grits?’" Paulson said. "It’s not a matter of want anymore. I need ’em."
Popular during the Great Depression, succotash enjoyed a porky resurgence at Baconopolis. It was made with bell peppers, zucchini, red onions, fresh corn, hominy, and small slices of bacon.
For dessert: bacon doughnuts, though Tom Douglas chef Jessica Moore explained that the doughnuts were more savory than sweet. She said the bacon is cooked and rendered, then wrapped in dough. The dough is then fried, tossed in a cinnamon-sugar-cayenne mix, and topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache.
Delicious ganache.
The Gentlemen Buckhunters (who also play at Tom Douglas’ Brave Horse Tavern) let loose with upbeat bluegrass tunes that set the pace for the evening, keeping people moving and consuming.
