Bacon Freak Blog

When I was a young kid growing up, the world was just in the middle of the process of evolving or transitioning from a place where you would happily go from one shop to another to deal with undisputed experts in their chosen field of endeavor.

That means back when I was a little kid, my parents would take me to a local farmers market or roadside food stand in order to get the highest quality, best tasting, freshly harvested fruits and vegetables.

Then, if we had somehow forgotten to order an item with the local milkman who delivered directly to our door daily, we would then drive to the local dairy to get the freshest milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, and cream available on the market.

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One of the most regularly asked questions that consistently comes our way on a daily basis here at Bacon Freak is: ” What`s the best / most popular / most interesting way to enjoy this gourmet bacon of yours?”

So we started asking people to share their feelings and opinions on the topic so we could get a better grasp of what people are doing with this savory, sweetly salty “Meat Treat.” .and here`s what we`ve come up with for the month of January.

Well, the Bacon Freak numbers for January`s Top Ten are officially taken, tabulated and tallied and here`s what you all came up with.

Keep in mind, this is a collection of the TOP TEN ways to enjoy bacon, so there are some answers that are fairly traditional and almost predictable, but there are some really cool and uniquely interesting surprises as well.

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One of the great benefits of owning and running a popular, monthly gourmet
food club, such as our “Coastal Vineyards Monthly Prime Steak Club,”
is the fact that I get the opportunity
to spend a whole lot of time sitting down and talking “steak” with some of
the most noted and respected experts on the subject.

That places me in a uniquely awesome position to then turn right around
share with you, the rarely revealed, valuable insider information that these
experts, from renowned and respected beef producers, butchers and Master
Chefs, pass along to me during our conversations.

I definitely think that you will find this information about steak pretty
helpful and downright fascinating!

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If you’re a beef fan like my self and you enjoy USDA Prime Beef I would visit www.beef.org. Beef.org is the home of “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” campaign.

The Beef Check off Program has a wealth of restaurant concepts and recipes
created for the at-home cook. All recipes are created and thoroughly tested
by expert chefs in the Beef and Veal Culinary Center. For you at home cooks,
you can find a ton of beef-worthy recipes for home-cooked Valentine’s Day
Meals.

I found two recipes that I thought were stand outs:
Grilled Beef Steaks with Espresso-Bourbon Sauce and the Porterhouse and Twice-Baked Potato for Two.

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The National Beef Cook-Off is
accepting recipe entries for the 2009 event. The Beef Cook-Off is one of
the nation’s premiere cooking contests – giving everyday consumers a chance
at cash and prizes of over $70,000 for their best original beef dishes.
This year’s Cook-Off will be held in September in Sonoma, the heart of
California’s wine country. Consumers can enter at www.beefcookoff.org.

Sonoma is known for delicious food, great wine
and beautiful scenery. In 2009,
Sonoma will also be known for inventive beef recipes. The 28th National
Beef Cook-Off will come to California in late September, during the peak of
the area’s beautiful harvest season to host both a Home Cook competition and
a Chef/Media Challenge. Home cooks nationwide, and local professional
restaurant chefs working in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento
metropolitan area counties are encouraged to showcase their “Sonoma-Style”
by entering their original, newly developed best beef recipes by March 31,
2009.

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