Meat + Poultry - February 2016 - 76

M E AT- M I N D E D

Takin' bacon to new places
Bacon rules our meat-loving nation. Our country is in the
midst of a smoke infused, salt-imbued full-scale bacon
boom. While the simple and plain pork belly strip is the
impetus behind the boom, it's what some innovators have
done and are doing with bacon that has taken its fanatical
liking to different places.
Regarding the boom, consider the Bacon Explosion,
an ingenious creation by Jason Day, a pitmaster who leads
the award-winning Burnt Finger BBQ team in Kansas City,
Mo. Day created the Bacon Explosion, a torpedo-shaped
fusion of 2 lbs. of bacon woven through and around 2 lbs.
of sausage that is filled with bacon crumbles and covered
in barbecue sauce, in 2009.
Day says the Bacon Explosion
is basically a bacon version of
"smoke the fatty," the lingo given
to a large log of ground sausage
slow-cooked in a smoker. Day just
decided to add bacon and barbecue
sauce, of course, to the sausage
log. He debuted it on his blog in
2009 and it became an Internet
sensation. Six years later, the
Bacon Explosion still reverberates.
"Barbecue is reaching new
audiences and people love bacon
so bringing those two together was
a recipe for success," Day says.
"Barbecue is
At Father's Country Hams in
reaching new
Bremen, Ky., Charles Gatton Jr.'s
audiences
family business made a name for
itself by processing and selling
and people
country hams. But Bremen has
love bacon so
gained a fine reputation for his
bringing those flavored bacon.
Funny thing, the idea for the
two together
company's
flavored bacon line
was a recipe
occurred in 2000 when Gatton was
for success."
celebrating the grand champion
award for his country ham at what
- JASON DAY
was then known as the National
Meat Association Ham Show in Lancaster, Pa. At that event,
a processor from another state had entered his cinnamonflavored bacon in a competition, which caught Gatton's
attention. Always up for a new processing challenge, Gatton
decided to try his hand at flavored bacon.
"I went home and developed pepper-flavored bacon
and cinnamon-sugar-flavored bacon," Gatton says.
Today, Father's Country Hams offers an array of flavored

MEAT+ POULTRY | 02.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

bacons, including smoked spice rum, bourbon, bourbon
vanilla, honey-glazed, apple cinnamon, Cajun, honey
barbecue, maple, jalapeno and even summer tomato.
When Gatton's father, Charles Sr., founded the business
in the 1950s, Father's Country Hams made and sold only
about 4,000 lbs. of bacon a year. Today, the company
processes and sells about 100,000 lbs. annually with
flavored bacon accounting for much of the business.
Gatton says the dry-curing process he uses for the
pork bellies to make the bacon is older than the state of
Kentucky. Early settlers, who did not have refrigeration
or other means of preserving food, brought the process to
the region. The base ingredients of the cure are salt, brown
and white sugar and sodium nitrite.
J.J. Frosk and Sam Williams are taking their creative
bacon products to the streets, literally. The 26-year-olds,
who went to high school together in New Jersey, are
owner/operators of The Bacon Truck, one of the most
popular food trucks in Boston. Frosk and Williams
officially rolled out The Bacon Truck in 2013. The Bacon
Truck was a sizzling success in 2015.
The Bacon Truck's offerings include The Hangover, a
sandwich featuring bacon, bacon scallion hash, cheddar
and Havarti cheese, and a fried egg. "It can cure a hangover,
but it can also give you a hangover because it's a heavy
sandwich," Frosk says. "It's one of our most popular items."
The Bacon Truck also serves Deep-Fried Bacon Mac
and Cheese Bites. "They are labor-intensive to make, but
they are a labor of love," Frosk says.
Last June, Boston Magazine named The Bacon Truck
as the best food truck in Boston. For Frosk and Williams,
it's full speed ahead.
"As long as people still like bacon, The Bacon Truck
will be there," Frosk says.
L AW R E N C E AY LWA R D | l a y l w a rd @ s o s l a n d.c o m

http://www.meatpoultry.com

Meat + Poultry - February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - February 2016