Despite the false hysteria and media attention that has been given by the media about pork products. We at www.baconfreak.com believe that Americans are showing their love of bacon and other pork products by pigging out on bacon! I have spoken to several restaurant owners and gourmet chefs that I know and they say the demand for items such as Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches is up because Americans are realizing that the Swine Flu has nothing to do with pork products. This is great news for the pork industry who reported earlier this week that orders were down.
Earlier today I spoke with Elaine Giammetta who is the co founder of www.gourmetgirlmagazine.com who shares with their readers, all that is “Good Food, Good Wine & Good Living.” She told me that she loves pork and people need to get past the hysteria. She said that, “We need take the information seriously, but be realistic and don’t be irrational!” On the lighter side co founder and chef of gourmet girl magazine Luis said “Unless your biting the pig in the pen, your probably o.k.”
I was especially pleased to follow the keyword bacon on twitter today. Clearly Americans are filtering through the media bologna and are eating pork today! I can’t tell you how many individuals including myself that said on Twitter that we would be eating bacon for dinner today!
Make it a bacony good day!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Store by clicking here
There’s a popular and famous old saying that claims that “Necessity is The Mother Of Invention!” Actually I always grew up believing that “Frank Zappa” was the “Mother Of Invention,” but apparently this necessity guy beat him to the punch!
Anyway, in the creative spirit of the “Mother of Invention,” I found this story extremely interesting and I though you all would as well, So I’m changing the name to protect the privacy of the innocent and sharing a little drama that was sent to me in a personal email that I received from one of my long time, Bacon Freak Bacon Club Members.
It seems that over the years his family has become more and more addicted to our Boss Hogg gourmet bacon, so that no matter how much he increases his monthly membership, there just seems to be too many days in the month to stretch the bacon to.
So they woke up this Sunday and needed a “Bacon Omelet” something dramatically! There was only one small problem! They had finished off all the bacon making BLT’s that Wednesday night for dinner and their shipment wasn’t coming for another week.
Some less creative and dedicated bacon connoisseur might have slummed it and simply put on a disguise, a big hat and dark glasses and taken that drive to the supermarket to pick up a pound of store bought bacon. But NOT this guy!
Here’s what he did, written in his own words to me in an email:
OK Rocco, so what I did was whip-up the eggs in a mixing bowl with a fork to make sure they were extra airy and frothy.
I went through the refrigerator & pulled out all of the chopped veggies from Friday’s “Taco Night” and diced them up real good!
Then I shredded a nice pile of cheese onto a plate and set that aside for later!
Meanwhile, while chopping, I poured the eggs into a large frying pan that was lubed well with some gourmet olive oil. I kept it set on a very low flame and put the lid tightly over the pan, to retain the heat inside the pan and slowly cook, almost BAKE the eggs on BOTH sides.
This way it cooks really slow and evenly and doesn’t burn on the bottom.
So while the eggs were cooking, I opened up a bag of your Bacon Freak Bacon Jerky, took a steak knife and sliced the jerky into edible little bits.
After about 12 minutes when the eggs were firm, but not fully cooked, I sprinkled the cheese, bacon jerky bits and assorted veggies over the eggs and allowed it to all melt into the eggs as they firmed for about 4 minutes.
Then I used a spatula to fold the omelet in half, like a taco, and placed it on a plate.
Cut it into 5 even pieces and served it to the family.
We absolutely LOVED it Rocco, it was a little bit chewy, but the heat and humidity inside the well covered pan during the cooking process softened the jerky real nicely and the seasoning from the Bacon Jerky mixed itself into the omelet and it was absolutely GREAT!
Now we need to order a few extra additional bags of Bacon Jerky, because the family wants to keep making these omelets once or twice a week, because it’s just so darned, simple, fast, convenient and delicious!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Jerky Page by clicking here
I recently found that PETA is running a campaign that “Meat Kills” because of the recent Swine Flu scare. I am saddened by their lack of ethics and the fact that they clearly have an agenda. I got to thinking recently there was a strawberry truck that lost control near my home and ran into a passenger car and killed the driver, would I write a story title strawberries kill? Of course not!
If anything PETA should take this opportunity to remind people that Swine FLU or HVN1 is prevented by washing your hands. In fact on CNN yesterday Larry King and Dr Oz spent a great deal of time saying that we as individuals need to spend more time washing our hands to prevent this virus.
As a reminder the USDA stated this week that HVN1 is transmitted via human to human contact. With that said why are the Russinas and Japanese banning pork product shipments? Is it to promote hysteria or is it to hurt this country? My guess is it is the later.
This is one American who want buy into this false hysteria!
I will be enjoying some tasty bacon for breakfast today to support our pork growers!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Store by clicking here
Swine has long been considered a dirty animal because they are portrayed eating slop and rolling around in the mud, but this portrait simply isn’t true. In fact some media outlets are depicting the swine as the culprit of this virus and are recommending that you avoid eating pork products. Here are some facts that both the USDA and the National Pork Producers Council released this past weekend
# 1. The USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that swine flu viruses are not transmitted by food, so you cannot get swine flu from eating pork or pork products.
# 2. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement Sunday night. “There is no evidence at this time showing that swine have been infected with this virus.”
# 3. “Pork is safe to eat, and direct contact with swine is not the source of, and U.S. pigs have not been infected with, the hybrid influenza that has been identified in a number of people in the United States and more than 1,300 in Mexico,” according to the National Pork Producers Council released.
The NPPC listed the following, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
People cannot get the hybrid influenza from eating pork or pork products. Most influenza viruses, including the swine flu virus, are not spread by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.
There are no food safety issues related to the hybrid flu that has been identified, according to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs.
This virus is very different from that found in pigs.
The hybrid virus never has been identified in hogs in the United States or anywhere in the world.
The hybrid virus is contagious and is spreading by human-to-human transmission.
For you vegans and vegetarians who are taking this epidemic out of context and are spreading mistruths about pork products such as bacon - shame on you. This is a serious situation that has resulted in the death of many people. Please report the facts!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Club by clicking here
If your like me and lived south of the border for 4 years you love mango’s. Not that you want to know this but I have eaten as many as 10 mango’s in a single sitting - that’s how good they are!
Recently I had the opportunity to speak to the National Mango Board www.mango.org and was excited to find out that they had created some recipes that contained bacon. One of the recipes they prepared for Cinco de Mayo (Cinco de Mango) as they like to call it was a Mango and Bacon Barbecue Pizza. First off, as it contains bacon, you know it will be good and the sweetness of mango - wow what an irresistible combination!
Thank you Ingrid Hoffmann for preparing this recipe.
Mango and Bacon Barbecue Pizza
Makes 2 Appetizer Servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 8 to 10 minutes
1 (7-inch) pizza crust
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese
2 strips bacon, cooked crisp and coarsely crumbled
1 tablespoons sliced green onion tops
1 mango, peeled, pitted and diced
Preheat oven to 450°F and place pizza crusts on a large baking sheet. Spread with barbecue sauce, then sprinkle with cheese, bacon, green onion and mango. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Let cool slightly then cut into small wedges.
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Hot Sauce Club by clicking here
This is a recipe that is awesome because while it is still scrumptiously delicious, it is a lot healthier for us than traditions, conventional jelly donuts. As an huge, extra additional advantage, they are quick, easy and inexpensive to make at home and personally, I think they taste BETTER than a regular, everyday jelly donut!
This recipe helps you to create something that is a wonderful mix between a fried jelly donut and a nice, moist muffin. Cook them with ease and then simply Fill them with your favorite jelly.
(Yields 16 muffins)
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
4 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup light cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (use 1/2 cup during the “kneading” step)
1 packet active dry yeast (Approximately 2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup of your favorite gourmet jelly or jelly combination.
Vanilla Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Pour milk into a small saucepan and cook over low heat until just hot.
Put 2 tablespoons of the canola oil along with your cream cheese, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low until blended.
Now slowly pour the hot milk over your cream cheese mixture and continue to beat until it is well blended.
Then add your eggs one at a time, beating then into the mixture well after each addition.
Now stir together 2 cups of flour and the yeast in a large bowl.
Add the flour mixture slowly to the milk mixture and beat on low until smooth.
Beat in the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Place the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic for about 5 minutes.
Now put the dough in a large mixing bowl that has been lightly coated with canola oil or canola margarine.
Carefully turn the dough over to coat the entire surface with oil.
Be sure to cover bowl and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/4 hours.
Then add 1/2 teaspoon of the canola oil to the bottom of each of 16 muffin cups.
Punch down the dough and split it into 16 equal-sized balls (about the size of golf balls).
Using your hands, press each ball into a 1/2-inch thick circle, and then spoon 1 1/2 teaspoons of jelly into the middle.
Bring up all the sides of the dough to wrap the jelly, squeezing the dough ends together well to seal.
Place each ball in a muffin cup, and roll around to cover the entire surface with oil.
Let rise in a warm place until almost double in size, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake 8 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnut muffins are nicely browned.
Remove from the oven to cool.
Top with a vanilla glaze.
Enjoy!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Jelly of the Month Club by clicking here
Bacon Freak has a really good friend who is an absolutely Bacon Freakin” Genius. His name is Rick Bakas and truth be told, he is our HERO! Why you ask? Well, partially because of what he accomplishes over at http://www.RickBakas.com but clearly more importantly, because Rick Bakas had the ingenuity to take the ultimate dream of every single person on this planet, a truly enjoyable “Chocolate Bacon Smoothie,” and made it become manifest reality!
Rick continued to experiment in his private kitchen laboratory, laboriously working out the kinks (small problems, not the “British Invasion” rock band), making all of the small, necessary “fine-tuned” tweaks needed, until he finally achieved the absolute perfection that we all could only DREAM of.
Remember that in ancient mythology, the party animal, “demigod Bacchus was deeply into his fruit & berries. Well Modern day genius “Bakas” loves his fruit and berries as well!
Rick is very happy to set the record straight on his invention, as he prepares our minds for the reality of the situation” “Before you have a gag reflex thinking about what the bacon smoothie might look like, take comfort knowing it’s still a fruit smoothie.”
Mr. Bakas continues by explaining the method behind the apparent madness: “The reason the recipe works is the chocolate. Chocolate and bacon go together, but there still needs to be fruit. Raspberries, blueberries and acai not only go with chocolate, but they’re also good for you.”
We tried it and we absolutely LOVED IT. I could start off every other day with this quick, simple, convenient breakfast substitute, full of protein, vitamins, minerals and absolute deliciousness! With this recipe you can taste the raspberry, chocolate and bacon all equally, as nothing stands out to overpower the smooth flavor blend!
Without further ado, here it is; the recipe for the “Chocolate Bacon Smoothie!”
Here’s Rick Explaining this little bit of heaven in his very own words:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup soy milk
1/4 cup acai
1/2 cup frozen raspberries and blueberries
1 TSP greens (dietary supplement)
2 strips of slow cooked, savory maple bacon
1-2 TBSP dark chocolate powder
1 TBSP Agave
Instructions:
Throw it all in a blender and blend it. That’s IT!
Enjoy!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Store by clicking here
OK, I had no idea that naming the bacon chocolates would spark so much interest! So with everyone wanting to know the name, I have chosen a winner and the name is….
Boss Hog’s Bacon Chocolate Sueyt’s!
We want to thank Steven Gomez of Copperopolis, CA who provided us with the name.
In speaking with Steven I learned that he has spent the last year losing over 100 pounds! One might make the assumption that he lost the weight by staying away from things like bacon, chocolate, and wine, but they would be dead wrong! He lost the weight by cutting all the garbage out of his diet and eating only REAL food! Fast food is NO food!
Instead, he focuses only on the best! Great bacon, good chocolate, fine wine. “Life is too short, and too good, to eat anything less” Steven says.
Recently some of asked me how did I come up with the idea? I was home alone over the Holidays and realized that being the only person in the house; nobody was going to complain if breakfast was a nice combination of an assortment of gourmet chocolates we had received as a gift from some of our Bacon Freak members, and a pound of Boss Hog Hickory Smoked Bacon.
Then I started getting clever while cooking the bacon up just right, not too crispy, but not too chewy either. Then it hit me, clear as day. I asked myself, “What in the world could possibly be better than a “Bacon S’more?” The answer came quickly after making a few experimental attempts.
You see the Bacon S’more was great, but after a few of them I started thinking to myself, “what if I got rid of all the unnecessary distractions from the chocolate and bacon?” So I tossed the graham crackers and the marsh mallows and BOOM, it was there, the “Bacon Chocolate Sueyt’s” in both dark and milk chocolate.
It’s what I call “Sweet Meets Meat!” It’s a sweet, salty and smoky taste treat that can’t be beat!
The reason for the name? Simple it bacon, its chocolate and its sueyt (suey + t = Sweet)
Recently, seriously dedicated “Bacon Freak” bacon of the month club member began the progressive journey of having our world famous & popular, always smiling Pig Mascot tattooed onto his arm. The tattoo is completely colored in now and we thought you’d all get a big kick out of seeing the finished product, which looks absolutely EXCELLENT, if I do say so myself!
The tattoo was intended to be a mixed metaphor, by artistically combining the whimsical wily wonder of our official Bacon Freak Mascot, with the traditional maritime marauding, “Pirates Pallet” or “Coat Of Arms,” know to most simply as the famous & infamous, “Skull & Cross Bones!”
For Andy Hadley, simply walking around every day, proudly displaying his stylish and official, Bacon Freak “Bacon Is Meat Candy” designer T-shirts was not enough to express his deeply devout dedication for our fabulously flavored flesh.
You see Andy’s girlfriend is so totally awesome, she had bought Andy a bunch of Bacon Freak Bacon, Bacon Jerky and of course, his very own, official Bacon is Meat Candy T-Shirt! As in the case of “Love At First Bite,” Andy quickly decided that he loved our meat so much, that he was now going to make it a part of his own.
So he instantly contacted Thaddeus Gardner, Andy’s personal “Tattoo Artist Guru,” who designed the tattoo to include the happily smiling face of our Bacon Freak Mascot with a pair of bacon slabs crossing one another below the face, to create a very distinguished and distinctive “Bacon Is Meat Candy” Pig and Cross Bones” design.
Ok, so check it out Bacon Freaks! It’s definitely a work of beauty artistic inspiration.
If you have photos of you or someone else doing something fun, sexy, silly or artistic with Bacon Freak, don’t hesitate to contact us with the full story and plenty of photos and we assure you that you’ll be well rewarded for your efforts and glad you did!
Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Visit our Bacon Club by clicking here
Life isn’t always quiet and fun as it may seem out here at Bacon Freak Ranch. It can actually get a little testy and nerve racking out in the Pig Pen at times. Believe it or not, even here at www.BaconFreak.com, there actually are people out there who will say the nastiest, meanest, most vile things in the world against you just because “you like to eat bacon” and “they don’t!”
That’s usually about as creative and expressive as it gets. Most of the nasty remarks and arguments are amazingly rude and generally presented so illogically, irrationally and basically, “stupidly,” that they simply aren’t worthy of repeating or responding to.
But along came the folks over at “Suicide Food,” a blog dedicated to pointing a bony finger of indignation at the numerous meat packaging companies who provide their clients the very meat the so very much want to eat, in packaging that features attractive or cute caricatures of the animals them selves on the packaging.
“Suicide Food” released their featured shot at us here at Bacon Freak, and frankly, we were impressed. Obviously we totally disagree with their major premise and stance against our view that “Bacon is Meat Candy,” but they were pretty clever and creative in the manner in which they made their argument, and we respect that.
Respect it so much, that we’re actually here telling our friends, customers and members about their post designed to “take us to task” over our premium quality gourmet bacon and the attractive and creatively cool packaging we deliver it to you in.
They start out their post by taking their initial shots at you, the bacon enthusiast (Forgive them, for they know “not” what they do):
“ironic adoration of bacon has never been taken to such an extreme. The baconcult has always been tedious, ranking up there with the winking obsession for retro bowling attire and bad television.”
However, it doesn’t take them long to get their gun pointed back directly at Bacon Freak:
“For instance, this pig wearing a shirt that bears the likeness of a pig and extols the dubious virtues of bacon. For bacon is so magical that even pigs love it. Yes, even amateur rebels appreciate having permission! And fear not-the pigs approve! So indulge your every appetite! Satisfy your every craving! No one’s stopping you! The pigs have given you the keys to their greasy city.”
OK, so clearly these people have never gotten out of the city and actually spent any time out in nature with actual, live pigs, because those of us, who have, know for a fact that real pigs actually LOVE to eat bacon. I don’t blame them for never getting out of the city to learn this fact, but hey, even a computer geek online can check out You Tube and watch this video of a pig happily munching a bunch of bacon.
I mean, it’s not like we’re out there actually suggesting wild and crazy ideas, like animals eat other animals. Certainly we would never suggest that out in nature, an animal would actually eat another animal.
OK, so the video proves that pigs eat bacon, but certainly fish wouldn’t eat other fish, or insects wouldn’t eat other insects. Next thing you’ll be telling me that, heaven’s forbid, some mammals actually eat other mammals as well or the drink the milk or eat the eggs of other living entities.
Hey, if you really want to go after a crazy, mean spirited cannibal, go after the Pillsbury Doughboy, always hungrily sniffing the backing remnants of his dough friends and family, talking about how good they smell and how delicious they will be! Now that, my friend, is freaky!
But “Suicide Food,” actually does begin to be swayed by the creativity in our clever presentation and even “THEY” start to have some fun and joke around about some of the fun things we do here at Bacon Freak, by adding this as a closing addendum:
Addendum: We can’t help but be “impressed” with the presentation of this product. Nauseatingly called “piglets,” these bacon pieces are shown in a serving dish shaped like a pig’s head. Finally! Man is free to safely give in to his desire to eat the brains of a piglet with his fingers!
