cvwine.com Blog

In honor of Bacon Freak’s “Grand Release Celebration” of their brand new gourmet Bacon Cookbook the fine folks over at Bacon Today, normally a staunch competitor of Bacon Freak, requested the opportunity to premier a FREE RECIPE on their own corporate blog as part of the Ceremonious Celebration taking place within the gourmet bacon world and Bacon Freak was quite thrilled to be asked and to cooperate.

Bacon Today chose to feature the Avocado Mango Salad Recipe Which was custom created by world renowned Chef, Rick Bayless.

For those living under a rock the past decade, Rick Bayless is chef of both Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, as well as being the creator of “Frontera Gourmet Foods,” multiple Best Selling cookbook author, host of his own popular television cooking show, called “Mexico - One Plate at a Time” and winner of the James Beard “Best International Cookbook of the Year” award in 2001.

In his own words about his personal and professional adoration of bacon, Chef Bayless explains … “Everyone has seen me wear the bacon is meat candy T-shirt on my TV show…but it is more than just a T-shirt slogan to me…it’s a way of life. Whenever I am stuck on what to do in a particular recipe, I always think. WWBD?”

What Would Bacon Do? … indeed!

Enjoy Chef Rick’s free Avocado Mango Salad Recipe!

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by Cicking HERE!

I’ve enjoyed gourmet bacon for years both in my kitchen and in restaurants, but have often felt that I needed to contribute and add additional enhancing flavors to the experience.

In one way or another, I felt the need to add salt, pepper or another spice or accompaniment to make it even better. Bourbon Street Cajun Style Country Bacon has relieved my largely non-cook self of trying to figure out how to best contribute to a packaged bacon product.

Now I can put the bacon in the pan, and watch it grow and develop its zest as it sizzles to perfection without any additional seasoning on my part! The hickory, smoky, slightly spicy flavoring engages in a harmony of exceptional bacon flavors in my mouth which simultaneously delights my taste buds.

When people try to describe bacon, I have heard a myriad of descriptions including greasy, salty chicken. This Cajun Bacon is definitely not anything like chicken. The slightly crispy highly flavorful exterior of a thicker cut of bacon is juxtaposed to a softer interior that is a bit milder in taste. It was a great co-star of my dinner as a few delightful slices of protein were beside the vegetable stir-fry I whipped up.

I invited my friend over for dinner, who is also a bacon lover, and I watched happily as she too ate all the bacon before the vegetables. I can almost taste the dance the Cajun Bacon would engage upon in a BLT with the satisfying crunch of lettuce, fresh tomatoes and a few slices of turkey. Coupling this with an egg white omelet would be an excellent way to start any Saturday morning!

Unlike all other bacon I have cooked, this did not shrink to 1/2 the size that it had in its uncooked original packaging - what a delight! It smells as great cooking in the pan as it does when you actually eat it. As someone who enjoys a bit of a spice with my meals, I highly recommend Bourbon Street Cajun Style Country Bacon to those who also would like to enjoy bacon on a new level.

Lauren Armanino

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by Clicking HERE!

The Oscar’s is a night that can make a winner out of anyone. This Sunday is like the Superbowl for movies and moviegoers alike. The beauty of an event like the Oscars is that any kind of party to get together can be suitable. To celebrate the 82nd Oscar’s ceremony, I’ve decided to give my friends an opportunity to wear that old cocktail dress that’s hiding in the back of their closets.

Taking my cue from the celebration of the ceremony just miles from my own house, I may not get a red carpet but dinner and wines are definitely a must. With this year’s award ceremony recognizing the work of Meryl Streep with a Best Actress Nomination for her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia what better choice for dinner than something from her cookbook itself.

More importantly than the French cuisine though would be to find a perfect French wine to compliment the food itself. Keeping true to the spirit of the awards being in California as well as our French dinner, a bottle of wine or two from the vineyard Lyeth might be perfect. Lyeth, a Coastal Vineyard’s favorite, is a vineyard located in California that’s traditions; processes and inspiration all come from France. My well-dressed guests are going to be treated to a dinner fit for the stars.

Now it’s time for the award show to start. To make the viewing of the actual awards a bit more entertaining for my guests I have two things planned. A betting pool, costing the price of a ticket to the very first Oscar’s of five dollars to participate. The guest that guesses the most winners correctly would win the money.

While the guest or guests to guess the correct winners for the top categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screen Play would win their very own Oscar. I plan this prize Oscar to be a bottle of wine. Maybe a bottle from Rotta, yet another featured vineyard in the Coastal Vineyard Wine Clubs, one of the oldest vineyards in California being founded only nineteen years before the first Oscar ceremony in 1927.

I might place one of the Rotta wines within an Oscar themed gift bag, taking a page from last year’s Oscar bags that actually did include a bottle of wine for celebrities. Or I could create Oscar statues out of bottles of Chardonnay , already a golden light color and perfect in shape and color for the craft. Coastal Vineyards features a great wine club for Chardonnay’s of just California wines that would be perfect for keeping in our California Movie theme.

Fancy Dresses, dinner, prizes and plenty of wine throughout the night the 82nd Oscars are going to be fun even for those of us on the outside of the Kodak Theatre. The winner of the night … anyone enjoying the show with me.

Lesley Lopez

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Wine of the Month Club by Clicking HERE!

Not to be outdone by the late blooming “wannabes” who have just recently jumped onto the “Bacon Freak Band Wagon,” The Original “Bacon Freaks” just released the much ballyhooed and long awaited “Bacon Cookbook,” and the response and buzz amongst fellow “Baconistas” has been nothing less than spectacular.

If you’re truly a legitimate “Baco-holic” who has been riding the surging wave of “Baco-Mania” since long before the early “daze” of this magnificently trending movement … or if you know someone who is …then you most definitely need to immediately click over to “The Bacon Cookbook” website right away and check this out for your self or your loved ones, while supplies still last.

According to Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock, “this is a life-long dream finally manifested into reality, not just for our entire loyal monthly bacon club members and bacon store customers, but for “Baco-Maniacs” all across the country and globe, as well as for all of us here at “Bacon Freak.”

“We wanted to make sure that the cookbook was something spectacular and not just a collection of typical bacon oriented recipes.” explains Boss Hog. “So we sought out the creative culinary insights and inspirations of some of the most well respected and professionally renowned chefs in the industry, to create completely, all original, unique recipes specifically for our bacon, and the outcome has proven to be even well beyond our own expectations, hopes and dreams!”

Included in this Epicurean Encyclopedia of enticing entries are custom creation recipes from such chefs as:

Henry Adaniya

Rick Bayless

Scott Burnett

Kathy Casey

Ratha Chau

Gianni Cicilot

Holly Clegg

Laura Jakosky

Erik Kelley

Mary Beth Lawton-Johnson

Maria Liberati

Kate McAloon

Jason McClure

Patricia Mendez

Georges Mokbel

Johnna Rowe

Donna DeCunzo-Taddeo

Gary Unger

Thus, Bacon Freak’s “Bacon Cookbook” turned out to be Hog Heaven for those who truly love the seductively sultry, sweet and salty sensuality of the world’s all time favorite “Meat Candy!”

The cookbook is conveniently put together in such a way as to allow you to chose the very finest recipes for a number of specific meals, from Breakfast and Lunch, to Dinner and Dessert, even Appetizers are included.

Having no idea just how amazingly popular this first edition of the Bacon Cookbook would be, supplies may prove to be beyond limited and stretched to the breaking point for those who hesitate and put this acquisition, even temporarily on the back burner.

Clearly the second edition printing will eventually come along, and with its numbers greatly increased, now that the massive popularity of the cookbook has officially now been have gauged after the Grand Release, but for those who don’t want to have to wait till then, you can buy a copy or three right here, right now … without delay.

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by Clicking HERE!

Baconopolis … Baconopolis, by any other name would you … could you possibly smell and taste so seductively sweet, salty, sizzlingly savory and sensually sensational! I for one, think NOT!

Baconopolis (Round Two) “This time it’s Porkual!” … took place on Friday night, February 26th from 6:00 -8:00 PM at the ever so awesome Palace Ballroom in the wondrously Washingtonian city of Seattle.

Surprising to none, the event featured bacon, bacon and more bacon.

Specifically… 10 delightfully different, delectable dishes of bacon oriented fine dining fare, from items that seem to naturally go together like a “hand and glove,” to other recipes that go together more like “penguins on unicycles” and “low salt, none fat nuclear submarines.”

The entire event was brought to us by the good folks over at the Palace Ballroom
and their illustrious owner, Mr. Tom Douglas, who is also noted in the “foodie” world for being a semifinalist for the prestigious 2010 James Beard Foundation award for Best Restaurateur.

The menu included:

B.L.A.T. (the classic with avocado)

Bacon Cured Whole Pig

Bacon Cornbread Muffin

Pork n’ Beans

Bacon Explosion

Elvis’ Favorite: Hot Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon

Classic Carbonara

Bacon Fried Rice

Bacon Biscuit Sandwich with Gravy

Bacon Filled Doughnut with Maple Glaze and Bacon Salt

OK … so I was momentarily distraught to discover they were NOT servi9ng my favorite “Pork At The Bottom Yogurt, the entire event was utterly amazing?

Absolutely everybody had a wonderfully awesome time and as predicted, totally PIGGED OUT!

We can’t wait till next year.

Senseless In Seattle!

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

If you won the lottery, what would you do? A lucky couple in Bath, England, won £56 million in the EuroMillions Lottery Draw and celebrated by noshing on bacon butties.

“Butties” are what they call sandwiches in England. Aren’t the English cute? It’s apparently short for “buttered bread.” I still can’t help but giggle like a 12-year-old though when I read the word “butties.” The imagery is just too much when matched with my immaturity…

I really hope that this event spurs more people to celebrate with bacon.

I, for one, did just that in my (first) wedding. I’m not kidding, folks. We actually spoke of bacon in our vows. Oh sure, we sullied bacon’s good name by splitting up 4 years later, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, bacon is just that awesome. (PS - I go the bacon in the divorce. Squeee!)

That said, I think there are plenty of other events that could use bacon as a celebratory prop/meal:

• Sporting events: “Screw Disneyland, I’m eating some bacon.”
• Holidays: “I hope I got the rasher in your size.”
• Emotions: “I want to show you how much I love you with this pork. Plus let’s sleep together.”

The list goes on and on, but I’ll stop there. I’d like a shot at getting married a second time.

 Jennifer Eolin

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

Ok, while in some corners of the world, perhaps Wendy’s exciting, new release of their “Bacon and Blue Burger” might not incite as much enthusiastically electric and eclectic interest and conversation as ….oh I don’t know … say … the Oscars, The NBA Playoffs, or what’s apparently new on supposedly never scripted or prearranged “Reality TV.”

But around here, the BUZZ about Wendy’s newly featured food fair is quickly becoming all the rage, and personally I’m one of the happy cowboys riding that bull all the way back to “Satisfaction Street!”

We’re talking North American Beef, generously covered with “real” blue cheese crumbles, a hearty layer of freshly cooked Apple-wood Smoked Bacon, topped off with some deliciously delightful sautéed onions and a pretty decent creamy steakhouse sauce.

Alright, … I’m not going to pretend that by simply adding Bleu Cheese to a bacon burger will automatically make it “gourmet food,” but remember that it’s Wendy’s that we’re talking about here, so the quality of the ingredients and the care with which the meals are prepared and served are already up in the higher echelon of quality, compared to most “fast food joints!

Here’s what I can tell you. While I normally am not a big fan of fast food, particularly burgers, and most specifically “Bacon Burgers,” this really is a pretty decent rendition of the sort of gourmet burger that you might make at home from your latest anticipated and treasured monthly bacon club membership shipment or something that you might possibly pick up at a fancy, posh eatery for around $10.00.

It’s actually pretty darned good. I do however; strongly recommend forgoing the speed, convenience and privacy of ordering this particular burger from the take out window, and instead go enjoy eating it inside the establishment, so that you don’t loose too much of the “rollie-pollie” chucks of bleu cheese that will otherwise end up in the crack of your cars seat and possibly some other embarrassing locations I won’t even bother to suggest.

If you get the burger made to order, as it should be, the heat rising off of the burger and bacon will sufficiently melt the cheese to a nice consistency. If not, you may have to ask them to re-heat it for you on the grill, in order to get that slightly “lava-like” consistency that allows the cheese to effectively exude it’s grandiose, gooey goodness.

Enjoy!

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

Not to be outdone by Denny’s, IHOP has their own free breakfast of their own coming up!

It’s IHOP’s National Pancake Day Celebration, Wednesday, February 23rd. From 7am to 10pm, customers can get a small 3-stack of buttermilk pancakes for free. Which means more money for bacon!

Or to donate to the local children’s hospitals that they support through The Children’s Miracle Network

I for one support all this free breakfast food giveaways. Especially in these lean times, it’s nice to know that fatty bacon is always just a plate away.

– Jennifer Eolin

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

The iPods and iPhones … that is!

That’s it… I’m turning in my cell phone (that is so low rent it only makes phone calls and sends texts – ghetto!) and getting myself a shiny, new grill. Ahem… I mean… Um… Actually I don’t know what I mean.

The people at G-Monkey took it upon themselves to create an “app” for the iPhone and iPod Touch for all of us bacon fanatics out there. At first upon hearing this news, I was terribly giddy. Then I watched their YouTube video about the app and thought, “Well now that I’ve seen it, WHY do I need it?”

Biggest bummer about the app: NO REAL BACON. After suffering through the delicious soundscape of pops, sizzles and crackles as the porky goodness bubbles on a stove-top grill, there are no rewards. Not even a grease burn on our hand to show our spoils of war! People, this app is a classic example of what I like to call a “bacon tease.” HMPH!

So unless someone can figure out how to get real bacon to pop out of the USB port (squeeee!) I’d like to suggest some “additional apps” that can be downloaded to make this whole fake experience complete:

The “Exercising” app

The “Vomiting after Exercising” app

Followed by the “Complaining to anyone who will listen about how awful exercising was” app

And finish it off with the soon to be popular, “Procrastinating exercising ever again and turning into an unattractive couch potato” app

So even though this is a cool app, it’s cool for about 2 minutes and 16 seconds. So I’ll stick with my low rent phone and save myself the expense. And the “calories.”

– Jennifer Eolin

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

Here’s one of the best kept secrets in the wide and wonderful world of wine. If you choose to take advantage of this insightful “Insider Information” you are guaranteed to experience an adventure that will create life-long memories that you will cherish forever and ever.

The truth is, if you really want to enjoy a complete tour of the entire Napa Valley Wine Country, without all of the loud crowds, long lines and high energy agitation, distraction that literally thousands of people can some how manage to bring to one of the nicest, most peaceful, relaxing and absolutely gorgeous environments on Earth, be sure to check it out during the winter months!

The Napa Valley Wine Country is a veritable wine wielding winter wonder-land during the off season, but I’m talking “Cool” because of how awesome the experience is, NOT with regards to the weather or the temperatures that you’ll experience.

Remember, this is the California Coast, where the wine is ALWAYS absolutely spectacular and where the gentle and peaceful Pacific Ocean can always be relied upon to keep the things relatively temperate and pleasurable year round.

You may want wait till around 10 am to allow the day to warm up just a little bit before you arrive, though I warn you, you will most definitely miss out on some spectacularly amazing sun-rises that will take your breath away.

Likewise, using the same logic and reasoning, you may want to leave just an hour or so after sun-down to avoid the eventual nippy chill that will settle in over the evening, put if you choose to stay longer, you will be surprised that’s it’s just not as cold as you might have feared.

Coming a bit later and leaving a bit earlier will still afford you way more time to get around and see everything, as there simply isn’t any traffic, crowds or lines to slow you down from doing whatever it is that you may want to do.

Harvest has already completed its annual cycle and the barrels, tanks and in some cases (pun intended) special boutique bottles have already been put to bed to be woken again much later in the future, so this is a perfect time to actually get a chance to talk with these expert vintners and winemaking craftsmen and craftswomen and get all of the inside information on what to look for over the next few years in the world of wine.

Here’s another big plus for you. In order to effectively entice crowds to come visit the Napa Valley outside of the typical, traditional wine country touring season, the prices of absolutely everything from the wine itself, to the restaurants and shops and from the local hotel accommodations to the local night-life is greatly reduced and in some cases (pun once again, intended) a steal compared to regular season charges.

The average daily temperatures in January will hover around 50 degrees and then will begin to start rising toward the 60s by mid February and March. The winter rains turn hills the most gorgeous deep green while the dormant vines almost look like Halloween decorations, very mysterious and almost magical set off by the lightly misty skies and lack of crowds and noise

Hint – hint … the very same posh and prestigious restaurants that you would normally have to wait an hour to get a table at … and then another 30 minutes to order your meal, will now have an entire staff of smiling faces, absolutely thrilled to see you and your business and willing to bend over backwards to ensure that you enjoy your experience, at prices that are most definitely worth joining in with the big group smile!

Meanwhile, the attention and help that you will get from the various shop owners and wineries themselves will allow you to fully grasp what it’s like to be royalty or among the rich and famous “Beautiful People” that you have always read and heard so much about.

Keep in mind that while wine tasting is a year-round pastime, it’s wise to g ahead and call ahead in advance to ensure whether or not the particular winery tasting rooms that you are interested in will be open at the times you want to arrive and remember that in the off season, some of these tasting rooms are available by appointment only.

If you’re truly ready to experience an amazing adventure in class, culture and absolutely astounding natural beauty and grace, I highly recommend you try exploring the Napa Valley Wine Country during the winter months at least ONCE in your life time. I promise you, that once you give it a try, it certainly won’t be the last time you do so!

Cheers!

Signing Off and Pigging Out,
Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock
Be sure to visit our Wine of the Month Club by clicking HERE!