Chocolate-Covered Bacon

Anybody care for a piece of chocolate-covered bacon?

Savoury treat for lead-lined stomachs only... chocolate covered bacon

And if you thought mixing dulce de leche with cheese was exotic, then head straight to Marini's in downtown Santa Cruz.

The American restaurant has married two of the world's most delicious ingredients and given us the unusual combination of chocolate-covered bacon.

Their recipe uses hickory smoked bacon, cooking it in the oven until crispy and golden, before smothering it in their special brand of chocolate.
And for those who like to take the sweet n savoury mixture one step further, you can always sample chocolate-covered bacon mixed in with maple syrup ice-cream at Marini's itself.

It's called the 'vegan's nightmare' and its not difficult to see why.

Born in Italy, founder, Victor Marini brought his family to Santa Cruz in 1905 and opened the Palace Barbershop on Cooper Street across from the old Santa Cruz Court House.

He also had a barbershop in the old Casa del Rey Hotel near the Boardwalk.

One spring day in 1915, Victor accepted a customer's offer and bought his popcorn stand at the Boardwalk.

Joseph Marini Sr. started working for his father at the age of 10 in 1920.

Following his father's death in 1938, Joe Sr. and his wife Josephine were instrumental in building up the business.

The family soon expanded the operation and started making salt water taffy, caramel corn, and candy apples.

In the years to follow, the business was passed on to Joe Sr.’s sons, Joseph Jr. and Joel, and their wives Carol and Kathy.

Today, Joseph Marini III continues the tradition of making fine candies.

Check the clip:Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1319353/Chocolate-covered-bacon-hits-shops.html#ixzz126RO0D9b

Taste Test: KFC's New Skinwich

Brain Residue is taste testing Kentucky Fried Chicken's new sandwich: The Skinwich.

5 layers of fried chicken skin, lumped on a bun and topped with white American cheese and bacon. It’s only available at a handful of KFC's (for now).

Brain Residues verdict:

Nasty. The richness of all that fatty seasoned skin is totally overwhelming. It’s also tongue-parchingly-salty.

I started to gag and got that “brushing the back of your tongue” feeling. Had to spit it out. In KFC’s defense, the sandwich was luke-warm after taking the pics. But I doubt it would be much better hot.

With this latest move and the Double Down‘s success, KFC may be catching up to Hardees/BK in the “making sandwiches so nauseating they generate buzz” dept.

I think I will pass on this one.

Hat tip to www.brainresidue.com

The Great Bacon Odyssey: One Burger, Ten Strips Of Bacon!

Oh yeah! This burger from GeekDad is right up my alley. The chef used uncured bacon to keep the salt level tolerable to his circulatory system. Then, he chased it down with a very stout beer--the Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA--to help cut the richness of the fat.

My wife would love the burger but pass on the beer.

The Great Bacon Odyssey was prepared as follows:

I began by putting down some aluminum foil on a kitchen counter, because I didn’t want to have to scrub down the counter afterward to get rid of the raw bacon smell. I created a lattice, weaving five vertical strips with five horizontal. I then placed the perfectly ordinary, roughly 1/3lb hamburger my lovely wife had made in the center of the lattice. I tried to neatly enclose the burger in the lattice, but the bottom became a bit of a mess regardless. The top looked very nice, though, if I do say so myself (see the picture, above).

I cooked it using my oven’s broiler, the burger set on a rack over a Pyrex dish to catch rendered fat. Burgers of course taste better on a grill, but consider how many flareups ten strips of bacon would create and you’ll see why I chose not to go that route. I had to trim a few of the strips’ ends when cooking the bottom side, because they got a wee bit too close to the heating element and set off all the smoke detectors in my home. At most, though, I cut off a half-strip’s worth (and probably less), so my experiment was not terribly compromised.

And then I put it on a bun, with an excellent Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA to wash it down, and I proceeded to eat the whole thing. It was really, really good! The burger was probably the juiciest burger I’ve ever eaten, which I suppose makes perfect sense. Probably due to the bacon being uncured, I was able to stand the saltiness, leaving the richness of the pork fat the only obstacle to consumption. The hoppiness of my chosen beer helped cut the richness of the fat enough that I was able to eat the burger in less time than it took my kids to eat their bacon-wrapped hot dogs. And I even had room for corn and a little dessert afterward.

To read the whole article, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/07/the-great-bacon-odyssey-one-burger-ten-strips-of-bacon/#ixzz0t6FjWQSB

Hat tip to David McComb. Thanks for the tip!

Friendly's Grilled Cheese Burgermelt

I just saw this burger on Fox and Friends. It blows the KFC Double-Down away. This burger has 1,500 calories and 79 grams of fat. I wish we had a Friendly's in Corpus Christi. Check it out:

Friendly's Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt
Grade: B+
Nutritional Info: 1500 calories, 97 grams fat, 2090 mgs sodium

While completely over the top, this sandwich is also pure genius. Yes, it's higher in calories, fat and sodium than the Double Down, but the ingredients in this sandwich are more harmonious, making it an embarrassingly pleasurable eating experience. (As one of our readers recently commented, "...at its heart, all this is is a cheeseburger on buttered toast.")

The grilled cheese "buns" were buttery, oozing with just the right amount of cheese and just the right amount of greasiness. True, the burger could have been more plump and juicy but it was the right amount of beef to balance out the two grilled cheese sandwiches. The only thing we'd do differently is skip the lettuce. Watery, shredded lettuce did not pair well with the grilled cheese.

The verdict: Considering the nutritional facts, it's going to be hard to eat another one of these without feeling significant guilt and remorse. However, we applaud Friendly's for the invention; they've guaranteed that cardiologists around the world will not be short of business.

We're starting to nervously wonder what crazy concoction will be thought up of next, and kindly ask fast-food establishments from around the country to go easy on us.

Read more: http://www.slashfood.com/2010/06/23/friendlys-grilled-cheese-burgermelt-taste-test/#ixzz0rxyBDWm9

I want one!

KFC's Double Down

Here is a picture of Kentucky Fried Chicken's new Double Down sandwich. It is a bacon and cheese sandwich that uses two pieces of boneless fried chicken as "bread."

The sandwich will be available in two forms. The Original Recipe sandwich will set you back about 540 calories, 32g of fat and 1380mg of sodium. The not-as-bad-for-you Grilled Double Down totals 460 calories, 23g of fat and 1430mg of sodium.

This is a real KFC menu item. To read the article, click the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://consumerist.com/2010/04/kfcs-bacon-sandwich-on-fried-chicken-bread-kills-people-everywhere-on-april-12.html

The Hickory Rancher

This burger looks really good. Here are the ingredients:

1/2 pound beef patty, muenster cheese, 7 pieces of maple bacon, sauteed onions and a housemade honey hickory BBQ sauce on a kaiser roll.

I want one.

Pass the Lipitor

Here is a giant mug made of bacon filled with chedder cheese. It can induce heart attacks by just looking at it. Pass the Lipitor.

For similar dishes, check out: http://thisiswhyyourefat.com

Bon appetit!