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

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!