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For all you serious bacon lovers -- here's another bacon-related product of which I just became aware:

Swine Flew Bacon-scented soap
http://www.geekyclean.com/product/swine-flew-bacon-soap

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

stevez, thank you so much for posting the photos. I live to see such wonders!

I'm so sad I didn't find out about Baconfest until after it was over.

Any plans for 2011?

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How about best bacon tattoo contest?

Hi friends!

Baconfest 2011 is starting to shape up - we've been looking at venues and it seems like April 2011 is a good time to do it. At the moment, the UIC Forum is in the lead of prospective venues. Our plan is to have alot more space, and a free vendor expo that's open to the public instead of just an adjunct to the chef event.

Bacon tattoo contest is an awesome idea!

In the meantime, we're throwing a series of satellite events - bacon-dinners. The first is at Chalkboard restaurant in Lincoln Square. Four bacon-courses made with Nueske's bacon including sparkling wine aperitif (Tenuta Santome prosecco) and a Templeton Rye cocktail with dessert. All for $45 (tax and tip not included, additional beverages are extra).

The event is September 13 (a monday night) at 6:30. Reservations can be made through open table:
http://www.opentable.com/chalkboard. Just reserve for Sept 13 at 6:30 PM (the only available slot).

Here's the menu:

Passed Appetizers
-Pickled bacon lollipops
-Bacon hush puppies with tom yum
-White bean and bacon crostini with truffle and cilantro

First Course
Roasted scallops and bacon with preserved watermelon, vanilla mayonnaise and mint

Second Course
“Malt and Salt” braised pork belly with celery root puree, grape jelly, toasted almonds and fried pickled ginger

Dessert
Templeton Rye bacon bread pudding with bacon ice cream in a toasted curry crust, drizzled with aji amarillo caramel sauce

We'd love to see LTH represented!

Seth

I'm not sure what kind of shape I'll be in after the LTH picnic the day before, but I'll do my best to represent.

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For what we choose is what we are. He should not miss this second opportunity to re-create himself with food. Jim Crace "The Devil's Larder"

Hi there!

We have another satellite dinner coming up next week on Tuesday at The Southern featuring food by Cary Taylor (the chef there) and Troy Graves (the chef from Eve). There are a few seats left if LTH Folk would like to take advantage! It's $55 for five courses, a mini cocktail and a glass of prosecco. To book call the restaurant (773) 342-1840 or reserve via email erin@thesouthernchicago.com.

Here's the menu:
Planned Menu:

First
Oysters Rockefeller
Creamed Collard Greens, Housemade Tasso, Brioche

Crispy Pork Belly
Blackened Watermelon, Crispy Kale, Bacon Infused Maple Syrup

Second
Bacon Fat Poached Shrimp
Southern’s Smoked Bacon Lardons, Aged Cheddar Grits, Pickled Cayenne

Third
Alabama Hog Pot
Shoulder, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Trotters, Cheeks, Cabbage, Whiskey Pickles

Dessert
Pecan Pie
Whipped Cream, Candied Nueske’s Bacon

More details: http://baconfestchicago.com/satellite-b ... october-26

I'll be there and would love to see any LTH friends that care to attend.

Hiya!

We just announced the Baconfest 2011 Chef Lineup:

In alphabetical order:
Atwood Cafe – Derek Simcik
Bedford – Mark Steuer
Big Jones - Paul Fehribach
Black Dog Gelato - Jessica Oloroso
The Black Sheep – James Toland
Blokes & Birds – Greg Cannon
Blue 13 – Chris Curren
Boka – Carl Shelton
The Bristol – Chris Pandel
Cafe Spiaggia – Sarah Grueneberg and Aaron Diener
Chalkboard – Gilbert Langlois
Chizakaya – Harold Jurado
Custom House Tavern – Perry Hendrix
The Forest Grill – Brian Polcyn
Gemini Bistro – Jason Paskewitz
Girl & The Goat – Stephanie Izard
Hearty Restaurant - Dan Smith
Heaven on Seven – Jimmy Bannos Sr.
iNG Restaurant – Thomas Elliott Bowman
Inovasi – John des Rosiers
La Madia – Jonathan Fox
Lillie’s Q – Charlie Mckenna
LOKaL – Artur Wnorowski and Ruben Torres
Longman & Eagle – Jared Wentworth
Magnolia Cafe – Kasra Medhat
The Meatyballs Mobile – Phillip Foss
Miramar Bistro – Gabriel Viti
Moto Restaurant – Christopher Jones
Naha – Carrie Nahabedian
Old Town Social – Jared Vancamp
One SixtyBlue – Michael McDonald
Paddy Long’s – Pat Berger and Chris Latchford
Park Grill at Millenium Park - Bernie Laskowski
Perennial – Ryan Poli
Piccolo Sogno – Tony Priolllo
Piece – Bill Jacobs and Jonathon Cutler
David Burke’s Primehouse – Rick Gresh
Province – Randy Zweiban
RB Grille – Christopher McCoy
Red Canary – Neal Harper
redFLAME pizzeria – Josh Bushnick
694 Wine & Spirits – Chris Dunstatter
Sable Kitchen and Bar – Heather Terhune
Signature Room – Patrick Sheerin
Small Bar – Justin White
Socca/Redd Herring – Roger Herring
Southern – Cary Taylor
Spacca Napoli – Jonathon Goldsmith
Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago – Margaret (Meg) Colleran Sahs
Uncommon Ground – Daniel Jacobs
Steven Hubbell
Vie – Nathan Sears
WOW BAO Hot Asian Buns – (They’re doing a Bacon Bao!)

More detail: http://baconfestchicago.com/announcing- ... estaurants

Tickets will be on sale later this month!
Seth

Sold out for this year...

Looks like an amazing line-up of talent. I can't wait.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I wasn't selected for the poetry competition. Ah well, maybe next year.

I have an option to buy two tix from my failed attempt to enter a recipe into the bacon recipe contest--wondering if anyone would want the other ticket...PM me if you do.

thanks!

Jen

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Hi,

My friends from R.G.W. Candy Company, Atlanta, IL will be a vendor at BaconFest this year. I stopped in last summer where they had full strips of bacon covered in chocolate. At the State Fairs visited last summer, all the chocolate covered bacon were small pieces.

Amy Wertheim won third prize for her Aunt Lynd's Infamous Com Pudding from Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance's heirloom recipe contest.

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

i'll apologize in advance if this is not the correct place to post this

however, if anyone has 2 tickets they're willing to sell for baconfest 2011, please PM me

Wow -- what a great event. Thanks and congratulations to you, Seth, and to all your team, for an incredible day. The food was glorious. The cocktails were wonderful. The people were friendly and excited -- both those working and those indulging. I was hugely impressed with how perfectly the event came off -- just the right number of people, so that it was vibrant but not crushing, and it was easy to get to each booth. Really fabulous.

Some truly amazing preparations, too. I ran out of room before I ran out of options, but I did my best to hit as many as possible. I finally had enough braised pork belly, and there were a couple of preparations of grits that, though intended as background, were stellar (like the Parmiggianno/Regianno grits from Jimmy Bannos). I don't even want to mention favorites, because everything was so good and so remarkably different, despite all focusing on bacon.

Just a splendid event. Thanks for all the work.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I had a great time at Baconfest on Saturday and applaud the organizers for pulling off a great event. I'm very happy with my choice to spend a few extra bucks to get VIP tickets.

Having an hour to walk around taste amazing dishes, talk with the chefs and relax without a crush of people was really worth it for me. Once noon rolled around however, I immediately felt the crush of people. Now, I'm not expecting the place to be empty, and I understand selling as many tickets as possible, but I felt that when the general ticket holders were let in the place was just too crowded. One could hardly walk down the aisles, and getting a space on a table was difficult too. Last year, in a much smaller space, I never felt this way.

All in all though, great event and I look forward to Baconfest 2012!

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Thank you for the kind words and the feedback about space. We were really tickled, once again, to witness the wonderful community of bacon-lovers that gathers at our event. We're happy to report that between cash and donated food, our event will make available over 65,000 lbs of food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

seth

Baconfest Chicago General Admission tickets go on sale today at noon! http://bfc2012forum.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see some of you there on April 14.

The site says no tickets available. Did they all sell out in five hours?

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I went to the site at 12:09PM just to look, and it was already sold out.

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Twitter

It doesn't even seem possible that a ticket seller could process that many tickets in 9 minutes!!!

Well, I'm sorry to have missed the opportunity to attend again this year, but I'm pleased to see that the event is so successful.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

In the first 3 minutes, all of the tickets went into shopping carts, but about a quarter of those transactions were abandoned. As transactions were abandoned, tickets went back on sale. It took about 3.5 hours for all of the tickets to eventually get purchased. Sorry to hear you tried to buy and weren't able to get them.

Hi all -

Mrs. EdB60035 and I bought four tickets for the evening (6:30 PM) entry to Baconfest Chicago 2012, and regrettably, our friends are no longer able to make it. Looking for another couple to join us, the tickets are $77.87 each (face value), and the tickets require the entire party to enter the event at once. Please PM me if interested.

Amazing event. Once again, Seth and friends created an astonishing culinary playground where we got to sample the skills of some of Chicagoland's best chefs, all in the cause of advancing bacon. Great food -- but even more impressive was how well run the event was. Really well done on every level.

Don't know if I'll be able to eat anything else before about Wednesday, but wow, what a fabulous day. Thanks so much to all the planners and contributors and cooks and volunteer staff.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Perhaps you and I went to different events.

While I will commend the producers on GREATLY improving their event over last year, the food, I thought, was in general "meh." Of the 14 or so dishes I sampled 3 were good 2 were bad, and the rest were just OK.

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Did you go to "lunch" or "dinner"?

At lunch, there were a few less than successful items (or, to be more accurate, just not to my taste), but on the whole, everything I tried ranged from good to fabulous. Of course, everyone has different expectations and preferences -- plus there's always the chance that I got lucky in my choices, as there were a lot more than just 14 things to sample -- I couldn't even begin to try everything there.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I'm flabbergasted by the mammoth success of BaconFest. Thinking back to the very first BaconFest event at Publican (October 2009), it was mind-boggling seeing the UIC Forum filled to capacity yesterday (and knowing it had been similarly filled for the early session). What a great job Seth and his partners have done in cultivating this event. The participating chefs seemed to really be into it, too. They were having a blast. With the exception of the annual Green City Market BBQ Festival, I cannot think of another food event in town where the chefs participate in such numbers, and so enthusiastically.

It was an honor to be selected as one of the judges at the PM session (along with Daniel Zemans of Serious Eats, Ellen Malloy of R.I.A. and Tanya Nueske of Nueske's Smoked Meats, which donated over 2 tons of bacon to the event). There were, I believe, 55 different chefs/entities cooking. 40 of those 55 chose to compete for the Golden Rasher Award. So, each of us 4 judges was asked to initially try 10 dishes and identify the 1 or 2 that we thought represented the most creative use of bacon. That was tough because creativity and success don't always go together. Some of the most successful dishes I tried weren't overly creative and some of the most creative dishes I tried weren't entirely successful. Still, of my initial 10 (and a few others I sampled along the way), a majority of the dishes were very good to excellent.

After we each tasted our initial 10, we reconvened in the judges' room where servings of all of our initial favorites were brought to us. We each tasted the other judges' choices. There was some friendly deliberation but in the end, it came down fairly easily to just a couple, which all 4 of us felt were best of the best. We awarded the Golden Rasher to chef Matt Troost of 3 Aces for his combo dish: Shake 'n Bake: Bacon "Steak" 'n Bacon Shake. Both components were excellent and could have stood on their own but together, they clearly set the bar for creativity. Both dishes also happened to be delicious.

We had a great time and it was extremely cool seeing so many devotees, enthusiasts and chefs all coming together in the name of beloved bacon. Congrats, to the entire BaconFest team for putting on such a magnificent event.

=R=

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I just wanna live until I gotta die. I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try. --Todd Snider

Spit out the gum, sister!

Twitter: ronniesuburban

Thanks Ron! Appreciate the kind words.

What an excellent event...and they donated like $50k to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Here were some scenes that made me laugh...and shriek in terror (can you guess which?).

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Louisa Chu did a nice job summing up the wonder of Baconfest.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/louisa-chu/2012-04/source-all-bacon-baconfest-chicago-2012-98348

The thing that amazes me is that I sampled dishes until I thought I would die, and there are still so many things I didn't get to. Sigh.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com