The life of an amateur food blogger is quite hard work. You have to go out to eat, take pictures of food and then write about it. One of my most recent challenges included reviewing three pounds of glorious crispy, salty, American styled streaky bacon. And not just any bacon, the ONLY real bacon in all of Argentina, delivered right to my door. It’s made by a grosso named Heath Baines and just as the title of the product states, it truly is Baines’ Best.
Lovers of the streaky, porky treat know that the real stuff doesn’t really exist here in Buenos Aires. Sure, you will see it advertised at restaurants and cafés, but you are only being fooled by a menu that cried bacon. A shameful panceta imitation or small pieces of squiggly pork shriveled up on a plate with a serious shrinkage problem does not a slice of bacon make.
Sadly deprived of bacon as a child by my health crazed father, because of the nitrites, nitrates, and overall non-kosherness, my only chance to devour the crunchy morsels was either at a friend’s house or sneaking to the Jewel supermarket next to the park, to snack alone on raw slabs of bacon. But guess what Mom, Dad & Rabbi Dov?! I’m an ADULT now and can eat bacon whenever my little heart desires.
3 weeks, 3 pounds of bacon and 30 bacony pimples later, I cooked up a grease splattering storm in The Great Bacon Trials of 2011. After a number of successful recipes, because let’s be honest, everything tastes better with bacon, here are my top 4 favorites, all consisting of some sort of gordo breakfast sandwich:
BLT Club A Caballo
Yeah, this is a mother of a sandwich: Triple decker bacon, lettuce, cherry tomato, avocado sandwich with a fried egg (a caball0). Just a light brunch, low on carbs and cholesterol, to get you through the day.
Toast three pieces of bread, I prefer whole wheat, but any sliced bread will do. First layer add sliced cherry tomatoes and avocado, season with salt & pepper, then add another piece of toast, tad of spicy dijon FANCY mustard lettuce and bacon, then finally a fried sunny side egg on the top.
The Hangover Baconover
Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich banged up served on a Quiero Bagel with cream cheese, capers, tomato and an egg that has been cooked in the microwave to get that airy consistency. I needed to add some hot sauce to this sandwich and luckily I found some dashes of the Ya Ya Beans La Boca Roja and then dipped it in Aunt Jemima. Then, whip up this Bacon Swizzle Stick Bloody Mary and you have the complete BACONATOR breakfast sandwich experience.
Maple Syrup French Toast Bacon Sandwich
French toast? Check! Maple Syrup? Check! Bacon? Check! The ultimate fattyfatfatgordo breakfast sandwich, pillows of French toast drenched in real maple syrup and stuffed with some crispy bacon slices in between. Let’s just look in awe and utter shame at this sickly delicious sandwich.
Eggs Kind of Benedict
Generally Eggs Benedict consists of an English muffin, Canadian ham, poached egg and Hollandaise sauce, but this version mixes it up with using crispy bacon and whole wheat toast. SOME people poach eggs in fancy poach pods, others choose a more homemade approach dousing a plastic bag or saran wrap in boiling water. Ghetto cooking at it’s finest. Making the Hollandaise sauce is key (and very easy), as it is basically a glorious matrimony of egg yokes with buttah.
Dip the plastic bag in boiling water that has a few tablespoons of vinegar, making sure to only submerge part of it (careful for plastic melting, that would not be good). When you see it start to become solid, quickly dump the egg into the boiling water until poached, remove with a slotted spoon.
Stack bacon on whole wheat toast. Always make sure to fry up some extra slices because those will be eaten while cooking.
Poached egg goes on top, CRACK some pepper, and then the Hollandaise.
As you can see, the Bacon Trials were quite successful and after being spoiled by this bacon, it will be impossible to go back to anything else. One pound of bacon is AR$45 AR$50, a bit more expensive that Jumbo’s version and oh so much better. To order your own bacon delivery, contact Heath or Lucas at 15.30261059 or heath@vingt-cinq.com.ar.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYffV7qhvTc&w=640&h=390]
This video is dedicated to Big Al.
Demian says
Me alegraste el día! No sabia que una mujer podía ser tan chanchita como yo :)
Terrific blog!
danperlman says
That video was pretty disgusting. And nice to know that they’re as smart as it makes them look… “We were flipping bacon by the gram!” Metric system smarts, that is.
Love the post – better you than me, thanks for taking one for the team!
John says
No wonder you Americans are fat as POrky
forkyou says
oink oink
kvolman says
Good to know! Not a huge fan of bacon, but sometimes life does demand bacon. Either way, very, VERY awesome way to poach an egg! I love you!!
Anonymous says
Going back to Argentina after so many years of living in the States and I always wonder, how am I gonna do without bacon? (no joke) this was an early xmas gift so thank you so much for the info!!! Recipes look delicious.
Paul Strobl says
“Bacon is evidence that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” – Ben Franklin (this is not any historical records, but I bet he said it a lot)
Anonymous says
Heath’s bacon is fantastic! I think it might even surpass good old Canadian Bacon!
Very lean.
I held a ‘couples’ cooking demo and dinner party “Everything Tastes Better With Bacon”.
Huge success! The wine was also great. Thanks, Heath!
Anonymous says
Mr. Baconpants loves this!
Alan says
“Can I get another 30, but with the pink meat discs.” These dudes are the greatest. I’m honored by your lovely video dedication.
Frances Ren Huang says
love the recipes that goes with it. very good post. :)
Anonymous says
Heath has awesome bacon. He also does wine. Mmm. Bacon and wine pairings?
Anonymous says
Confession of an over zealous father. I had bacon and eggs this morning. Yummy porqueno.
razalba says
porkeño? A good Sunday, one pound of bacon with 1 dozen eggs.
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angela says
Cool way to poach those eggs. THe photos are beautiful. The sandwiches look amazing. And that bacon! Awesome find!
Pearl says
Once in a while it’s okay to splurge. I think I will. Great photos!
Tez says
You should check out this website: http://someoneleftthecakeoutintherain.wordpress.com/
She develops and fine-tunes recipes, with the main ingredients tending to be bacon and beer! Look for the bacon caramel corn, YUM!
forkyou says
chocolate bacon cake might just be my next cooking venture