Throwback: Bacon Nation // November '13 Mantry

America has been overrun by a bacon epidemic, but rising from the ashes of bacon frosting and bacon vodka comes a selection of makers who nailed the application of the nation’s favorite breakfast vice. Explore six degrees of bacon from some of the nation’s most talented indy food acts.

Empire Mayonnaise Co. // Bacon Mayo // Brooklyn, NY

Broadbent Bacon Burger (Pictured Above) Recipe Here

Chefs, In-N-Out Burger, annoyingly good home cooks. Their burgers are great for two reasons: 1) Quality fresh ground beef (2) A secret sauce. Empire Bacon Mayo, could be the Morgan Freeman of burger condiments, subtly and artfully upgrading a collection of ingredients from good to great by being deceptively good in the supporting role. Chef Sam Mason and designer Elizabeth Valleau emulsified to give mayo the royal treatment using non-GMO oils and local, pasture-raised eggs. Visit mantry.com/recipes to see how we took a run at a Bacon Burger sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Bacon Bloody Mary Recipe Here

Stu’s Kitchen // Stu’s Bloody Mary // Chicago, IL

Like most truly revolutionary ideas, Stu’s Bloody Mary Mix was conceived over a booze-infused brunch, where two college buddies decided to take a stand after yet another flavorless Bloody Mary. Luckily, Stu was a Cordon Bleu trained chef who sweated in the kitchen of Alinea (the 15th best restaurant in the world right now) and Rudi had sweated out enough Bloody Mary’s to spot a good one. With the help of Stu’s see how we gave the Bloody Mary the Bacon treatment complete with the overkill Bacon Salt Rim (mantry.com/recipes)

Kevin Bacon Movie Pairing: Wild Things

Broadbent’s // Applewood Smoked Bacon // Kuttawa, KY

Since starting out in 1909, Broadbents has locked down over 14 Kentucky State Fair Championships, knocking down more Blue Ribbons than your friend from college who still demands everyone drink the cheapest beer in the bar.. Unlike traditional bacon, Broadbent’s is dry-cured the old-fashioned way with these slabs of pork belly being hand rubbed with their signature cure and smoked over Applewood. The result is a surprisingly good stir stick for a Stu’s Bloody Mary.

Bacon Sundae

Vosges Haut Chocolate // Mo’s Uncured Bacon Caramel Toffee // Chicago, IL

Ask any top pastry chef in the country what the secret to elevating good chocolate is and they’ll most likely say salt. Which explains why Katrina Markoff isn’t just another hack pandering to the bacon craze sweeping the country after all. The graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris offers refuge from gutless chocolate to craft what can described as a baconized Skor bar, melty, crunchy, salty, meaty. The only thing that rivals devouring this bar straight up is crumbling it over ice cream with red head peanut brittle and crispy Broadbent’s to complete a Sundae fit for bacon folklore.

The Redhead // Bacon Peanut Brittle // New York, NY

Red hair occurs naturally on approximately 1–2% of the human population. So we can be almost certain that Louisiana native Meg Grace is the only redhead making Bacon Peanut Brittle, but we’re dead certain it’s the best around. Owner of, well, The Redhead, an East village watering hole serving up southern comfort food, Meg’s bar snack reached cult status and she began bagging it up a couple years back. Peanuts, natural cured bacon, cayenne, maple syrup, thyme. Planters? you’ve had a good run.

Bacon’s Heir // Pork Clouds // Atlanta, GA

From doughnuts to dogfood we officially live in a world where almost everything has been slapped with the artisan tag. Tackling one of the last frontiers, Brett Goodson reached for the sky and perfected the rolls royce version of that storied gas station staple, the fried pork rind. Made from salt cured pork skin fried in a special olive oil blend these light, fluffy crisps (also referred to as Chicharrón) provide the ultimate Beer companion. For more revolutionary ways to use Pork Clouds and all Mantry items, visit Mantry.com/recipes.