Bacon Vodka Experimentation and Recipes

Last week I found myself with a package of overpriced yuppy bacon sitting in my fridge. I paid like 7 dollars for the lot and it is the good stuff, thick cut and hickory smoked. As I have been trying to shed some pounds lately I suppressed my first instinct to make a giant bacon sarnie on wonderbread to be devoured guiltily while standing over my kitchen sink. After some thinking I was inspired by something I think I saw online or in a magazine somewhere, namely- Bacon Vodka.

The process I used was fairly simple as I will outline below.

First step, cook bacon.



Second step, drain bacon.



Third step, steep bacon, refrigerate and wait 1 week.



After a week I was left with a somewhat cloudy brownish jar of liquid. It definitely smelled and looked bacony and this was encouraging. I strained the mixture through a muslin cloth to get rid of any particulate bacon matter (Note: particulate bacon matter sounds delicious). I was left with a clear, amber liquid that had a pleasant, smoky aroma.



I will have to say a shot of this stuff tastes pretty much how you would expect. It tastes like bacon, burning alcoholic bacon. The bacon flavor was very pronounced. The vodka had truly absorbed much of the essence of cooked bacon.

After taking a shot I started to think how this meaty brew could be used in recipes. I came up with two I thought were pretty good, Bacon Crepe Suzette and a deconstructed bacon, cheese, and egg biscuit.

For the Bacon Crepe Suzette I started by whipping up some basic crepe batter and cooked up some nice, large crepes. I won't bore with the exact recipes here, they are pretty standard and easily found.



After making the crepes I threw some of the bacon vodka into the pan followed by some brown sugar. I thought the molasses flavor of the brown sugar would go nicely with the smoky bacon flavors of the liquor. Then I threw in a knob of butter, placed the crepe in the pan, and folded it twice. This is a pretty standard Crepes Suzette recipe with the Grand Marnier replaced by the Bacon Vodka.



I plated the crepe, spooned on some sauce, and topped the mess with a quenelle of vanilla icecream and garnished with some of the vodka pickled bacon.



Verdict: I was expecting this dish to be weird at best. I was shocked at how good it actually turned out. The combination of savory and sweet flavors worked very well, think a certain caloric pancake sandwich from the golden arches. The bacon flavor ran more as a base note under the general sweetness of the brown sugar and ice cream. It was downright pleasant. I would actually consider making this again.

Next I thought to make a deconstructed bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. All though, I would usually deem anything "deconstructed" as unbearably retarded I think the following is at least worthwhile in a tongue in cheek kind of way. I simply plated a shot of Bacon Vodka with a bacon swizzle stick, a mini drop biscuit, a small slice of cheese, and a small slice of hardboiled egg. I think this would best be taken as a shooter. Bite the biscuit, slam the shot, snort the cheese... I don't know. It looks kind of cool on the plate though.



All and all I find Bacon Vodka to be a success. I think a nice bacon martini with olives would be tits. If you have any questions or want a more complete recipe, email me at ridiculousfoodsociety@gmail.com.

On Deck- Tater-Elk Hot Dish!!!