Burger King is pushing the foodie envelope with its new bacon sundae, a summer confection that features vanilla soft serve, fudge, camarel—and bacon crumbles...and a nice piece of bacon to top it all off. Will the 510-calorie treat be the last straw for porked-out foodies? See other crazy bacon dishes, from coffee to cereal.
thisiswhyyourefat.com ; David Lebovitz ; AP Photo
Burger King, the nation's second-biggest burger chain, started the year off right, introducing a slew of new healthy menu products like wraps and fruit salads. But now it's summer, and the bacon treats are coming out. First, the numbers: the new sundae starts at $2.49; it has 510 calories and 18 grams of fat. Next, the appraisal: Esquire's Elizabeth Gunnison wasn't impressed: "My overwhelming reaction was disappointment. Friends, I'm sorry to report that the Bacon Sundae is basically just your standard Burger King sundae with a little bacon on top." But you may want to see for yourself.
The beer mug, made by deep-frying strips of bacon and then wrapping them around wired mesh, offers a suitable, if obscenely indulgent, solution for baconistas who don’t know if they’re hungry or thirsty. The only con: who really wants cold bacon?
Courtesy of SuperSizedMeals.com
At David Burke’s Primehouse in Chicago, Chef Rick Gresh is famous for his bacon candles that he created to indulge diners with extra bacon fat. Gresh instructs his waiters to place the innocuous-looking candle on tables without any explanation and, once the food is served, to light a flame and drip “wax” over the dish. Customers, he says, go wild. Bacon has a “combination of salty, smoky and sweet that really hits so many flavors on the palette,” Gresh explains. “The whole flavor stays with you for hours.”
Courtesy of David Burke's Primehouse
Baconnaise, essentially mayonnaise with a bacon-heavy flavor, was created in reaction to customers’ requests for “spreadable bacon.” Part of the reason bacon is so popular, says Jessica Amason, author of This Is Why You’re Fat, is that “it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure food and it’s almost like a condiment because you can really add it to anything and it takes it to the next level.” Well, now it actually is a condiment.
At Tony’s I-75 Restaurant in Michigan, customers with bottomless stomachs and a limitless tolerance for bacon can order a BLT that famously—and dangerously—comes with a pound of bacon.
Courtesy of thisiswhyyourefat.com
There is nothing more personal than a morning cup of coffee, an idiosyncratic mix of beans, milk, sugar and, apparently, bacon. Bacon Camp’s James Loosbrock puts the beverage into perspective: “People have been eating bacon for over 2,000 years. … It’s not like more bacon is being consumed more than ever. It’s just like more people are saying ‘here’s how I really like my bacon.’”
Bacon cereal, simply bacon bits doused in milk, isn’t so much a laborious or creative bacon-infused concoction as it is an easy excuse to eat precut bacon bits with a spoon.
Steve Maks
Inveterate bacon enthusiasts will be happy to know that, at their next Sunday brunch, they can add actual bacon to their eggs and alcohol. “Bacon as a flavor enhancer is amazing,” says Bacon Camp’s James Loosbrock, who frequently garnishes his drinks with a strip of bacon. “What I think people love, the bacony-goodness that they love, is the fat that’s within the bacon. People love that flavor.”
Lucia Gregory
These bacon flavor-teasers offer a (relatively) lighter way to inject the taste into candy. It’s questionable, however, if a bacon mint will actually improve one’s breath. “People are just having fun with bacon because, at the end of the day, putting bacon on your food just makes it taste better,” Bacon Camp’s James Loosbrock says.
Courtesy of Archie McPhee
Bacon ice cream strikes the delicate balance between sweet and salty that so many bacon-lovers seek with these sorts of dishes. “We love it in all the foods we eat, whether it’s in chips or whatever snack food,” Bacon Camp’s James Loosbrock says. “Bacon has a higher fat content and that fat makes it delicious.”
David Lebovitz
The dining world’s obsession with bacon inspired the Tumblr blog thisiswhyyourefat.com, a shrine to grotesque, exaggerated and questionably edible concoctions of ingredients. “As a food, [bacon] is so gluttonous and indulgent,” says site creator Jessica Amason. “It’s greasy and salty and it’s flexible—you can add it to any dish and make it work. It’s a pretty killer, multipurpose fatty item that can up the ante on any dish.” Amason’s book version of the site features an entire section devoted to bacon-based dishes—and a selection of recipes for brave readers.
