New York Bacon Takedown 2011

Winning Recipe - Jen Delavega's Curry Nachos

What’s better than bacon?If you were at the Brooklyn Bacon Takedown on October 16th, the answer was “um, sorry, I can’t talk right now… too busy eating BACON”.

The sold-out event featured 18 local cooks of varying levels of experience – from home amateurs to caterers – and nearly 300 pounds of Hormel Black Label Bacon, who sponsored the event.  For 3 hours, 250 New Yorkers ate their way through courses sweet and savory, and along with a panel of judges awarded bacony victory to a select few.  Bromography’s Elle and myself were fortunate to be amongst the hungry – and we left extremely satisfied.

The contestants definitely had a challenge with their main ingredient – each were given 15 pounds of the bacon-in-a-box – and so various techniques were applied to bring out as much of the bacon’s sweet flavor and to utilize the fat to it’s fullest potential: smoking, infusing the fat into peanut butter, braising in duck fat…

We loved the fact that Hormel sponsored this event and got so many incredible people together to enjoy their product.  But we wished that other purveyors could have joined in on the fun.  Because of the limitation to one kind of bacon, all had to reinvent it in order to get their recipes to stand out, and because of that we found some amazing ideas fell flat by not completely featuring the bacon itself.

The one that did send our taste buds on a sprightly, bright trip were Jay and Ann Marie Gorman’s Roasted Pork Belly with Pumpkin & Duck Fat Crouton.  It was a competition-ready combination, with a bright plum glaze, fried sage and chives finishing off a rich piece of pork belly atop creamy pumpkin and a duck-fat fried crouton.  To make the Judge’s First Choice dish even better, this Supper Club 80 duo used humanely raised pork and the freshest, most local ingredients they could find.  We loved the overall flavor and balance of the ingredients – flavor being they key word.

Julia Greene also impressed us with her Bacon on Bacon.  While we felt her pork belly confit lacked a dynamic flavor, the caramelized onions and roasted poblano pepper did elevate the bacon on top quite nicely.  And Julia herself was delightfully enthusiastic about the event: “I love the ephemeral nature of food, the shared experience… people talking…”

And then there was Jen Delavega’s winning Nacho Bacon (pictured top).  The judges and audience picked this as the dish top dish, worthy of free year’s supply of Hormel Black Label Bacon, and after two servings’ worth, we weren’t surprised at the prize.  The tiny tapas plate, as we dubbed it, layered bacon, a spicy peanut curry and cilantro on a light corn nacho.  We loved the sweetness, but it wasn’t until our second go-around when the chef had run out of nachos and we were served the remaining ingredients in a serving cup that we realized the truly winning part of the dish – the curry sauce itself.  With the larger serving of it we got the intensity of flavors we had felt wanting a bit in the original presentation, when we had wished for a little acidity to cut some of the sweetness.  The smoke of the curry appeased the missing punch we had felt lacking, giving the overall dish a bit more depth.

Other honorable mentions on our plates were the chipotle candied bacon that topped Liz Santonas’ Drunken Devil Blondies, the vinegary dressing on Katie Hipp’s Nana’s German Potato Salad, Adrian Ashby’s bacon jelly in his Sloppy Elvis and the sweet softness of Christine Huang’s Red Eye Crack Lovechild, a bacony play on the Crackpie served up at Momofuko Milk Bar.  We loved those individual elements of each of those creations.

Overall there was much to appreciate from the creativity of the chefs, with many dishes really offering something special with one aspect or another.  What we found most lack was the diversity of the bacon flavor itself, a complication that arises in any friendly competition when all participants are using the same product and some wisdom for anyone entering into a future event of the same sort.

While the venue could have a had a bit more seating, the incredible space of the Bell House was quite welcoming, as were the friendly faces of chefs and organizers alike.  The team from Baconery – NYC’s online home for ordering all things sweet and savory centered around the pig – was also around giving samples of their exciting new product line.

People’s Choice Awards:
*    1st: Jen Delavega – “Nacho Bacon”: Curry Bacon Nachos
*    2nd: Pierce – Bleu Cheese Wedge Explosion
*    3rd: Becky Macgregor – Tiny Tower Breakfast

Judges Choice Awards:
*    1st: Jay & Ann Marie Gorman – Roasted Pork Belly with Pumpkin & Duck Fat Crouton
*    2nd: Julia Greene – Bacon on Bacon
*    3rd: Jon Simon – Bacon Wrapped S’mores
Additional treats by newly opened local bakery, Baconery included cookies,
brownies and marshmallow bacon bite- all made with Hormel(r) Black Label(r)
bacon.

Guest Judges who bestowed their local food wisdom included:
*    Alex Van Buren; CHOW
*    George Motz; Author, Hamburger America
*    Rachel Wharton; Deputy Editor Edible Brooklyn

Full Contestant List & Recipes
*    Kimberly & Andrew – Bacon Cornbread Muffin with Goat Cheese & Chives
*    Jon Simon – Bacon Wrapped S’mores
*    Elysia Smith – The Greedy Pig
*    Chris Crowley – Dikon Pineapple Coconut Cake
*    Liz Santonas – Drunken Devil Blondies
*    Pierce – Bleu Cheese Wedge Explosion
*    Katie Hipp – Nana’s German Potato Salad
*    Becky Macgregor – Tiny Tower Breakfast
*    The Brooklnauts – Bacon Buns
*    Porky’s Nuthouse – Bac’n Nutz
*    Julia Greene – Bacon on Bacon
*    Colonel Pork Rinds – Bacon Krispies
*    Adrian Ashby – Sloppy Elvis
*    Christine Huang – Red Eye Crack Lovechild
*    Jen Delavega – “Nacho Bacon”: Curry Bacon Nachos
*    Jay & Ann Marie Gorman – Roasted Pork Belly with Pumpkin & Duck Fat Crouton
*    Sonja Samuel – Tipsy Rosy Popcorn
*    Tony Santoro & Ann Marie Anise – “The Lipitor Express”: Bacon, Maple
& Jack Daniel’s Ice Cream with Burnt Sugar Spiced Pecan