So That Must Be Why They Call It a Ham-Burger

Believe it or not, at least one human being has tried to make a burger out of bacon. Yesterday, in this post at Wired's "Geek Dad" blog, Matt Blum explained how he turned 19 slices of bacon into a hamburger:

. . . I decided to add one large egg to the food processor along with the 19 slices of bacon. I ground the bacon and the egg together, then, using my hands, using my hands, pulled the mixture out and used a hamburger press to make a burger.

It is possible that my hands have been greasier at some point in my life, but if so I have (fortunately) forgotten it.

I must admit that the photo of this burger doesn't look very appetizing.

What'll They Do Next With Bacon?

I'm beginning to wonder. Don't get me wrong. I am pretty fond of bacon, but I am nonetheless amused by the fact that there are some human beings who seem to devote a lot of their time to developing new recipes or dishes into which bacon can be added.

Here is an example, courtesy of the website Delish. This site offers examples of 12 quirky foods that have bacon as an ingredient. One of them is a bacon lollipop. Check out item #4: the owners of a bake shop in Boulder, Colo., so loved the taste of the Vosges bacon-chocolate bar that they developed the bacon-maple-chocolate cupcake.

I like each of those flavors, but I'm slightly skeptical as to whether they would make for a marvelous harmony or not. (I like mustard and butterscotch, but I'd never combine the two flavors.) But even I have to admit, it looks tasty.

By the way, Vosges has more than one chocolate treat containing bacon.

A Different Kind of Strip Tease

In the latest issue of Details magazine, Ben Leventhal writes an article with a rather provocative headline: "Has Bacon Mania Gone Too Far?" He writes:

Not too long ago bacon was just bacon, the great American Breakfast Meat -- a fatty, crispy, salty, smoky, spicy piece of perfection. It was a culinary simpleton, and that was the appeal.

Then it started going all Hollywood, or rather Michelin, on us as chefs like Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio discovered the virtues of cooking with bacon.

Soon it was catapulted onto plates in fine restaurants around the country.

It's a fun read. The entire article is here.