The Official Bacon Salt Blog

Bacon Salt update!

A few quick updates. We're working on shipping, shipping, shipping this week. Our goal is to catch up to the present day today and finish working through the large number of orders we got last week. We've hired a few part-timers to help us get through everything, so we'll get your packages to you as fast as humanly possible!

Secondly, we got a really great honor from Mercy Corps, a charitable organization to whom we donate all of our proceeds from our merchandise sales. They profiled us on their website today at http://www.mercycorps.org/getinvolved/communityfundraising/1778. We love Mercy Corps for all the good they do around the world, and how you can donate to specific crises and causes that are of interest to you, and we're really honored that they chose to profile us.

Finally, here's a use for Bacon Salt that we hadn't thought of - on watermelon! We haven't confirmed this for ourselves yet, but Ryan (who submitted the first known picture of this treat here) describes it as:

"Incredible. Had a similar appreal as does mexican candy. Sweet but spicy."

Keep those ideas coming! Send your pics and recipes today to baconlove@baconsalt.com!

Our first chef meeting

I met with a chef at a respected restaurant/pub last week. It's great to see someone who has gone to culinary school start to experiment with the flavors. When Bacon Salt is on the menu there, we'll be putting up a post about it here. Here was his feedback after they had a chance to experiment (we can't wait to see what else they come up with!):

We tried it on a few things and had good comments/feedback, here's some things we tried it on/with:

• Bacon, haha it was as good as you said, one of my cooks said "it's like bacon on steroids."
• Smoked Salmon Chowder, totally amazing, great backing smoky flavor and aroma, plus like we talked about NO actual bacon
• Vegetarian Five Bean Soup, once again totally amazing
• Potato Cake/Croquette: Awesome aroma, totally rounds out the flavor
• Green Beans, Asparagus, Summer Squash
• French Fries and Sweet Potato Fries
• Ranch Dressing, amazing...bacon ranch dressing is my new favorite

I have tons of other ideas too, including some with duck breasts, in warm dressings/vinaigrettes, other soups, etc...

If you're going to buy just one flavor.../early reviews

... may I suggest Hickory? I say this only because it's my favorite flavor by far, and everyone who orders one seems to be starting with Original. They're all great in their own ways, but I'm just trying to put our best foot forward here!

Here are a couple of reviews we got from people who got our first shipment today:

I recently received my order of Bacon Salt. I was curious how good it would really be. I am now a true believer. As a matter of fact I took all three flavors with me to work to share my joy. As a result I know a lot of coworkers that have been ordering. If you suddenly see a lot of orders from Tuscon AZ, quite a few are because of me ;-)

Here's one from our neighbors to the North in Canada:

I like the peppered one, my dad likes the regular and my 7 year old loves and I mean loves the Hickory. He put it on everything last night.

Incidentally, shipping to Canada is the same as the cost to the US. We hate and we mean really hate shipping costs, so if you love it like the people above, please tell your local grocer to stock Bacon Salt and have their buyers email us at passthebacon@baconsalt.com.

Bacon will never jump the shark

(Yeah, yeah. We get it. We know you love cutlets.)

Today, a food critic from New York Magazine named Josh Ozersky (known in other circles as Mr. Cutlet) said that, after hundreds of years of delicious history, bacon has now “jumped the shark.” If you’re not familiar with the term “jumping the shark,” this is a reference to that infamous scene in Happy Days when Fonzie gave up his motorcycle for water skis and his leather jacket for a wetsuit and tried to jump an actual shark. From there the show went completely downhill and the days of mirth were officially over.

In other words, Mr. Ozersky says, it’s all downhill for bacon from now on. Alert the villagers. Wake the townspeople. Bacon is no longer delicious anymore because Josh Ozersky says so. A zero calorie, zero fat, vegetarian and kosher-certified seasoning that tastes like real bacon is the beginning of the end for bacon.

As college football analyst Lee Corso likes to say (usually while wearing a big buckeye or gator on his head), “NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND.” Bacon is still delicious and enjoyed by millions worldwide. No other food item gets the attention that bacon gets: as a reference to its popularity, do a search on Google. You’ll find 142,000 references for “I love bacon.” Do a similar search for “I love cutlets” and you’ll get only 42. You’re outnumbered and surrounded, Mr. Cutlet. Surrender to your love of bacon.

As a restaurant critic, you wouldn’t review a restaurant before stepping inside and at least tasting the food. Give Bacon Salt a shot – if you’re a true carnivore like you say you are (and like we are), we think you’ll love it like we do on all kinds of meat products, including cutlets. You’re the respected carniv-author of Meat Me in Manhattan – it’s almost like we made Bacon Salt just for you.

Your invitation to come inside is open – we hope you take it!

The Straight Dope and the Bacon Salt Society

We love the way that the Internet has changed the way that people research new products. There's been a great series of posts and questions about Bacon Salt on Straight Dope. Reviewer Cervaise, who was able to find Bacon Salt at City Fish in Pike Place market here in Seattle (City Fish reported to us earlier today that they only have 5 or 6 lonely containers left) put Bacon Salt to the test and reported back with his findings to the board. Here's a snippet:

The specific taste tests:

For dinner Saturday, I sauteed garlic, asparagus, and Key West pink shrimp with Bacon Salt (Original variety), then deglazed with white wine, added scallion, and served it over fresh pasta that had been tossed with a little butter mixed with Bacon Salt (same).

For breakfast Sunday and Monday, I made several two-egg scrambles, trying each type of Bacon Salt in varying quantities. Based on Saturday night's attempts to set an appropriate level of seasoning in the pasta, I kept track of the amounts of Bacon Salt in each scramble. I also threw in some parmesan for a "carbonara" echo, and more of the scallion.

Then for dinner Monday, I made a rib-eye steak (ATK method) which I'd rubbed with Bacon Salt (Peppered) and let stand for an hour, pan-roasted potatoes dusted with Bacon Salt and garlic powder, and peas mixed with a Bacon Salt sabayon.

Very simple recipes, with few other seasonings, to let the Bacon Salt speak for itself, and not get masked. The sabayon peas were the most significant exception, testing how the bacon salt might behave as a contributing flavor in a more complicated dish instead of as the main taste prop for an ingredient.

Results: delicious. Not as good as sex; Sex can breathe easy. But delicious nevertheless.

You can read much more of his or her review here (scroll down to see it) - it all sounds delicious! Thanks for the review Cervaise!

On the other side of the country, we got a note from Mandeep Gill, the President of the Charlotte Football Initiative (which is trying to bring a college football team to their city). He has apparently started a "Bacon Salt Society" on the University of Charlotte 49ers message board. We hadn't really given much thought to societies being formed in Bacon Salt's honor - and are now incredibly curious what the initiation rights will be. Thanks for the support in spreading the word - and we hope you get that football team soon!

More Bacon Love

... from Megan at iheartbacon:

My Savior has arrived... and it's name is bacon salt!

I met with her a few weeks ago just to get feedback on the product from the only woman I've ever met that carries a wallet that looks like bacon in her purse. I was really just hoping to get a "baconnoisseur's" opinion. We're glad to hear she liked it!

Bacon Salt Unwrapped

Heather over at Bacon Unwrapped was kind enough to review a sample of Bacon Salt, when we still had samples left. Wondering if it's as good as we say it is? Don't take our word for it, see what Heather has to say. Here's a little snippet:

My sense is that bacon salt would also be good on vegetables, french fries, and hamburgers, amongst other things. While it is no substitute for the real thing - because nothing can replace a slice of bacon as far as I'm concerned - it does truly add the taste of bacon to whatever you put it on.

Bacon Salt is an especially fantastic invention for vegetarians who still have a hard time resisting the smell and taste of bacon. Women can also toss a Bacon Salt shaker in their purse and have the taste of bacon at their fingertips for any dining situation. No matter what, Bacon Salt is a product that any bacon lover should have in their spice rack.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

J&D

Meet our 3 year old venture capitalist

Meet Dean. He's 3 years old, and believe it or not, he's the primary funding source behind Bacon Salt - primarily because of this silly, not really that funny video he made that my wife insisted I submit and it won us five grand from America's Funniest Home Videos a couple of months ago (notice how my yard looks like an amusement park):

I felt kind of bad taking his hard earned scratch and putting it into a seasoning salt instead of his college fund, but it was for a good cause, maybe the best cause known to man: bacon. I think he's getting smart enough to understand.

Bacon Salt gets serious (eats)

Thanks to the fine folks at Serious Eats - in their required eating section - for their kind post entitled: "I've seen the future and it tastes like bacon." I love reading follow-up comments like this:

Clearly, there is a God. And He has answered my prayers; my subconscious, silent prayers for a condiment that I knew I desperately needed yet could not name. Thank you, Dear God. Thank You. (missbhavens)

Yet some people just don't know...

If I want bacon, I'll eat bacon. (Lou)

Now I love real bacon as much as the next guy, probably more. But I don't always have it on hand, and I can't eat it as much as I want to because... well... I'd be dead right now.

We want everything to taste like bacon. Once you try Bacon Salt on corn-on-the-cob or in your scrambled eggs (which to me tastes better than real bacon in scrambled eggs because it infuses the whole dish with bacon-ny goodness), you'll get it.    

Bacon Salt recap - day 5

5 days into Bacon Salt and over 500 orders (!) later from all over the country and even overseas (the UK and Australia are both big customers), we're starting to think that maybe we're not completely nuts for doing this. Some of our friends really gave us the crazy eye on this.

But we've learned this week that there are apparently thousands of people out there like us that just LOVE bacon and want everything to taste like it. There is hope for humanity. Here's a sampling from a mixed martial arts forum:

... this looks to be the greatest invention in the history of mankind. I will be placing an order.

Whoah. This could change my life!

can you snort it?

Best thing since the wheel.

"Well, I've always thought that heaven is going to smell like frying bacon." - J.C. Hutchins, author

this could be the greatest day of my life

Could be the ultimate popcorn salt. :)

bacon salt is so potentially world changing that it needed to be said twice.

End the run for Nobel Prize early.

Can we introduce this to the ocean? Imagine how good the fish will taste after living in bacon salt water. The possiblities are endless.

YOU HAVE GIVEN ME A REASON TO LIVE AGAIN!!!!!

these guys will be billionaires

I'm not sure if you can make a billion dollars with salt, but hey, it's worth a shot! From an email yesterday:

BS was the only thing my family talked about at dinner last night at a very good steakhouse in K.C. and how the steaks would have been better with bacon flavor goodness.

These people are putting their faith in us to give them a product that tastes like real bacon without ever having tried it - and we're truly grateful for people giving us a shot. We really can't wait until you try it and tell even more of your friends.

We will work hard to get as many orders out as fast as we can. And when you get your Bacon Salt, send us your favorite recipes at recipes@baconsalt.com!

J&D