Hello Shaker fans. We welcome you to a monumental shaker night. Tonight we celebrate all that is bacon. Every dish, ever mouthful is bacon infused (well- ok, just one of the martinis has bacon).
So pretty much since we’ve begun this martini quest we’ve gotten links from friends about the mythical bacon martini. We laughed, we scoffed, we contemplated, but we never bit the bacon bullet. Until recently, when a halfway joking discussion among friends turned into plans to celebrate all things bacon. Carrie volunteered to infuse some bacon vodka and we all pulled out our favorite bacon recipes to create:
BACONPALOOZA!!
I put the paramedics on speed dial and plugged in my portable defibrillator. We gathered from near and far (Ventura is far, right?), each bringing our favorite bacon infused treats. You could smell the bacon emanating from at least 4 different geographic areas for two days. You see that haze over the Southland this weekend? That was not smog. That was bacon fumes.
As each new guest arrived the tables groaned under their delicious burdens. Bacon appetizers, bacon main dishes, bacon dessert. Yes my friends, even the famed bacon martini.
We all came hungry. None of us left that way.
Below, the bacon buffet:
Baked potato soup w/ bacon
Baconmole w/ chips (guac has never looked so good)
Bacon gougeres (grown up cheesie poofs- “super tasty” “off the hook” “fluffy with a hint of bacon”
Bacon balsamic deviled eggs (now this the devil you want to sell your soul to)
Bacon wrapped dates (you won’t be late for this date)
Bacon Ranch dip w/ veggies (cause we had to at least pretend to care about our health)
Bacon Pastry bites (nom nom)
And on the dessert tray:
Bacon Bark
Bacon Fudge
Bacon Cinnamon rolls (that is so my breakfast tomorrow morning)
2 kinds of candied bacon, which we used as makeshift “spoons” to scoop out the
Bittersweet chocolate mousse
“the room went silent when the chocolate mouse with praline bacon scoops was distributed. This was followed by a round of grunting, then nom nom nom from the crowd”
Our first martini of the night was of course the Bacon Martini.
Basically, just bacon infused vodka shaken and strained. This was met with a certain apprehension by many. We made mini tasters and we all got brave. The results:
“tastes good as long as you don’t look at it” “blindfold bacon martini-serve in the dark” “an experience”
The fat globules were a bit off-putting at first, but it was surprisingly not gross! We couldn’t drink a whole martini of this, but were very glad to have tried it. We can’t really olive rate this. It was more of an experience than a beverage.
Next up was the Jalapeno Cucumber Cilantro Martini
Shaker 2 sat this one out (severe cilantro aversion) but the rest of us rather enjoyed it. Slightly spicy, definite cucumber and citrus flavors. Interesting, in the good way. “tart with a very nice kick” I’d make this again, but perhaps without the cilantro so Shaker 2 could enjoy as well.
Brian braved the bacon beer- sadly, not bacon-y enough!~
Our final ‘tini of the evening was the Meyer Lemon Drop Martini.
In the interest of full disclosure, Shaker One has had this one many,many times before (did I mention many?). I love this tini. You can make it with regular lemons, but if you have meyers, it kicks it up into a whole other olive zone. Alex manned the juicer and we all enjoyed a round of these. “absolute favorite, tart, tart, tart” “simply delicious”
But we couldn’t end Baconpalooza there. No, we had to have just one more bacon treat. One that would make Elvis wipe a tear of joy from his eye (if he weren’t dead and all):
The Elvis Bacon Shake.
“just too scary good” “religious” Carrie and Shaker One ratcheted it up a notch with Stoli Vanilla-
“I heard the angels sing when I drank the Elvis Shake with Stoli Vanilla”
If you would have told me before tonight that I would have loved a milkshake with bacon, peanut butter, bananas, marshmallow fluff and vanilla ice cream- and bacon- I would have said, “that’s just crazy talk”. But it was so good. We all loved this. Well worth breaking out the blender for. And we garnished it with more of the candied bacon, naturally.
What can you say about a night devoted to all things bacon? Carrie put it best:
“I felt my heart working a little harder and my blood became a little thicker as I made my way through each item on the table of bacon”
Was it decadent? Oh yes. Did we overindulge? My God, did we! Will we do it again? Without a second’s hesitation we will…..but next time we will introduce our very good friend bacon to our other pal, the BBQ grill.
Shakers One and Two would like to thank all of our wonderful guests tonight. Everyone brought such delicious bacon treats and the company could not have been better. Please send any recipe requests along with a doctor’s note or waiver from your insurance provider to us here, at the Bacon Shaker.
Good night and happy shaking!
