Thanks Metropulse. Here’s to bacon love and BaconFest 2011!!

http://blogs.metropulse.com/the_daily_pulse/2010/03/baconfests-swine-and-dine-reca.html#more

Thanks for all the bacon love from everyone who made BaconFest possible!!!!! Stay tuned to Mockingbird website and the BaconFest website for recipes, pictures, and updates post-festival.

Wahoooooo! See you all tonight or tomorrow.

Your tickets will be at will call at the Glowing Body Friday night. Sorry for any confusion about them being mailed or not.

Thanks!

We mistakenly had bacon and eggs this morning at Mockingbird HQs. Need to save up for the weekend!

Going to be working on decorations this eve. Hope to see everyone Saturday!

Thanks!!! I gotta figure out how to get that pig cover drawing!

http://www.metropulse.com/news/knoxville-baconfest-2010/

Since Swine and Dine is sold out, it’s all about BaconBits now. What are you going to make? Be creative, go wild. Here are a reminder of all the rules and categories. In t-minus 2 days, IT IS ON.

There will be a $5 cover if you bring a dish, $7 if you don’t. See you all there!!!!! More info: knoxbaconfest.com

Rules:

• A cured pork product has to be featured (except for the best use of bacon grease category)
• The dish should serve small portions for 30-40
• Entries have to be on the table by 7:40
• A full recipe card must be attached with recipe and the name of the person who entered the dish. Our hope is to eventually create a bacon community cookbook…
• Each dish can only be entered in 1 category

The key rule:
All dishes on the table by 7:45. This will be strictly enforced. Judges will be tasting the food before the general public, so they need time to taste.

Dishes will be judged on the use of ingredient, taste, presentation, and originality. To enter each dish must have a recipe card and the origin of the cured pork or bacon must be noted.

Categories

• Best use of Bacon Grease: Leftover animal fat is an amazing tool. There was a while there where restaurants in New York were doing french fries fried in duck fat. I’m curious what french fries fried in Benton’s bacon grease might taste like.
• Best Savory Dish: This category is wide open. Bacon goes with everything. The idea here though is to highlight some kind of cured pork. Wrap things, stuff things, braise things.
• Best Sweet Dish: Last year there were more sweets than savory dishes, just proving that bacon does in fact make everything better. Again, highlight that cured pork.
• Most Pork/Bacon in a dish: The winner of this last year used SO many different kinds of pork and bacon but none of it was over powering.
• Best Reinterpretation of a Traditional Recipe: Dig out one of your grandma’s classic recipes, reinterpret it, add in bacon, make it new.
• Most Exotic Cured Pork Product: Did you know there is Korean Bacon? Pancetta is the Italian version, Irish bacon, Canadian bacon, Speck from Germany, Lop Yuk from China. What can you get your hands on?
• Most Creatively Paired Ingredient: Would bacon go will with peanut butter? What about buttermilk? What’s the most tasty creative thing to pair bacon with?

One final tip, the dishes don’t have to be solid, if you are inspired to do a drink, bring it on.