Bacon crazy

On a sizzling October day, Aaron Richard proves how everything tastes better with bacon, only he has a different way of saying it.

"Bacon is like my caviar," says Richard, "but it's affordable and approachable."

Richard was proclaimed winner of the first Bacon Cook-Off on Saturday at Ted's Butcherblock in downtown Charleston. Ted's was celebrating its fourth anniversary with a daylong "Porktoberfest."

Richard wowed the judges with a stacked French Toast Napoleon that alternated between savory and sweet layers. A round of rum-spiked French toast was spread with hazelnut and chocolate Nutella, topped with grilled bananas, artisanal bacon, then finished with another Nutella-smeared round of toast. The crowning touch was bacon whipped cream.

Richard, of West Ashley, came up with the idea by making substitutions in a dish he already does: peanut butter and banana French toast. "I make it for us for break-fast a lot," he says.

The 28-year-old is an insurance adjuster who is becoming increasingly serious about cooking. "Over the last couple of years I've been getting very passionate about food." He has done a little catering for weddings and birthdays, "just for friends," but has an idea for a food business tentatively named "The Backyard Gourmet." It would be catering in which he would serve as grill master.

For now, he's thrilled to be Ted's bacon champion. "Pork is the best protein there is," he says.

Bacon crazy

Bacon, the whipping boy of Southern cuisine for so long, now has a throne. Pork belly is commanding bows as the new prince of taste and creativity in kitchens across the USA.

From books to blogs to bacon-of-the-month clubs, porkophiles are wallowing in a fresh appreciation of bacon that's being driven by smaller batch artisanal products and premium imports. At Ted's, shoppers can find choices including cinnamon maplewood, juniper and hickory smoked, or Russian, which is two pork bellies sandwiched together.

Even the typical supermarket has greatly expanded bacon selections compared with years past -- thick cuts, pepper seasoned and applewood smoked, to name a few.

James Villas, author of "The Bacon Cookbook" (Wiley, 2007) isn't surprised by the surge of interest.

"The rest of the country is always just catching up with what we in the South have been doing for centuries and have not forsaken in favor of fatuous food trends."

Appreciation is growing for artisanal bacons that have been dry-cured in the old tradition. Villas says they're in contrast to mass-produced, liquid-injected bacons that shrink to nothing in the pan and exude milky fluid when cooked -- a telltale sign of a commercial shortcut.

He's partial to any form of English bacon with its lean "fillet" and tail of fat. As for his favorite ways to eat bacon, "probably perfect Cobb salad," followed by a French salad Lyonnaise with chewy lardons, and any Italian dish with pancetta.

"Who doesn't like bacon?" asks Eva Keilty, a chef at Ted's and another cook-off judge. "I don't know if I'd want to live in a world without bacon."

French Toast Napoleons With Grilled Bananas, Cinnamon Bacon and Nutella

Makes 8 mini-napoleons

Ingredients

1 pound ripe bananas

1 pound cinnamon maple smoked bacon

1 loaf unsliced Challah bread

6 large eggs

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream, divided use

1 tablespoon raw sugar plus more for sprinkling

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus more for sprinkling

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon dark rum

Kosher salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Jar of Nutella hazelnut spread

Directions

For bananas: Heat grill to medium and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Slice bananas in half lengthwise and sprinkle with raw sugar and cinnamon.

Grill for 4 minutes on each side until marks form. Remove from heat and slice each half into 3 sections. Set aside.

For bacon: Place all slices of bacon on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or until medium doneness. Remove to cooling rack on top of a layer of paper towels. Note: You will need 1 cooked slice for each napoleon, and 2 cooked slices for the whipped cream.

For the French toast: Heat a cast-iron pan to medium heat and coat with vegetable oil.

Cut Challah bread into 1/2-inch-thick slices, then use a biscuit cutter to cut out 16 circles.

Combine eggs, 1 tablespoon of the heavy cream, 1 tablespoon raw sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, rum, and pinch of salt and whisk until combined.

Dip both sides of Challah bread circles into the egg mixture and place on greased griddle. Grill 4-5 minutes per side until nicely browned, then remove from heat and set aside.

For bacon whipped cream: Break 2 pieces of cooled bacon into large chunks and add to small saucepan. Add remaining heavy cream and brown sugar and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Remove mixture from heat, strain into a chilled bowl, cover and refrigerate immediately.

Once cream is chilled, slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing on low speed until combined. Then whip on high speed until soft peaks form.

Final assembly: Place one of the French toast rounds on a plate and spread with a thick layer of Nutella. Top with 2 grilled banana sections. Lay 2 half strips of bacon perpendicular to the bananas. Spread another toast round with a thick layer of Nutella and put spread side on top of the bacon layer. Top with a dollop of the bacon whipped cream.

Bacon nation

Lovers of bacon across the country, many of them fanatics, are wallowing in all things bacon these days. You can eat (Of course!), drink and wear bacon. You can blog like a hog about it. Here's some of what we found:

Local

--Bacon of the Month clubs. There are many, but the one at Ted's Butcherblock supports a local business, and the price is better than some of the national ones. The cost is $40/three months, $75/six months and $150/12 months (includes 1 pound per month; shipping costs vary). For ordering information, e-mail info@tedsbutcherblock.com.

--Bacon Camp session at the first BarCamp Charleston on Oct. 24, a free, local, ad- hoc "un-conference" where those attending determine what will be presented. Learn about the bacon-making process and the differences between cuts and styles. Registration is required at www.barcampchs.org. BarCamp will be at the Lowcountry Innovation Center, 1535 Hobby St., North Charleston.

--Salted Bacon Lollipops and Smokey Bacon candy bars and bonbons from local artisan chocolatier John Eric Battles of SweetTeeth (who is a vegetarian, by the way).

Why do bacon and chocolate work well together? Says Battles, "You see salt with sweets all over these days, and bacon just adds one more dimension to that pairing and makes it seem a little bit naughty."

Snag some Bacon Bars from Ted's Butcherblock and the bonbons through EVO Pizzeria or O'Hara & Flynn. But the bacon items generally are made to order. Go to www.sweetteethcharleston.com.

--Shine restaurant at 58 Line St. offers a Chocolate Covered Bacon Sundae on its dessert menu.

--Jeremiah Bacon. How cool a name is that? He's a Lowcountry native and the chef at Carolina's restaurant. The restaurant's T-shirt asks, "Got Bacon?" His take on his name: "It's pretty perfect. It's almost like I was destined to be a chef with that name, or a butcher."

Elsewhere

--Baconnaise and bacon salts at www.jdfoods.net. Former tech workers Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow have a dream to make everything taste like bacon.

--Buy artisanal bacon any way you like it at bacn.com: slab, gourmet, thick or thin cut, peppered, nitrate-free or smoked. Throw in a "Bacon is like a little hug from God" T-shirt.

--Get a bacon recipe per day, every day, forever at baconshow.blogspot.com.

--Heather Lauer, author of "Bacon -- A Love Story" (William Morrow 2009) shares her passion in her blog, baconunwrapped.com.

--At bacontoday.com, Check out the BLT cocktail, bacon cupcakes and pigging out in the extreme with the Turbaconducken, a chicken stuffed in duck stuffed in a turkey, all swathed in bacon.

--Sept. 4 is the date of next year's International Bacon Day. Read all about it at internationalbaconday.blogspot.com.

Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at food@postandcourier.com or 937-4886.