Bacon Takedown: Sty Wars! Chewbaccon and Ham Solo

One of my friends sent me a link about a Bacon Takedown.

On a whim, I emailed the organizer because the website said that it was an amateur's competition and they had various prizes, and just for competing you got 15 pounds of Hormel Black Label bacon. I thought I would make the bacon potato cheese pie (the pie I made for my Bacon Party last month). I had to switch from the bacon pie because I had to make enough for 250 tastes- which would be too much work. The next thing you know, I'm making 11 batches of Bacon Rice Krispies (after a 1.5 batch two days before to test baconizing Rice Krispies) and the whole house smells like 12 pounds of bacon.

What 14 lbs of bacon looks like in the fridge

After playing with a few different team names, we fell into "Chewbaccon" and the Team "Sty Wars! Chewbaccon and Ham Solo" were soon on its way with a theme. Thanks to Free Icons Download.com artist for helping to populate the characters on our station… and Miss Melly for this awesomeness which I will forever treasure also on a T shirt and an apron

We didn't win any prizes- the team that won People's Choice took home the giant check for People's Choice… as well as a year's supply of bacon and cookware. Part of me just wants a giant check, forget the year's supply of bacon. They were crazy though: their station had a heck of different stuff, including bacon bruschetta, bacon thyme ciabatta, three cheese garlic bacon spread, bacon and basil tomato sauce, and chicken fried bacon, and a little toaster oven to make them fresh and hot right there. I didn't go upstairs (my area was downstairs) until late, and I only got to try the bruschetta. It's sort of full circle… I discovered the bacon cheese potato pie from Reddit, and the winners also are Redditors.

There were 20 total offerings, both sweet and savory, such as Bacon Jalapeno Cornbread with homemade butter, mini Bacon Maple Cheese Pies, Bacon Hash with Fig Jam and Dijon Mustard Potatoes that came on a bacon mat, Chocolate Bacon Truffles (great presentation), Bacon Coffee Flan (made with Stumptown coffee), Bacon Bourbon Pecan Mini-pies, Bacon Bourbon Maple Pralines, Bacon Maple Milkshakes and even a homemade cured Bacon Lettuce Tomato offering (the latter was my favorite… and the milkshake was the weirdest to me).

Picture 1: Bacon milkshake in the cup, Bacon cheese pie in the back, Bacon Jalapeno Cornbread with homemade flavored butter, and Chocolate Bacon truffles in the front. Not pictured are the bourbon bacon peach crumble and the bacon bourbon maple pralines, which were the station immediately left and right of us which we were the first to sample

Picture 2: In the cups in front, bacon butternut squash enchiladas, on the paper the home-cured bacon made into a BLT (my favorite of the night) made by the People's Sandwich of Portland, another bacon milkshake in the cup in the back, bacon oatmeal cookie with cherries and almonds next to that, and bacon pizza (the latter two are from Gaufre Gourmet and Slice Brick Oven Pizza food carts)

Picture 3: In the blue paper was a bacon cinnamon roll with maple bacon frosting I think, underneath that are bacon bourbon pecan pies, and bacon profiterole on top of blue bacon! The bacon baklava is on top of a bacon spanish tortilla. In the front there is Bacon Hash with Caramelized Onion & Kale in the plastic cups, Bacon Chocolate Salty balls

Here are some shots (from her camera and mine) from Bacon Takedown 2011 in Portland. Unfortunately, since I was behind the station instead of just attending (a mere $10 admission to sample from all the bacon stations), I didn't do a more thorough photo documentation- but I know someone did go around to all the stations to do so, so hopefully it will be on the internet eventually. Yes, that is the Millenium Falcon & Death Star made out of Rice Krispie treats. Miss Melly is awesome. And the guy who organizes does this on a national tour so see if it's coming to your city (if you are a reader from somewhere else) and also does other kinds like chili, avocado, etc, and he's crazy in a contagiously enthusiastic way. This whole event was a little last minute insaneness but fun.

My Bacon Rice Krispies

Ingredients- yield is 24 rice krispies

• 1 lb of bacon
• 5 cups of Rice Krispies
• 3 cups of mini-marshmallow

Steps

1. Cook the bacon but save the drippings. I like to prepare mine by lining a pan with aluminum foil to lay out all the bacon and putting it in the bottom rack of my oven at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes- but watch the bacon the last 5 minutes because that's the difference between crispy bacon and burnt bacon. Usually after 15 minutes I will take out the tray and pour our the bacon drippings into a little corningware container. However you cook the bacon, save at least 5 tablespoons worth of drippings.
2. Dry the bacon between paper towels. Take the crunchiest pieces and crumble enough to make 1/2 cup of bacon crumbles. You should still have several strips of bacon left.
3. In a big pot (enough that will fit 5 cups of Rice Krispies and allow you to stir) add 4 tablespoons of bacon drippings and the 3 cups of mini marshallow on medium heat until they are melted.
4. When the marshmallow is all melted, remove the pot from heat and add the 5 cups of Rice Krispies and do a quick initial stir so there are no big clumps of marshmallow because it is spread on the krispies, but don't stir too much.
5. Add the 1/2 cup of bacon crumbles now and stir some more until the bacon crumbles are distributed evenly.
6. Pour 1/2 the rice krispie mix into a 13x9x2 pan that is lined with parchment paper or wax paper (makes it not stick to the pan) and also brush the paper with a little bit of the bacon drippings. Use another piece of paper on top and press to flatten this 1/2 of the mix to the pan. Using the paper helps you not get it stuck on your fingers.
7. Now add a thin layer of the bacon strips across the entire pan.
8. Pour the second 1/2 the rice krispie mix into the pan and flatten. Let cool for at least 30 minutes