Bacon Basket Meals and Other Atherosclerotic Entrees
Developer: Some Genius
Marketed By: As Seen On TV Market.net
Nerd Rating: 5 out of 10 (Yes, it’s a BOWL made out of BACON!!! But you can do the same thing with a muffin pan for a lot less money)
By Malefico
After seeing the Perfect Bacon Bowl advertised on TV over the past several months, I decided this was a product worth investigating. True, it has nothing to do with video games, but it does feature the word “bacon” prominently within the product name, and around here we do loves our bacon…
So, I bought the product to test for you, our devoted readers. Why? Because I care. We’re here asking the tough questions and testing the crucial hardware for you 24/7, even in the kitchen. I’ve scattered some pics throughout, showing several outstanding bacon creations and extremely appetizing pairings. So, without further ado..
The Perfect Bacon Bowl
The Basics
When you buy this product, you are given a Buy One, Get One “Free” deal. Economics 101 teaches us that nothing is free, and indeed, considering the size and weight of product and packaging, the S&H cost for one set ($7.95) vs. the S&H cost for the additional set ($4.95), I was suspicious. Total for both sets out the door is $22.90, or $10 for each set plus the $2.90 it actually costs to ship something this size/weight when you have a bulk account with a shipper.
These folks are making money hand over fist, bless them.
In addition to the total of four PBBs, I received the “Everything Is Better In a Bacon Basket Cookbook.” I take issue with this title because I believe that, for instance, raw sewage would taste no better in a bacon basket, and would in fact represent a waste of the bacon. Whatever, the cookbook is full of numerous bacon-centric recipes that did give me some ideas for decadent bacon-y treats, so overall I’m OK with it.
The products themselves are light, thin, aluminum molds with non-stick coating, and thus are not of terrible quality. One nice thing about them is they have an area to trap grease at the bottom. If you end up using a muffin pan, just turn the finished bacon bowls over so they make little bacon domes and sit them on a paper towel.
The Bottom Line
Although the products work as advertised, I can’t get past the fact that I could have bought at least four good muffin pans for the same price, and made 32 bowls instead of four. Although the cookbook was a nice addition, and I’m sure I’ll make some of the stuff, really you can get all kinds of great bacon recipes online.
You should definitely use good-quality, thick-cut bacon when you try this. The thinner stuff will end up self-destructing when you try to fill the bowl. It’s still good (it’s bacon after all) but the bowl concept goes by the wayside if your bowl shatters during assembly.
I’m big on breakfast at lunch or dinner time, so I made some bowls and filled them with scrambled egg, melted cheddar, and homemade home fries with some sauteed onion and green pepper. Add good, hearty whole-grain toast on the side…let me tell you, it was GOOD.
The main problem I have with this product, aside from its cost, is that it produces a petite-sized bacon bowl. When I go after the bacon, I want a healthy (maybe not the right word) portion. These little bowls can be likened to dessert or fruit cups. I’m more interested in a bacon bowl that, if it could hold liquid, would be of at least a quart capacity, maybe a half-gallon.
I’ll give you step-by-step instructions below on how to construct such a wonder. No, sorry, not the blonde…
The Verdict
The Perfect Bacon Bowl, while it works OK, is not a great value. With a little ingenuity and some pans you probably already have ( I know a lot of you guys are young, so you’re probably thinking, “Fuggin’ muffin pans WTF?”…), one can absolutely make tasty bacon bowls without this specialty product.
As such, I can only give this item 5 out of 10. If they ever get realistic on the price, the rating would go up.
Other Bacon Treats
Here’s the recipe for a Nerd-Sized Bacon Bowl…
What you’ll need:
Some parchment paper (look for it in the same aisle that has tin foil and plastic wrap)
One cookie sheet
2 lbs. Thick-cut bacon
Very little concern for your cardiovascular system
- Take the bundt pan and turn it upside down.
- Make some relief cuts in the parchment paper so it will fit over the bundt pan without bulging, and wrap the paper over and around the pan, tucking the corners in underneath
- Start laying the bacon strips across the top, alternating 90 degrees with each strip and slowly, lovingly weaving them together in a lattice. (Optional: You can certainly sprinkle some black pepper and brown sugar on your bowl before baking, especially if the bacon tends to be salty when cooked. These ingredients will add a nice glaze and a little peppery bite to contrast the sugar.)
- Once you have the bacon braided, preheat your oven to 350º.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bacon is crispy. Check that all the portions within the lattice have firmed up, otherwise your bowl will implode when you try to use it.
- When the bowl is nice, golden-brown, and crispy, take it out and allow it to cool partially.
- Remove it from the bundt pan, making sure the parchment paper does not come off with it.
- Place the bowl over several paper towels so the remaining grease can drip off.
I ended up making a salad out of mine. Fresh romaine, tomato wedges, some red onion, sliced cucumber, sliced hard-boiled egg, and cubed, smoked turkey breast with a honey mustard dressing. Croutons and some shredded Monterey Jack cheese are optional but friggin tasty. Using the bowl as the basis for a salad allowed me to maintain the illusion that the meal was sort of healthy… I really should have cut the bowl in half and made a wedge salad type deal out of it…
Maxx evinced no interest in the greens but did pester me until I gave him a little turkey and a small piece of bacon.
Thanks for reading.
Gotta love how the entire world acts like bacon was created a few short years ago by the long-dormant gods of taste. Rewind to the early 2000’s and before, and the entire world couldn’t shut up about transfat, sodium, cholesterol, etc.
That all sounds amazing! What could also be done (Using that handy Bundt pan of yours) is to make a bacon bowl, set it aside and then make a chocolate cake using the bundt pan. You would then place the bacon bowl over the cake once both are a bit cooled then perhaps drizzle a bit of chocolate over the top to top the whole thing off. What’s better than bacon AND chocolate? Just an idea . . .
Hmmmmm… I like where you’re going with that. Heart disease AND diabetes. Interesting. As an alternative, I wonder if you could just fry up some bacon and use a double boiler setup to melt some chocolate, and just do chocolate-covered bacon? I think the cake would be really hard to cut unless you used thin-sliced bacon and it was really crispy. Or if you chilled the cake and bacon dome in the fridge, then used an electric knife maybe. How about pancakse/waffles with chocolate chips and chopped bacon? Here’s a generic recipe for flavored syrups:
two parts light corn syrup, one part either chocolate, caramel or strawberry syrup (you can also use this stuff called melba sauce but it’s almost impossible to find, it’s raspberry and blueberry pureed and cooked down). Warm the mixture for 15-30 seconds in the microwave and get busy on some pancakes or waffles. Geez, I’m not gonna make it to 60.
All of that sounds magical. But seriously though, how can you go wrong with bacon and chocolate? If someone were to get the advertised bacon bowl (Or perhaps save money and use the cupcake tins like you mentioned), you could make the bowl, dip it in a chocolate ganache (Or magic shell sauce that you can buy at any store) and and serve ice cream that way.
I don’t think you can go wrong with that combo. Like Italian food, it’s pretty hard to mess it up. Have you ever had chocolate-covered potato chips? Bacon would be that much better…
In fact I have. I was at the Ben & Jerry’s HQ in Vermont over the summer and I tried their chocolate covered potato chip ice cream called “Late Night Snack”. It was truly an experience to be had. I can’t find it anywhere in North Carolina though . . .
There’s a candy manufacturer in my town called Grimaldi’s. They sell the chips by the pound. Milk, dark and white chocolate. I try to stay away from that place.
Probably for the best. There are enough temptation in the world already. I have a old fashioned dairy farm (Mapleview) just down the road from me. Their homemade ice cream is heavenly! They also sell meat and glass bottled milk but they’re best known for their ice cream.
Wow, homemade ice dream. I bet that is good. So I’m watching “from Beyond” on Hulu, VERY loosely based on the Lovecraft story of the same name. How can they savage good fiction like that? Have you seen the ads for that new Frankenstein movie? Give the average person five minutes and they could come up with a much better concept than that POS.
@Gingerbot. I don’t know if you’re referring to the town of Hillsborough, but I must say they are renowned for their milk over there in Chatham County! Good milk makes good ice cream!
That looks delicious