What does bacon have to do with MSP marketing? Not a damn thing. However, it’s important to remember that we aren’t just a company; we’re a group of individuals who come together to help inspire creativity within one another. By doing so, we can offer our clients creative marketing campaigns that both induce curiosity and convert prospects to leads.
In that spirit, I’d like to help inspire your kitchen creativity by introducing you to a game changer, the bacon weave.
The “crust” of a bacon weave pizza.
History of Bacon
Before we get into the bacon weave, it’s important to take a look at how prolific bacon has been throughout our history. According to some sources, it may be one of the oldest cuts of meat in history; going as far back as 1500 B.C.E., when the Chinese cured pork with salt. Then, during the Roman era, we see bacon becoming a staple at the dinner table in two forms. Ham (perna) was prepared by getting baked in flour with paste, while shoulder bacon (petaso) would be browned and served with pepper sauce. Then, in 1924, Oscar Meyer changed the history of bacon forever. They became the first company to introduce pre-packaged and pre-sliced bacon. Now, the average American consumes roughly 18lbs of bacon a year. That’s roughly 24 – 12oz packages…. My personal consumption is admittedly closer to 35+ packages a year.
Bacon Makes a Comeback
In the 21st century, bacon is everywhere. Bacon onesies, bacon band-aids, and even bacon toothpaste have popped up on store shelves around the world. It’s interesting to see how creative people can get with such a simple slice of meat. I’ve even tried my hand at making bacon infused whiskey before! Tip: Don’t waste good alcohol when trying to create this infusion, and definitely don’t use peppered bacon.
So, back to the bacon weave. I’ve always experimented with food to help keep things interesting. I’ve made many many mistakes and have made food that would be considered an abomination by someone with even the most forgiving of palates. But you can do no wrong when you’re working with a bacon weave. Here are my top 3 foods to make with a bacon weave. Forgive the quality of the photos… I took them with an old flip phone back in college.
Bacon Bun/BLT
It’s best to start with something simple when first trying your hand at the bacon weave. A simple weave makes an excellent layer in your BLT or replaces your hamburger bun for a paleo friendly burger. If you’re unsure of how to create the weave, watch this video by Justin Chapple.
Justin bakes his bacon, which works, but I like to pan fry mine when making something this simple.
Shown as a hamburger bun with sweet potato fries.
Bacon Pizza
Next up is the bacon pizza, now this I do bake. Take the weave you saw at the beginning of the post and throw it in a preheated, 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes. Then take it out and top with marinara, whatever toppings you’d like, some cheese, and throw it back in for 10 minutes. Cut into personal size squares and serve!
Topped with pizza sauce, pepperoni, an Italian cheese blend, and some Italian spices
FUN FACT: Bringing home the bacon has nothing to do with a man’s ability to make money, but rather his ability to maintain a happy and healthy relationship with his wife. A man who attended a church in the English town of Dunmow would be promised a side of bacon if he could swear to his peers and God that he had not fought with his wife for a year and a day. This practice is now known as The Dunmow Flitch Trials, and is held every four years.
Bacon Tacos
Now we’re going to increase the complexity a little bit. Take your simple bacon weaves and create a taco sized tent for them out of foil. You’ll want to kind of ball up some aluminum foil into something cylindrical and then use some more foil to create a tent over that. The cylinder creates a base for your tent to sit on. These you’ll bake until done. From there you just need to fill your bacon taco shells with whatever toppings you like!
Yes, I ate both tacos.
Now I don’t have any pictures, but if you really want to get creative… check out this post on making Meat Turtles. I’ve made these before but sadly do not have any pictures.
I hope this post inspires you to get creative in the kitchen, to then influence creativity elsewhere in your life. At TRIdigital, we pride ourselves on our ability to create unique content and designs for our clients. Check out some examples of our work to see just how creative we can be.