My love affair with bacon started thirty some odd years ago. Breakfast just wasn’t a “meal” unless bacon was on the plate. Sausage or ham was good but it was never as wonderful as bacon. It really is a magical meat. Everything about it screams Rock-n-Roll.

When the bacon hits the pan it’s showtime! Like a tight roll on the snare you hear the sizzle. Then rhythmic pops & loud cracks like the kick & toms. Then the sizzle gets loud like an open hi-hat along with some cracklin ride. It’s all part of the build up.

Then a lil’ smoke starts rising from the pan, and as you wave your hand to clear your vision you see the once pinkish pieces of meat emerging as crisp, edgey strips of bacon. Hey, they’re the headliner for this breakfast gig … gotta make a grand entrance. Then the whole place is filled with the sweet smell of bacon. Not just the kitchen … I mean the whole joint! That cloud of bacony goodness rolls through the house and compells you to come to the kitchen. That’s when ya know ya better get in there quick cuz ya don’t wanna miss out.

Sitting next to the fluffy scrambled eggs & the uniform lil’ tater tots, the pile of bacon looks all crazy. It’s crisp on one end & chewey on the other. It’s wavey & curled & no piece is exactly the same. You wonder if you should eat it because there’s a small pool of grease gathering below the pile. Crunch! Awwww yeahhhhh – that’s the stuff! All doubt is gone at this point – the tater-n-eggs are simply the supporting acts.

Bacon gets a bad rap, it gets blamed for people’s behavior. “The Bacon made me do it”, yeah right! If it had a cousin, it’d be some fiberous grainy mixture that preaches the evils of bacon …”It’s the meat! the meat! ask any teenager what drives them to bacon and they’ll tell you – it’s the meat! the meat!”. Like anything in life, knowing your limits is important. And like Elvis’ swingin’ hips, bacon fryin’ on a griddle stirs up those carnal feelings that make ya wanna go wild! G’head … cut loose … just watch yourself.

I could go on & on about how bacon can make anything better, but I realize that bacon means something different to each of us. Maybe it means “family”, like a group of loved ones gathered together to share a meal. Or it could be your “spice of life”, pulling you out of the doldrums of lunch. And then it could represent the “bad-ass” in you, “%*^#! C. Everett Koop … I’m chompin’ on a pound a bacon today … fried in BUTTER no less!” Bacon nourishes, comforts, excites, and brings people together.

Once, I nearly witnessed a “bacon conversion” … I saw Cash Money (now called Cash Audio) and during the set they fried up bacon sandwiches on a hot plate to hand out to the crowd. Well, this gal next to me had a look of desire on her face that you could probably see clear cross the room, anyhow, she turned & said, “Ya know, I’ve been a vegetarian for 10 years now, but goddamn do I want one of those sandwiches”. That, my friend, is the majesty of bacon.