Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mo's Bacon Bar by Vosges Haut-Chocolat

We were invited to attend Norton Lilly's Holiday Celebration at the New York Yacht Club a couple of days ago. It was quite an experience, since the New York Yacht Club is a very exclusive club and no way would we have had the opportunity to even step foot in it without an invitation from one of it's members. The cocktail/dinner was held in the Model Room and I must say, the room itself was rather breathtaking. Hundreds of model ships lined the walls of that room. It is said that the Model Room holds the record for the largest collection of model ships in the world! We had a great time meeting various people from the maritime industry but the highlight of the night (well, at least mine :P) was the door gift that we got. Check it out!
Mo's Bacon Bars! We have heard so much about it but never got around to trying it. Come on, how can you go wrong with two of the best things in the world? Bacon and chocolate...mmmm mmmm mmmmm! :D However, bacon and chocolate together? Hmmm, I don't know but we were pretty stoked to try it! We first heard of Mo's Bacon Bars from Marc Summer's Unwrapped, the TV show from The Food Network. It seems the creator of this chocolate bar graduated from Vanderbilt and went on to attend the famous Le Cordon Blue in Paris. Upon completion, she traveled the world, learning about various indigenous cuisines and cultures. After her return, she founded Vosges Haut-Chocolat with the concept of 'Travel the World through Chocolate'. She is known to combine high quality luxury chocolate with all kinds of spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, nuts and the obscure.
So, what is Mo's Bacon Bar actually? Is there really bacon mixed into the chocolate bar? Yes, there is! It's basically a huge solid bar (divided into 8 pieces) of deep milk chocolate with bits and pieces of Applewood smoked bacon and just a sprinkling of Alderwood salt. When we first opened the packaging, the first thing to hit us was the smell! It really smelled like bacon! However, I am not sure if it's a good thing or not. The smell somewhat reminded me of Abby's (Kevin's dog) bacon flavored beggin strips or some really old and stale bacon bits. Seriously, the smell was rather overpowering.
So, what does it taste like? Truthfully? Well, bacon bits mixed with chocolate :P As you can see from the cross section of the chocolate bar, there are really huge chunks of bacon bits in the chocolate bar. It also has a crunch to it. The chocolate tasted heavenly. You can tell right away that it's high quality chocolate. However, I find the mix of the salty bacon and sweet chocolate a tad bit weird. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of combining chocolate and bacon together. I know that the combination of those two items work. It's just that I feel that maybe she needs a little adjustment to the taste of the bacon. There is just something not right about it. Maybe the flavor is too strong or it is a little too salty. I can't place my finger on what the problem is exactly but the bacon's aftertaste wasn't really pleasant. Because of that, I think that Mo's Bacon Bar failed to hit a home run in my books. It's unfortunate though, cos I firmly believe that with the right combination of taste, flavor and texture, this product could potentially be a huge hit.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Cheese Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon

Here is another simple but super yummy recipe. Cheese Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon....mmm mmm mmmm. I can feel my arteries clogging up just by reading that :P Yes, I know. It can be a little unhealthy, with all the bacon and cheese :P Oh well, little indulgence once in a while is alright. It's not that you are gonna be eating this for dinner everyday. If I had a choice, I would though, it's just so gooooood! Anywayssss, here's how you make it.
Start off by pounding some chicken breast into really thin pieces. Try to make it to be as thin as possible.
Then, place a piece of mozzarella string cheese in the middle of the chicken breast. You can cut the string cheese into half if it's too long.
Roll up your chicken, making sure that the piece of cheese is nicely wrapped up.
Next, roll a strip of bacon around the chicken. Remember to overlap the bacon when you roll it up, cause it will shrink when it's cooked.
Then, place the chicken rolls on to a lightly greased baking dish.
Pop it in a 350F for about 45 minutes and it's done! See how the cheese just oozes out from the side? Soo good! :D I served it up with some flavored rice and a side salad with garlic cheese croutons, drizzled with some honey mustard dressing. Yummy stuff!