MAD MEAT GENIUS

MAD MEAT GENIUS
Chilebrown at home

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

BACON REVUE (WILLOW GLEN MEATS & SMOKEHOUSE)


The stage will be swept and dusted. It has been a while since our last performance at the 'Bacon Revue'. Today's entertainment is a smoked bacon coated with black peppercorns. Our guest is from Willow Glen Meats & Smokehouse that is located in San Jose California. Willow Glen is a small local smokehouse located in an older residential neighborhood. They smoke numerous meat products and offer three different styles of bacon.(Cajun, Smoked and Pepper) The pepper coated slab of pork will entertain and sizzle on the black iron of our kitchen. We will have a separate show with viewing and comments from our good friend the Reverend Biggles.

The shrink wrap that protected our slab was removed and right away we noticed a lack of smoke odor. It is a good looking slab. The meat to fat ratio is very even. We break out our trusty black iron and cooked a couple of rashes. Ms. Goofy starts to drool. The smell of sizzling bacon is a wonderful thing. Now for the moment of truth. Salt was our first taste. We both agreed that it did have a meaty flavor. Even though the slab was covered in peppercorns we did not notice a pepper taste. Some components were missing. There was no smoke flavor or even a hint of sweetness. It did fry up nice and crispy and had a chewy bite. We tried some on a bacon, turkey and avocado sandwich. It tasted great in this sandwich.



Reverend Bigggles had a cut of this 'pepper bacon' from the same slab. He cooked and tasted his bacon at 'Meathenge Labs'. The Reverend sent me this picture and the following comment.

Photo by Biggles


Hey man!
Uh, couldn't pull the peppered bacon out, wanted to do a post. But all I got was bacon texture and salt. No pepper flavors, no meat flavors, no cure flavors. Even the boys remarked pretty much the same thing.
Reverend Biggles



The Reverend and I both pretty much agree. Today's bacon was missing smoke, sweetness, pepper flavor and was very salty. Bacon needs to be a good mixture of all these components. We thought it was meaty and it did taste good in our sandwich. Today's bacon from Willow Glen will receive 2.5 stars out of a possible 5 stars.


Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Cost: 4.39/pound
Where: 885 Delmas Av.
San Jose, Ca. 95125
408 279-4009

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That made me crave a bacon/lettuce/tomato sandwich

Ribsasmokin said...

It looks peppery, but i guess taste always tells the truth. I treasure my taste buds like a bag of gold. Good review though.

meathenge said...

Heh, I'm famous on the internet.

Anonymous said...

I'm crushed that this doesn't taste as good as it looks. I agree with Leanne, it made me crave a sandwich!

Greg said...

Bring em some proper bacon. Maybe they need their palates calibrated.

Chilebrown said...

highlandsranchfoodie, We have to wait 6 months till ripe tomato's are back.

Ribsasmokin, The whole slab looked very good. We wanted to love it.

Rev. Biggles, Does fortune come with Fame?

Zia, I allways crave a sandywich!

Greg, I have Cajun and Smoked which I have not tried yet. I have my fingers crossed.

meathenge said...

Nope, no fortune with fame. I learned that from my Uncle Ralph. He's got drawers filled with awards over the last 35 + years and no money to show for it.

xo, Biggles