Bacon Fest 2K6

[skos]

Last Sunday, my friend Kate and I hosted Bacon Fest 2K6, a festival of bacon-tasting goodness. The focal point of the afternoon was a blind taste-test of 8 different bacons (6 "stripy" bacons and two "canadian" bacons). The participants then ranked each of the bacons in three different categories on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest). The categories were "overall", "flavour" and "consistency". Each participant was also asked to choose a favourite and a least favourite of the 6 regular bacons. Finally, everyone tried to guess which bacon was the "supermarket brand" bacon.

The bacons used were:

Hempler's
Applegate
Niman Ranch
Wellshire Farms
Oscar Meyer (our "supermarket" bacon)
Trader Joes

The canadian bacons were:

Golden Farms
Hormel

The bacons were prepared in the microwave for the greatest ease and speed of cooking. This may have had an impact on the overall scores since the bacons turn out somewhat differently than they do when fried.

After everyone rated the bacons, the final scores were tallied. The results are gathered here.

Summing up the results, the mean scores in the overall category, from high to low, were:

1. Niman Ranch - 4.0
2. Wellshire - 3.4
3. Trader Joe's - 3.0
4. Oscar Meyer - 2.9
5. Golden Farms - 2.8
6. Hempler's - 2.7
7. Applegate - 2.6
8. Hormel - 2.4A weighted general score was also calculated by averaging all the mean scores and weighting the overall score double. Those results were:

1. Niman Ranch - 4.1
2. Wellshire - 3.4
3. Trader Joe's - 3.0
4. Oscar Meyer - 2.9
5. Hempler's - 2.8
6. Golden Farms - 2.8
7. Applegate - 2.4
8. Hormel - 2.4It's also worth noting that Niman Ranch received the most "favourite" votes, with 5 of the 9 participants choosing it.

Here are the comments that different participants made about the bacons:

Niman Ranch:
"Seems really fattening, but that's good for bacon"
"Nice and tough"
"Nice smokiness, salty"
"Rich, complex, superb mouth-feel"
"Flavors die of quick, not much real flavor"
"Chewy. Flavor very light, smoked salmon. Strong chemical undertone."

Applegate:
"Too thin, but great flavor"
"Boring"
"Flat flavor, no smokiness, chewy"
"Yuck! Insufficiently salty, too chewy"
"Flavor was weak, salty stays"
"Thin, crispyish. V. nice flavor"

Wellshire:
"Very salty, but delicious"
"Nice sensation"
"Nice balanced flavor, nicely salty"
"Overly crispy; tough; flavorless"
"Smoky, less salt; not cloying"
"Crispy but a little flavorless"

Hempler's:
"Too fatty, not enough flavor"
"Almost fishy"
"Cardboardy, shallow flavor, gummy"
"A bit sour, a little gamey. Notes of duck"
"Flavor not good; weak, not bacony. Could be eating any type of meat"
"Almost smoked-salmon flavored"
"Nice & thick, strong rich flavor"

Oscar Meyer:
"Doesn't seem very flavorful"
"Eggy flavor"
"Porky, not smoky"
"Full flavor up front, fishy aftertaste"
"Weak, not much flavor"
"Strong late smoke flavor, not much bacon flavor. Chewy but not resiliant"

Trader Joe's:
"Okay. Nothing special"
"Tough"
"Greasy. Good smoke"
"Nice smokiness, not salty"
"Smokey, with tobacco notes"
"Too tough, no bacony flavor"
"Little heavy on the smoke flavor but with good meat flavor underneath. Bit mealy in the chewiness"

Golden Farms:
"Good flavor - but not enough fat!"
"Light flavor"
"Tasted dirty"
"Nicely smoky, balanced salty"
"Dry, flavorless"
"Maply"
"Good flavor, though the texture was somewhat dry and leathery"

Hormel:
"Icky"
"Like ham"
"Too dry"
"Eggy, dry, spongy"
"Tasty, but ham-like. Nice saltiness."
"More like ham"
"Mealy and only pork flavored"

The bacon-tasting was followed by full-on bacon consumption, with the remainder of all the bacons (except the Canadian ones) being devoured. Bacon butties and BLTs were the order of the day. All in all, about 6-8 pounds of bacon were consumed. A few folks took photos so hopefully I'll be able to steal share those soon.