Is Huy Fong THE sriracha? And Bacon.

[First, a note: I have been absent from the Interwebs lately, not because I don't love you anymore, but rather I was tied up with annual budget season at my paying gig. After a few weeks of staring at a computer screen full of multiple spreadsheets, my bespectacled noggin needed a break.]

I am really late to the sriracha party. (Never got the invite, I guess). Now nearly ubiquitous, sriracha has become the go-to condiment in nearly every restaurant and food truck that claims to be worthy of it's haute hipster status. I tried it for the first time (!) recently (hey, I live in northeastern Wisconsin, gimme a break), and found it to have a very nice combo of flavor and heat. I find most "hot" sauces just too...hot. Not spicy, I like spicy. But heat for heat's sake is just silly.

In 1998, I went to a wingfest in New Haven, CT. Having lived close enough to Buffalo in the 80's, I was fortunate to be an Anchor Bar patron when wings really took off as a bar food staple, first regionally, then nationally. So a Connecticut wing hoedown was right in my wheelhouse. All I remember now of the experience was incredibly painful blistered lips and mouth due to some jackass' idea of "hot wings". They weren't presented as "suicide" or nuclear" or anything like that. Just hot. So hot that within 15 minutes, I was in agony. An hour (and a near-gallon of milk) later, I was still in pain and really pissed off. The experience turned me off the whole "betcha can't eat THESE" type of menu boasts now commonly found in far too many sports bars around country.

So I've been leery of hot sauces. I thought sriracha was just that and only that - hot. Wrong. Tasty stuff, to be sure. It's not yet a regular part of my cooking/grilling routine, but I can say I'm now a fan.

So what? Well, Huy Fong isn't the only sriracha, and may not be the best after all. Serious Eats put nine of the more readily available contenders through a taste test a while ago. Find the results here

Do you like bacon? A stupid question, to be sure. But why do we all find ourselves OBSESSED with the pork belly? (So much so that there is now a bacon-based sexual lubricant). 

...

Sorry, kinda blanked out there for a second. Where was I? Yes, bacon. During the health-conscious 80's and due to the semi-famous The Other White Meat Campaign, pork belly prices collapsed. So the pork industry had to come up something so the whole hog didn't fall apart (or something like that).

The industry partnered with burger chain Hardee's to produce this ad and product:

After Hardee's success, the rest of fast food industry took notice. And once the big boys got involved and turned the chips in our brains over to the bacon setting, the pork party hasn't slowed down at all. For an exhaustive overview of the subject, check out Bloomberg Businessweek's article here.

Have a great bacon weekend, everyone!

Bacon.