In terms of attendance, Saturday’s Baconfest Chicago Pro Cookoff at the Publican (the precursor to the main event in April) was a bit of a sausagefest, with dudes (quite a few of them in matching meat couture) outnumbering females by about two to one. Apart from that, it defied most stereotypes of the supposedly moribund bacon fad, with ten chefs turning out thoughtful, creative dishes accompanied by smart beer pairings, with nary a hint of gratuitous looniness (even though attendees were given bacon lip balm in their goody bags).

Chris Pandel of the Bristol won the Golden Rasher for the Best Use of Bacon by a Culinary Professional, judged by me, Louisa Chu, Gary Wiviott, Chuck Sudo, and the Baconfest Triumvirate. His dish, a maple-sage-sausage-stuffed, alderwood-smoked bacon braciole, was simple, straightforward, and powerfully delicious, with braised greens saturated in lightly sweet maple-scented juices. Troy Graves of Eve won the People’s Choice Rasher with a pumpkin-bacon waffle and belly, whose fatty richness was offset with a judicious use of tart pomegranate.

But nearly every dish entered had something to recommended it, from Rick Gresh’s implausible sounding but buttery good bacon beer to John Manion’s plate, which deserved some kind of award for sheer effort, since he brined his bellies in one of Goose Island’s bourbon barrels, then smoked them over the chopped-up wood.

Ron Kaplan
Nathan Sears’s bacon boudin blanc

The perfectly cooked over-easy quail egg on a buttermilk blini by Gemini Bistro chef Jason Paskewitz with a light apricot syrup was a performance miracle.