We hosted c. 3,000 guests, 107 restaurants, 9 alcohol sponsors, 18 bacontrepreneurs (including one for whom Saturday was her first day in business), 1 heritage pig sponsor, 1 mineral water sponsor, 1 energetic media sponsor, a neighborhood survey lounge, and 4,257 pounds of Nueske’s bacon.  You can see the menu and roll your own Baconfest here.

Photo Credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Our guests bought $2,660 worth of raffle tickets and donated 2,298 pounds of food to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

We handed over a 5-foot wide check for $50,000 to the GCFD!

We gave away 7 Golden Rasher Awards.  For the food, we had one main award per shift – Most Creative Use of Bacon.  Rather than try to come up with a “best” dish from among 50odd different unique options, we asked our judges to select the dish that blew their minds with its out-of-the-box approach to the use of bacon in a delicious context.  Three quarters of the restaurants opted to participate in the judging.  We also gave awards for each shift for the Best Front of House Table Presentation.

Lunch Session Awards

Best Front of House Presentation: 
Zed 451, Kate Milashus

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Most Creative Use of Bacon: 
Red Butter, Monica Sehgal Sharma 
Bacon-chile gulab jamun topped with bacon-pistachio brittle

Photo Credit: Anne Petersen

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Photo credit: Alex Kramnik

Finalists:

• Big Jones, Paul Fehribach:  Bacon fat biscuit with crispy bacon, pea gravy, and piccalilli
• Hearty, Dan Smith & Jason Mousseau:  Bacon Rice Crispies with assorted “cereal milk”
• Inovasi, John des Rosiers: Quick cured & braised belly, Anson Mills farro verde, Argyle St. spice, wild ramp salsa
• Lillie’s q, Charlie McKenna: “Bacon on Bourbon Street” – bacon custard filled bacon beignet with a Cafe Du Monde coffee and chicory bacon syrup
• Moderno, Phil Rubino: Homemade bacon cannoli, shaved reggiano, crushed pea powder
• Spaccanapoli, Jonathan Goldsmith: Pea, Bacon, and Pecorino Salad – bacon, fresh peas, sugar snap peas, pea shoots, pea sprouts, extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, pecorino romano
• Zed451, Kate Milashus:  Bacon pancake pops in a bourbon glaze

Dinner Chef Awards

Best Front of House Presentation
676 Wine Bar, Daven Wardynski

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Most Creative Use of Bacon: 
Three Aces, Matt Troost
Shake ‘n Bake: Bacon “Steak” ‘n Bacon Shake: A bacon “shake ‘n bake” with our own special blend, with bacon bolognese and a vanilla-bacon-bourbon milkshake

Photo Credit: Anne Petersen

Photo credit: Ben Collins-Sussman

Finalists

• Atwood Cafe, Derek Simcik: Willy Wonka meets Bacon – an array of Wonka-inspired candies done with bacon
• The Bedford, Mark Steuer: Bacon beignets, bacon sugar, bacon/walnut/bourbon infused maple caramel
• J Lafayette Catering, Alexander Martin: New Orleans-style sweet cayenne bacon bread pudding with coconut praline sauce, topped with sweet cayenne bacon crumbles
• Saigon Sisters, Matt Riordan: Bacon pho with black garlic noodles, pickled quail egg and micro Viet herbs
• Sunda, Jess de Guzman: Braised applewood smoked pork belly ssam with crispy bacon, apple kimchi, rice with a spicy miso paste
• Trenchermen, Mike and Pat Sheerin:  Bacon kimchi mortadella, pickle aioli and bacon tater tots

Other 2012 Golden Rashers

Best Poem About Bacon
Ryan Myers – The Quantum Dance
https://baconfestchicago.com/and-the-winner-of-the-baconfest-chicago-2012-bacon-poetry-contest-is

Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats Amateur Bacon Cook-Off
Finalists: https://baconfestchicago.com/the-5-nueskes-amateur-bacon-cook-off-finalists-for-2012-are
Winner: Judith Singer – caramelized banana (instead of figs) sorbet over warm caramelized bananas in a bacon cone, topped with bacon sponge toffee