It’s National Bacon Week! Everybody Celebrate!


Ah, Bacon. Is there anything it can’t do? In celebration of National Bacon week — and the just-announced Bacon Awards For Excellence 2012 — here’s our top bacon stories.

Yeah, there is such a thing as the Bacon Awards For Excellence, awarded by Australian Pork. If you’re curious as to how you’d assess Australia’s best bacon well, according to the criteria:

“The bacon was then assessed in both raw and cooked form by three eminent judges against various criteria such as appearance, aroma, curing, taste and shrinkage.”

And the winners were…

(drumroll, please)

National Winners

Australia’s Best Bacon

1st Schulz Butchers 42 Murray Street Angaston SA 08 8564 2145
Full Rasher

1st Peter G Bouchier 9 Alex Avenue Moorabbin VIC 03 9553 7129

2nd Slade Point Meat Specialists 360 Slade Point Road Mackay QLD 07 4955 1009

3rd Rapley’s Midtown Quality Meats 2/108 Wagonga Street Narooma NSW 02 4467 1900
Short Cut

1st Schulz Butchers 42 Murray Street Angaston SA 08 8564 2145

2nd Meatways Butchery 4/30 Primmer Court Kambah ACT 02 6231 7258

3rd Kanmantoo Bacon Company Lot 1 Mine Road Kanmantoo SA 08 8538 5097

I’ve actually eaten bacon from the national winner, for what it’s worth, although not in the last calendar month. Hit up this link for the state winners if you fancy some tasty, tasty bacon goodness closer to home.

So what, then, of bacon online?

It’s a drink!

Gizmodo AU Makes Its Own Bacon Milkshake

The news that US takeout chain Jack In The Box is now selling bacon milkshakes has inspired excitement and revulsion in equal measure. Given our addiction to recreating fast-food icons and the lack of a local store selling bacon-laden milky goodness, there was only one thing to do: make one ourselves. The result? It’s possible, but we don’t recommend it.
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It’s a recruitment tool!

Microsoft Trying To Poach Amazon And Google Employees With Bacon

Microsoft is trying to hire new employees by luring them with god’s greatest creation, the devil’s most delicious treat and man’s greatest love: bacon. They’ve set up a bacon cart outside of Amazon’s offices and will give away free bacon to everyone. EAT BACON, WORK MICROSOFT.
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It can light up your home!

Use Leftover Bacon Drippings To Make An Oil Lamp

If the power goes out for a long time you may want a light source that doesn’t run on batteries. We’ve shown you once how to build an emergency oil lamp from a can of tuna, but if you don’t like the smell of fish, try on this bacon fat-powered lamp for size.
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It can make that special person in your life smell “extra” special!

Finally, Bacon Cologne!

No longer do you have to dribble bacon down your chin to get a hint of pig on your throat—perfumers Fargginay have invented bacon cologne which has a mix of 11 essential oils in both the Gold (citrus) and Classic (spicy maple) variants, which cost $US36 each.
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You just don’t want to watch it being produced!

How Your Bacon Is Made: The Jarvis JR-50 Super Pig Decapitator

Slaughterhouses are dangerous places to work, what with all the tightly packed cutting implements and atomised brain matter you’re inhaling. The Jarvis JR-50 Head Dropper aims to make hog processing safer for everyone but the hogs. The name even sounds peaceable.
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Frankly (see what I did there?) I could go on and on — or you could check out Gizmodo’s full archive of tasty bacon stories.
Thanks to Geoff for the tip-off!
[Australian Pork]
Image: sxld