bacon « A Date With Flavor

…in CHOCOLATE!

I’ve been on a hunt for the best chocolate in San Francisco because my favorite date is pretty much addicted. I think I found a few winners. Cocoa Bella Chocolates San Francisco and Recchiuti Confections had most of the good ones. The Village Market had the Vogues Mo’s Bacon Bar that I absolutely loved.

Mo’s Bacon Bar is a combination of applewood smoked bacon (actual bite size pieces!), Alder wood smoked salt and milk chocolate. 41% cacao. The first bite was questionable, but after that I couldn’t stop. I made everyone try a piece and got very mixed reviews. One of my friends, B, actually liked it, until I said there was bacon inside.

Fleur de Sel Caramel (Christopher Elbow)

Fleur de Sel Burnt Caramel (Recchiuti Confections)

It’s pretty clear that Fleur de Sel is the top pick for my ultimate bon bon. Here, I’ve tried the Fleur de Sel Caramel by Christopher Elbow from Cocoa Bella. It was a basic salt enhanced soft caramel, but the outer shell was especially hard, which gave a nice crunch. Recchiuti Confections was the winner for Fleur de Sel for my taste buds, the caramel was firm but not too sticky, and it was burnt which gave the most amazing sensation when mixed with the infamous French sea salt.

Cocoa Bella also had a bon bon called “Hannah” which I instantly wanted because of my dear friend Aloo. Anyway, this delicious Knipschildt treasure was milk chocolate with liquid caramel and a few speckles of Hawaiian sea salt.

Smokey Oregon Blue Truffle

A few other bangin’ flavors were Jamaican Spice Caramel, Cayenne Caramel (which had a crazy kick), Smokey blue truffle made of Oregon Rogue blue cheese, organic milk chocolate and toasted almonds, all from Lillie Belle Farms. Recchiuti Confections’, Star Anise & Pink Peppercorn was a dark chocolate treasure infused with these two dynamic flavors. I’ll admit, I went searching for the Oregon Rogue Blue after reading about it on Lick My Spoon. Check out her recent chocolate post!

Challenger, Daniel Angerer is the executive chef and owner of Klee in Manhattan, NY. He chose to challenge Bobby Flay for the battle of beer (he should have picked Symon or Morimoto). Anyway, throughout the episode, the dishes described by both chefs sounded unbelievable. Honestly, the execution was disappointing from both sides. Some of the beers used were Ivanhoe, which is an English Pale Ale (most used), Shiner Hefe-Weizen, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen (really smokey), and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Angerer was definitely more creative in my eyes, but clearly not the judges as, Bobby took the originality points. Chef Angerer made pretzel spaetzle, popcorn crusted chicken and beer creme fraiche. His best dish was by far his dessert, fruit cobbler with beer meringue that was lightly torched and topped with caramelized bacon. Chef Flay made more than one mistake this challenge, and the judges made this pretty damn clear. Although the judges raved about his dessert, Chocolate Stout cake with beer sabayon and a kick of red chile, the only thing I wish I could have tried was his take on sauerkraut. Served with his overcooked bratwurst, he sliced red cabbage and sauteed it with the Ivanhoe along with sugar to caramelize. Later he added a little red wine vinegar, mustard seeds and chopped tomatoes. I’m going to remake that this week and post the recipe. I was so excited for his manchego fondue, until it curdled and looked like shit on the judge’s table. Angerer ended up winning by 2 points, I was pretty disappointed in both for messing up the best secret ingredient I’ve seen yet.

(Bad quality because it’s a JetBlue screen..sorrrrry)