Who needs Bakon when you've got bacon?

This all started about a month ago when I found a link online for Bakon Vodka: http://www.bakonvodka.com/

It didn’t take long to realize that the LCBO doesn’t carry Bakon and importing’s not really an option so I decided to make my own. If you search online you’ll find dozens of sites running through the steps to make bacon infused vodka, but, most of them seem derivative of this recipe: http://www.browniepointsblog.com/2008/01/20/homemade-bacon-vodka/

I decided that if I were going to make bacon vodka that I needed to kick it up a notch:

• regular bacon vodka sounds awesome ... gotta make that
• I decided to also make a bottle of bacon, tomato and cracked peppercorn vodka

Here’s the breakdown of what I did:

Step 1 – Preparations

• Prepare a clean, glass, freezer-safe, water-tight jar or bottle for the infusion. Mason jars work well.
• Fry the bacon. McAuliflower’s recipe suggested 3 strips of bacon to a pint of vodka so I cooked 5 strips for a 750ml bottle of vodka.
• Suggested: fry some extra bacon. I had to start over my first time around as half the bacon ended up being eaten between the pan and the jar ...

• Put the bacon in the jar, fill with vodka and seal. I split the bacon and the vodka equally between two 500ml mason jars to make 1 regular bacon and 1 bacon, tomato and cracked peppercorn vodkas
• Place the jars in a cool (not cold) dark place.

Step 2 – Kicking it up (2 weeks in)

• After 2 weeks of infusion I added tomatoes and peppercorns to one of the jars. I chopped the tomatoes into 2-inch cubes and cracked (not ground) the peppercorns

Step 3 – Freezing (3 weeks in)

• After 3 weeks of infusion time I placed both jars into the freezer. This will help to congeal the fat from the bacon and also helps to thicken some of the free-floating pulp from the tomatoes

Step 4 – Filtering (after 24 hours of freezing)

• After 24 hours of freezing and using a regular coffee filter and a funnel I strained the vodka infusions into separate bottles

• I ended up changing the filter several times throughout the straining process as I found it would clog after a few minutes with congealed fat and pulp

Step 5, 6, 7, etc. – Drink!

As you can see the finished product has a light yellow colour for the straight bacon vodka and a beautiful orange colour for the bacon, tomato and cracked peppercorn vodka. The latter has a very strong peppery smell and I think in future batches I may ttry reducing both the amount and the infusion time for the pepper. The aroma from the tomato is amazing!


I’m holding off of tasting until the coming weekend so that I can put together a proper barbeque dinner and vodka tasting. I also need some time to decide what drinks to mix out of this first batch. Here’s what I’m thinking right now:



The World’s Greatest Caesar: It’s your classic Caesar recipe but made with bacon, tomato and cracked peppercorn vodka

The Caesar Martini: 3 ounces of bacon, tomato and cracked peppercorn vodka, a splash of clamato, shaken over ice, rimmed with Caesar salts, garnished with 2 olives and a few drops of worchestershire

Canadian Breakfast: a shooter made with bacon vodka, Maple Cream Liquor and a splash of crème de cassis

 
 
I'm still working on more recipe ideas but I have the week to dream things up!