Sponsored by Hormel Foodservice
Bacon has rooted its way into every corner of restaurant menus. Whether the star of a BLT, a garnish in a Bloody Mary or in a savory brownie dessert, the smoky-salty flavors of bacon make themselves at home in numerous dishes.
However, bacon’s popularity comes with challenges. Loads of it must be cooked daily in restaurant kitchens, and for operations that prepare it by the case load, a single cook may spend hours panning, baking, draining grease and piling up bacon. Dedicating such time and valuable resources to just one task was costly and inefficient long before the pandemic hit. Now, as dining restrictions are loosening nationwide and a restaurant hiring bonanza is underway, operators are struggling more than ever to find good help.
“This labor shortage is an ongoing issue, and it has to be addressed creatively when staff is so hard to find,” says Tony Finnestad, Hormel Foodservice executive chef. “Using fully prepared proteins is a great way to do that since they reduce labor while delivering great quality.”
One product Finnestad called “super-useful” in trimming labor is HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon. He says it looks, tastes and performs just like bacon cooked from raw. Its distinct flavor comes from slow smoking over hardwoods, including applewood, and its thick and consistent slices are indistinguishable from bacon cooked from raw due to the Hormel Foodservice patented cooking process. It’s offered in standard slice and half-slice versions that simplify sandwich building.
“Where it helps labor the most, though, is no one spends all that time cooking it from raw,” Finnestad says. “Since it takes only a fraction of the time to heat, your cooks have more time to devote to signature items that require more skills—specialties guests can get only at your restaurant.”
Dan Reeves, system director for Food and Nutrition Services at Lee Health, knows the product well. The Fort Myers, Florida, company’s five-hospital system utilizes a centralized production facility to produce 15,000 meal equivalents per day, meaning he has to maximize labor resources with streamlined products.
“HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon not only helps from a quality perspective, it’s so much simpler than cooking from raw,” Reeves says. “I can tell you that it’s an excellent product.”
Finnestad says customers “have a hard time telling the difference between HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon and bacon cooked from raw. Because of the proprietary process we use to cook it, it’s as good as any raw product out there. A real bonus is it’s also incredibly consistent.”
Howard Richardson, a Lowell, Arkansas-based chef consultant with HNR Culinary Consulting, hasn’t used HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon, but he sees plenty of upside in this type of fully cooked product.
“If a kitchen runs out of cooked bacon during a rush, cooking more isn’t a challenge since it’s fully cooked,” Richardson says.
In fact, this fully cooked bacon can be prepared in less than five minutes1.
“And when you’re really busy, there’s always the chance of people burning themselves with a sheet pan full of bacon and grease,” Richardson adds. “This minimizes that problem.”
HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon is not only on trend, Richardson says it promotes menu innovation. Chefs can dice it for flavor accents in dips, spreads, casseroles and hash browns. Full strips are impressive when candied or used as garnishes, and their thicker texture makes them sturdy enough to wrap around figs, jalapeño peppers and scallops. Half slices, he adds, would be a game changer in many concepts.
“That would be great because it’s less labor, no prep and no waste to cut and make it fit,” Richardson says.
Half slices, adds Finnestad, “provide better control over portions and food cost because fewer slices are used without compromising on coverage or flavor. It’s the greatest way to elevate your bacon and give your customers a satisfying experience.”
Richardson says he’s worked with several types of precooked bacon that were too thin from the start and made brittle by heating. If not watched closely, they burned quickly.
“When it’s too easily overcooked, you’re out of luck because it’s ruined,” he says. “Some people like their bacon a little limp, while others like it crispy. You get a choice with this.”
Protect the plumbing
Even when bacon grease is discarded, what's left on sheet pans inevitably goes down the drain when washed off. Over time clogs build up and create expensive repair issues. Plumbers describe bacon grease clogs as among the worst possible stoppages because they damage drainpipes, city sewers and even natural waterways.
A veteran chef of nearly 30 years, Richardson says avoiding such clogs would save operators countless headaches.
“When you’ve got a lot of grease and a lot of cleanup, you’ve got grease going someplace that you don’t want it,” he says. HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon yields 95% less grease2 and uses 50% fewer sheet pans2 than bacon cooked from raw. “Being able to have bacon on your menu—and most do—without that problem would be nice.”
Operators looking for flavorful slow-smoked, thick-sliced bacon, fully cooked and with 90% less mess2 can count on HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon. To learn more about this revolutionary product, click here.
1 Based on 375° F oven temperature, cooked in convection oven
2 Based on independent tests using a raw 18/22 foodservice bacon compared to a 18/22-style HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon
