Fifteen pounds of Hormel Black Label Bacon. Twenty local cooks. One bacon tour bus. It’s the stuff of dreams: The Denver Bacon Takedown.
Matt Timms, the man of the hour and el hefe of The Takedown food competitions, is back in town next week spreading the blissful bacon gospel. Since 2003, Timms has been touring the country giving home cooks an opportunity to live out their very own Iron Chef fantasies. He’s the brains behind last year’s Avocado Takedown and past events––in cities like Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, and Seattle, to name a few––have allowed cooks to duke it out with original recipes involving cookies, fondue, salsa, and more.
Here’s how it works: Interested cooks contact Timms. Each contestant gets a massive amount of the key ingredient (in this case, 15 lbs. of pork belly product). Contestants come up with any dish their creative culinary minds can concoct. Winners get a bevy of prizes from such awesome peeps as Cuisinart, Le Creuset, and Wusthof. (I just swooned.)
Le sigh. If only I could be there. Oh yeah, that’s the craptacular part. I’ll be in Texas on other non-bacon related business. The word for that is BULLSHIT. The word for the Denver Bacon Takedown is AMAZING. When Timms hit me up my first thought was, “I should quit my job, clearly.” But no job=no money for bacon. So there’s that. So instead, I’m spreading the word about this truly awesome event.
Spectators welcome. It’s a mere $15 to watch the delicious carnage unfold. That feeling of needing to take your pants off after gorging on the salty smoky sweetness? Gratis.
The Denver Bacon Takedown takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at Casselman’s. For more information about the Denver Bacon Takedown, to sign up to compete, or to buy tickets, check out the website at thetakedowns.com.
Bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon. Yup.