Chicken fried bacon consists of

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

strips dredged in batter and

deep fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norm ...

, like

chicken fried steak Chicken-fried steak, also known as country-fried steak, is an American Southern breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of beefsteak (most often tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and either deep-fried or pan-fried. It is a ...

. It is an American dish that was introduced in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the early 1990s. Frank Sodolak of Sodolak's Original Country Inn in

Snook, Texas Snook is a city in Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 506 at the 2020 census. Geography Snook is southwest of College Station and southeast of Caldwell, the Burleson County seat. According to the United States Census ...

, states that he invented the dish; however, there is a similar recipe in the 1954 cookbook ''Louisiana Cookery'' by Mary Land which uses salt pork instead of bacon. It is usually served as an appetizer with cream gravy or

sausage gravy Sausage gravy is a traditional Southern cuisine, Southern breakfast dish in the United States. After loose pork sausage is cooked in a pan and removed, a roux is formed by browning flour in the residual fat. Milk and seasonings, such as salt an ...

for dipping and sauce.

Notoriety

Sodolak's version of the dish acquired enough of a reputation to be featured in Texas comedian John Kelso's ''Texas Curiosities''. The entry states that "Things are not only bigger in Texas, they're greasier" and that "it's hard to imagine a more artery-clogging food." Sodolak's version serves six strips of bacon, battered and fried, with a bowl of cream gravy. He and his restaurant were featured on a ''

Texas Country Reporter ''Texas Country Reporter'' is a weekly TV syndication, syndicated television program hosted by J.B. Sauceda, which airs in all twenty-two Texas media markets, generally on weekends, and nationally on the satellite/cable channel RFD-TV.

'' episode; the web video has been watched hundreds of thousands of times on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Versions

Chicken fried bacon made by Glen Kusak of south Texas won the Big Tex Choice Award for Best Taste in the 2008

State Fair of Texas The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. In recent years, the dish has made its way across America and it was served in Chicago at the Risque Cafe in Lake View. The Risque Cafe's version of "country-fried bacon" was served with white gravy and sold for $6. It was prepared using an egg wash, dredged in heavily peppered flour and deep fried in vegetable oil. The café's chef, Andrew Niemeyer, said he "played around with the idea" while a student of the

Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago (formerly known as ''The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago'') was founded in 1983, and closed in September 2017. The school was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and was loc ...

(he graduated in 2005).

Health issues

Since the dish is rich in

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone, and fatty acids that each cont ...

, the majority of health experts who favor

low-fat diet A low-fat diet is one that restricts fat, and often saturated fat and cholesterol as well. Low-fat diets are intended to reduce the occurrence of conditions such as heart disease and obesity. For weight loss, they perform similarly to a low-carbo ...

s suggest consuming it in moderation or not at all. Sally Squires of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' acknowledged chicken fried bacon's appeal to the palate, but suggests moderation.Response to "Guilty in Virginia," in Other experts note the dish's low nutritional benefits: "They've taken fat, they've double-coated it in fat, they've fried it in more fat, and then they've served it with a side order of fat." Jane Hurley, senior nutritionist at the

Center for Science in the Public Interest The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.–based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group. History and funding CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization. Its focus is nutrition and health, food safety ...

in Washington, D.C., stated she's "never heard of anything worse."

References

External links

Snook Texas roadfood video
Texas County Reporter - Chicken Fried Bacon (YouTube)
Recipezaar
- Chicken Fried Bacon with Cream Gravy {{DEFAULTSORT:Chicken Fried Bacon Bacon dishes Deep fried foods Texan cuisine American pork dishes Appetizers Cuisine of the Southwestern United States

Notoriety

Versions

Health issues

See also

References

External links