I am continuing my quest to find the perfect way to pre-season burgers I cook at home. Today I tried three methods: 1) frying a patty in bacon grease; 2) using JD’s Bacon Salt; and 3) Penzeys Spices “Chicago Steak Seasoning.”
Baconsalt
The results were mixed. Bacon grease, in general, didn’t add much flavor to the burgers, but certainly it upped the fat and caloric count. Your choice of bacon may have an impact on this, I used a national brand which is generally pretty inferior, but the price of quality bacon is so high these days – that just for an experiment, it didn’t seem worth it to me.
Baconsalt. The website says it “makes everything taste like bacon.” Wouldn’t that be the bomb if it were true? I get really confused when manufacturers mix all natural and artificial ingredients. What’s the point? Baconsalt gets its flavor from “natural hickory smoke flavor” which is mixed in with sea salt, garlic, onion, parsley, and a gaggle of ingredients that end with “…ate”. Corn syrup, and artificial flavor and color.
I love salt. And I love bacon. But I can’t get excited about this stuff.
Penzeys Chicago Steak Seasoning
Probably a personal smell flashback to my days touring sausage factories, where the production called for “smoked flavor showers” on the outside of casings. It was a big overwhelming, and the strong odor of the Baconsalt reminds me of that and puts me off.
The Penzeys has largely the same ingredients as the Baconsalt, but it’s much more subtle. As a side note, I don’t use garlic salt at all, preferring fresh, but I recently had some Penzeys garlic salt and it’s the best I have ever experienced.
My search will continue. Still leading the pack for me on a regular basis is Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning. That’s my choice.
Cooking burgers in bacon fat