Denver is bringing home the (local) bacon with the launch of the Denver Bacon Company (DBC). Chef Justin Brunson, founder of Masterpiece Deli and the upcoming Old Major, is partnering with Eric Clayman, a founding partner of Udi's Granola and Gluten-Free Foods. The two announced the joint venture today (Feb. 13) have big plans to bring home the bacon to Coloradans.
Iowa-born Brunson knows his bacon. He admits to having a long-time love affair with his home-state's pork bellies. But this bacon will be all Colorado. The DBC artisan maple slab bacon is butcher-cut, thick sliced and made from large white/landrace cross Dam (female) with duroc Sire (male) hogs that are locally raised in Colorado.
Brunson's recipe for maple slab bacon includes a blend of spices like coriander, yellow mustard, juniper, thyme, bay leaf and black pepper — then sweetened with maple sugar. After the bellies are cured, they are smoked with Colorado peachwood, sourced from Fruita, Colo.
“With my culinary and farming background and Eric’s business and entrepreneurial background, we are the perfect team to develop and execute a new line of cured and smoked meat products,” says Brunson. The bacon line has already proven to be successful with our recent industry awards and sales. We look forward to expanding the product offerings and distribution not only within food service and restaurants, but also within larger grocery stores.”
Brunson's newest Denver restaurant Old Major, which is scheduled to open this spring, will also put pork front and center. Diners can expect to see the swine featured prominently in a restaurant named for the lead pig character from George Orwell's book Animal Farm.
Iowans agree that Denver is lucky to have DBC. At the 6th Annual Iowa Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, nearly 8,000 people showed up to taste some of the nation’s best bacon brands. “Festival attendees lined up to try DBC’s artisan maple slab bacon,” said Brooks Reynolds, chairman of the bacon board for the Iowa Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. “If we had a ‘People’s Choice Award’, it would have gone to DBC. These guys definitely know a thing or two about bacon and we look forward to seeing them at the 3rd Annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour in Keystone, Colo. on June 22-23, 2013.”
Currently, the DBC products are sold at Colorado restaurants and specialty stores and is in the process of receiving USDA approval to be sold at larger grocery stores. In the coming weeks, DBC will be launching a breakfast bacon sausage that will be available at Masterpiece Deli and other Colorado restaurants and specialty stores. Check the website for locations, www.denverbaconcompany.com.
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