Lunaya Pravda

A project meeting in Portland the week before last gave me occasion to visit Voodoo Doughnut, a place an acquaintance had mentioned in a discussion of the wonders of bacon.

Backing up… bacon is something of a hallowed meat in my circle of friends.  Bacon is to food what black is to fashion—we’re almost certain there is very little in the culinary world that couldn’t be complimented by the addition of bacon.  Perhaps some desserts are off limits, but even that’s subject to interpretation: I’ve recently picked up a cookbook that has several dessert recipes containing bacon.  So when I heard that Voodoo Doughnuts offers a bacon maple bar—and just happened to be within 10 blocks of the building where I was heading for my meeting—I felt compelled to investigate.

I’ll start off by saying I’m not typically a fan of maple flavor.  Syrup on pancakes or french toast is fine, but it’s not a staple of mine.  But bacon tipped the scales in favor of trying this particular maple confection.

To say it outright, this doughnut is nothing short of brilliant.  It offers just the right balance of the sweet maple and smokey bacon, with the added bonus of crunchy texture to contrast the relative softness of the maple bar itself.  My only suggestion is that it should be topped with a little more bacon.  If I remember correctly, mine had just two or three half-strips of bacon on it, insufficient for complete maple bar coverage.  I’d suggest slightly thicker bacon, too, but that might make storage problematic and biting into the bacon more difficult.  The very thin, very crispy bacon they use ensures that it breaks off in single bites, rather than having to tear at it lest the entire bacon strip come off in one bite.

I may find myself in Portland again in a month or so, and if I do, I’m swinging by to get a bacon maple bar and try another of their strangely enticing bakery offerings.