Thanks for the review, Cervaise! What’s the ATK method?
For a second there, I was trying to figure out what in the heck artesian bacon was. Like Cervaise’s post, I’d think mouthwatering perhaps.
Regardless of results, the real winners in any such contest would be the tasters. 
Renee, ATK = America’s Test Kitchen, publishers of Cook’s Illustrated. In a recent issue, they proposed an alternate technique for cooking steak. To wit:
The standard method, as described in just about every cooking reference I’ve ever seen (frex, frex), is to sear the meat in a heavy pan on the stovetop, and then move it to the oven. (Most people have a mistaken notion that the sear will “seal in juices,” which in fact isn’t the case, but that’s a different subject.) This produces acceptable-to-good results, but occasionally results in an unattractive “gray line” at the transition point between the seared outside and the rare interior. This is a common problem when people try to cook steaks too recently removed from the cold of the refrigerator. The cause is simple: as the steak is searing, by the time the outside is nice and browned, the heat has penetrated the meat and, at around 150F, changes the meat’s myoglobin (which makes it red) such that hemichrome is produced (which is what makes cooked meat grayish brown). If things happen perfectly with the standard method, and if you’ve given the steak plenty of time to come up to room temperature and don’t try to cook it straight from the refrigerator, the heat penetrates the meat at a fast and uniform rate, and the steak is either browned or rare, without any in-between. If you get any in-between cooking, though, you’ll produce a “gray line.”
The ATK people, after some experimentation, discovered that the best way to avoid this is to switch the order of cooking: start the steak (seasoned) in a low-temperature oven (<200F), warm it to ~100F in the middle (a little less for very rare, or up to ~120 for medium-rare), and then move to the stovetop for an exterior sear. The resulting steak is very tender, all the way through, warmed to the middle but still brilliantly pink, with a fantastic exterior crust, and no risk of gray line. I swear by the technique now, whether or not I’m cooking the steak straight out of the fridge.
Use a meat thermometer during the oven step, until you get familiar with how the meat behaves and can guesstimate doneness by time and appearance.
Cervaise, after your dedication to fighting all of our ignorances in fine fashion, I’m just going to resume my role as Bacon Pope. You, sir, are clearly the Bacon Pimp!
Can’t help but wonder what’s become of lno, our original Bacon Ho.
This is how I do steaks on the grill. Set the grill to smoke at about 200-250 degrees. Add wood chips for smoke. Cook the steak until it reaches the proper temp inside (120-125 for med rare).
Remove the steak, fire the grill up to nuclear. When you have the grill as hot as you can get it, replace the steak on the grill for about 2 minutes per side. If you turn the steak 90 degrees after one minute, you get those cool crisscross grill marks.
Best steak you will ever eat. The only way to improve on it would be bacon salt.
I bought some, and I am going to surprise my man with bacon-flavored burgers as soon as the salt arrives.
Thank you for sharing. I love this place.
Silenus, check your mail when you get home, just in case. I have Bacon Salt!!! 
Crap…what a fool I am! I haven’t bought anything to put it on!
Aren’t you married?
You mean there’s no food at all in your house!?! :eek: :eek:
The Bacon Salt arrived at about 2:00pm. I constructed my tomato and avocado sandwich on pumpernickel with mayo at about 2:05pm (sprinkled liberally with the original Bacon Salt).
Man, was that good! Ripe 'maters and avocado are good by themselves, but in a sandwich like that, well, it don’t get much better.
I’d have another, but my diabetes meal plan says I’ve reached my carb limit for today.
I might just have me a BLT salad, though.
Mmmmmmmm…bacon!
Ahem, we are on the bacon god’s blog: http://www.baconsaltblog.com/
Cervaise’s review was posted.
I’m kind of with Cervaise on the god question. Not only is there Bacon Salt, but I just realized that I had money sitting in my Paypal account, just yearning to be spent on it.
I’ve got a couple of ideas:
Pierogies with butter and Bacon Salt
Chicken brined in Bacon Salt
Bacon Salt compound butter
Come to think of it, Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe for a turkey dry-rubbed with salt. I think a Bacon Salt turkey would be true cause for thanks.
Dang. Got me for a sample pack.
mmmmmm. Bacon.
The idea of bacon-popcorn was too attractive to resist.
I got mine this afternoon. Bacon salt on instant mashed potatoes, that being the fastest available medium.
It’s in little chunks like a salad sprinkle, rather than a bacon-colored “salt”. Interesting.
The Original flavor is the most intensely “bacon-y”, with a sugar-cured bacon aroma.
The Peppered has actual visible flakes of, well, pepper. Gosh.
The Hickory flavor is subtly nuanced, not the “truckload of fake hickory smoke flavoring” that I expected.
I haven’t decided which one I like best yet. I put all three on the potatoes. It seemed simpler that way. Why choose when you don’t have to?
Lookit this. Cervaise and the Dope have made it to the Bacon Salt Blog. It’s a recursive sort of fame!
Just got mine.
I had to rip open the box and taste immediately. Yummmm! Bacony goodness.
I sprinkled a little of each one on slices of an heirloom tomato. All are fabulous, but I think the Peppered is my favorite.
I decided to make myself a BLT. Cooked up some bacon, sliced some more heirloom tomato, grabbed a few leaves of romaine, crumbled some gorgonzola, and toasted some multi-grain bread.
Put it all together and added just a little more bacon to the B part of my BLT with some of the Peppered Bacon Salt sprinkled on the tomatoes.
I’m eating it right now, and oh my, is it delicious.
I will find many, many uses for these.
But for now, back to my sandwich.
Now I’m starting to get really angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry, Baconsalt dudes. I hope they are continuing to read this thread.
Surely you have potatoes, man!?
If I ever find myself single, I’m marrying Bacon Salt.