Frank Sodolak of Sodolak’s Original Country Inn in Snook, TX is apparently some kind of evil genius.

Not satisfied with serving his customers heaping plates of steaks, french fries, and onion rings large enough to intimidate Fred Flintstone, one day Frank decided to chicken-fry a batch of bacon and the rest is culinary (and coronary) history.

The chicken-fried bacon is served with a generous side dish of cream gravy for dipping or topping.

If you’re curious (or just a glutton like me), you can see more photos of the food at Snooks in Yi’s Flickr photo stream here.

Below is a Youtube video from the Texas County Reporter showing how Sodolak makes his chicken fried bacon:

Recipezaar has a Snook’s inspired recipe for Chicken Fried Bacon W/Cream Gravy if you’re not too guilt-wracked after watching the video. If you make it you can always top it with some Bacon Salt.

If you’re a true bacon fiend who likes to walk on the wild side, you might want to give this Chocolate Covered Bacon Recipe a try (with or without the multi-colored sprinkles), courtesy of Kevin’s Tech Ramblings.

As the late chef and food historian James Beard said:

“I’ve long said that if I were about to be executed and were given a choice of my last meal, it would be bacon and eggs. There are few sights that appeal to me more than the streaks of lean and fat in a good side of bacon, or the lovely round of pinkish meat framed in delicate white fat that is Canadian bacon. Nothing is quite as intoxicating as the smell of bacon frying in the morning, save perhaps the smell of coffee brewing.”

Sounds pretty good to me!

Would you try Chicken-Fried Bacon or Chocolate Covered Bacon?

When you go on a fishing trip or go camping in the mountains, do you enjoy celebrating the pleasure of the great outdoors with a gourmet meal cooked on an open fire?

Fans of outdoor cooking at its finest (as well as gourmet food in general), won’t want to miss the four Redwood Creek Campfire Classic events taking place across the country throughout the spring and summer to kickoff the 2008 camping season.

The most recent event will be held on May 17th, 2008 as part of the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor in Maryland and will feature the semi-final competitions for the contest for already selected competitors from both the North and Southeast (with Hugging the Coast’s own Doug DuCap competing in the Southeastern Division!).

In addition to the Redwood Creek Campfire Classic cookoffs, the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor will also feature demonstrations by Michel Richard, the critically acclaimed chef of Citronelle and author of Happy in the Kitchen as well as lectures and samples from dozens of culinary experts from around the country.

Two other Campfire Classic semi-finalist cookoffs will be held in Seattle, WA on May 31st as part of the Pike Place Market Street Festival and in Chicago, IL on June 7th as part of the Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival which will determine the finalists from the Northwest and Midwest divisions. (The finalists from the Southwestern division were chosen on May 3rd at Mayfest in Fort Worth, TX.)

Winners of the Campfire Classic Semi-Finals will be awarded $1,000, plus an all-expense paid trip to New York City to compete during the first week of summer for a chance to win a $10,000 Grand Prize. The finals will be judged by Redwood Creek winemaker, Cal Dennison, and Bob Blumer, host of the Food Network’s Glutton for Punishment and The Surreal Gourmet.

Like the poster above? You can get it free here. Also, please see the 2007 Campfire Classic Finalists’ Recipes below to help inspire you on your own culinary campfire adventures:

• 2007 Grand Prize Winner: Coal-Roasted Chuckbox Pozole-Stuffed Onions by Leah Lyon of Ada, Oklahoma

• Chincoteague Scallops by Julia DeCastro of University Park, Florida

• Rocky Mountain Pinon Paella by Paul Heitzenrater of Denver, Colorado

• Down East Lobster Scampi a la Campfire by Brian Mulligan of Bath, Maine

• Lost in the Woods Pork Tenderloin by Kim Wittmers of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Charleston, SC’s too big to have made this list of The Best Fishing Towns in America from Field and Stream. (The places on this particular list all have less than 100,000 residents. Charleston has almost 119,000.) However, scenic Beaufort, SC did make #17 on the list.

Charleston was named one of the best fishing spots in the South on another F&S list that was mentioned in a previous post).

Here’s the full list of notable fishing towns…

1. Glenwood Spring, CO
2. Mountain Home, AR
3. Traverse City, MI
4. Bozeman, MT
5. Minocqua, WI
6. Apalachicola, FL
7. Nantucket, MA
8. Bend, OR
9. Guntersville, AL
10. Morehead City, NC
11. Missoula, MT
12. Ely, MN
13. Page, AZ
14. Driggs, ID
15. Jasper, TX
16. Tahlequah, OK
17. Beaufort, SC
18. Eufaula, AL
19. Redding, CA
20. Montauk, NY

Enter your best, original chicken recipe at EatChicken.Com for a chance to win $50,000.

As it says on the site…

The contest is sponsored by The National Chicken Council, and the US Poultry & Egg Association. It is open to anyone in the United States who has a great original chicken recipe. There will be one grand prize winner along with regional winners. The monetary prizes total $74,100.

One winning recipe will be selected from each state with the winner receiving $100. The state winners will then compete in regional cook-offs. Each of the nine regional winners will receive $1,000 and will be invited to participate the National Cook-off to be held in San Antonio, Texas, on May 2, 2009. The Grand Prize is $50,000. There is also a $10,000 Judges’ Choice Award.

The nine finalists in San Antonio have to cook their recipes twice - once for the judges to taste and the other for display. The recipes should provide four to eight servings and are judged on taste, appearance, simplicity, and overall appeal. Recipes using a grill are not eligible.

Winning recipes will be published in a chicken cookbook published by the National Chicken Council. You can submit as many recipes as you want before the deadline of August 31, 2008. You can enter online or print out a mail-in form.

Last Year’s Winning Recipe: Thai-Inspired Stuffed Chicken Breast and Slaw.

According to a recent article on Foxbusiness.Com, the Southeastern United States is the best place to retire for those on fixed incomes. (The article goes on to list the American West and South and Central America on the #2 and #3 positions, respectively.)

As John Shelton Reed once said, “Southern barbecue is the closest thing we have in the U.S. to Europe’s wines and cheeses; drive a hundred miles and the barbecue changes.”

Please feel free to enjoy our Southern Coastal Life MP3 Playlist which is filled with 30+ streaming songs that celebrate the pleasures of Southern food, fishing, surfing, and life spent on the water. (Additional music will be periodically added.)

Artists include: The Andrews Sisters, Andy Griffith, Van Morrison, Elijah and the Ebonites, The Weavers, Tom Waits, James Taylor, Carl Perkins, The Drifters, Dizzy Gillespie, Smiley Burnette, Fats Waller, Martha and the Vandellas, Hank Williams Sr., Tim McGraw, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Ryan Adams, Stringbean, Little Milton, Louis Jordan, Dar Williams, and The Preservation Hall Band…good stuff!

You can listen to it here.

• Hog jowls for joy! (from Piggly Wiggly Supermarkets)