Las Vegas Chocolate Part 2 - Bacon and Chocolate, but Who Is Mo?

Thanks to Vosges Haut-Chocolat, I was finally able to experience tasting the flavours of bacon and chocolate at the same time! I've actually been thinking about bacon and chocolate for a while now, ever since a night a few years ago when I was sitting around with a few friends and talking about how chocolate-covered bacon would be a cool product idea (this was after a few drinks, of course). We thought we'd make millions.  But of course, someone else is already doing it, and that someone is Katrina Markoff, owner of Vosges. And she's doing it in a classy way.  Her chocolate bars, called Mo's Bacon Bar and Mo's Dark Bacon Bar are solid bars of dark and milk chocolate combined with bacon. These are not just slabs of bacon that have been dipped in chocolate coating.  Katrina has put a lot of thought into choosing her star ingredients, using Applewood smoked bacon pieces and a hint of Alderwood smoked salt to mix into a 100 gram chocolate bar.  The milk chocolate bar was released first, then after a few years of recipe testing, the dark chocolate bar was launched.

While at the Vegas location of a Vosges boutique, I bought one of each the dark chocolate bar and the milk chocolate.  I am still undecided as to which I like better.  I always gravitate towards dark chocolate, so I started with it.  I ate half the bar in one sitting.  Truly it is a great tasting chocolate bar.  Bacon and dark chocolate...who knew? I can see why it took Vosges a little while to develop the dark chocolate bar, as I am sure that just any dark chocolate could not be used.  A correct flavour combination was needed to create the right experience.  They have chosen to create a bar with 62% cacao solids, with 48% cocoa solids in the dark chocolate and 30% cocoa butter.  The vanilla flavouring is also natural. Had it been artificial, it likely would have overwhelmed the smoky taste of the bacon.

The key to tasting a Mo's Bacon Bar is to smell it before you eat it. With both the milk chocolate and the dark chocolate versions, they smell simply like smoked bacon, rather than chocolate.  But what is interesting and rather contrary to what you might think after smelling them, is that they taste more like chocolate with a hint of bacon.  I like the chewy soft bacon pieces as well.  Just as the chocolate flavour melts away, the bacon flavour takes over.

The milk chocolate bar is fantastic as well.  It really melts in the mouth and for some reason, when I eat it, I think of peanut butter.  It is probably because I associate bacon with breakfast; I always have peanut butter on toast with my bacon when I eat a large breakfast. I once ate bacon and peanut butter together on a burger at The Works in Ottawa, but that's another story (it was a very good burger!).

I highly recommend that you try bacon and chocolate, particularly Vosges version of it. It is natural, high quality and I'm sure can be classified as "fine chocolate".  For me it offered an experience that was positive, and one that I won't soon forget!  I just wish I'd bought enough of them to bring back as gifts for all my family and friends so I can share this experience with everyone I know.

Since Vosges prides itself on creating a sensory experience, I also picked up several other chocolate bars from their boutique with many creative flavours, and I tried an amazing truffle made with aged Balsamic vinegar and some inspiringly rich hot chocolate. I will write more in the future weeks about my tastings of Vosgues' chocolate bars as I work my way through tasting all of them (there are too many to taste in one day!)

Below are the details on Vosgues Haut-Chocolat Boutique in Las Vegas and the package details from the Mo's Bacon and Chocolate bars that I tasted today.  My only question though, which is not answered on the package, is: "Who the heck is Mo?"

Vosgues Haut-Chocolat
www.vosgeschocolate.com
Las Vegas – Caesars Palace (Forum Shops)
Phone: 702.836.9866

Mo's Bacon Bar (Applewood smoked bacon, Alderwood smoked salt, deep milk chocolate). 45% cacao, 3 oz (85 g)
Made by:  Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Chicago, IL, U.S.A
Ingredients: deep milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, dry whole milk powder, cocoa mass, soy lecithin, vanilla), 10% uncured bacon (pork, water, sea salt, raw sugar, white pepper, dry juniper berries, celery juice, lactic acid-starter culture), salt.  Deep milk chocolate (45%) contains: 37% cocoa solids minimum, 15% milk solids minimum. Contains allergens: Soy, milk. Manufactured in a facility that also handles tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish and soya. Gluten-free.

Mo's Dark Bacon Bar  (Applewood smoked bacon, Alderwood smoked salt, dark chocolate). 62% cacao, 3 oz (85 g)
Made by: Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Chicago, IL, U.S.A
Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), 10% uncured bacon (pork, water, seas salt, raw sugar, white pepper, dry juniper berries, celery juice, lactic acid-starter culture), salt. Dark chocolate (62%) contains: 48% cocoa solids minimum, 30% cocoa butter minimum. Contains allergens: Soy. Manufactured in a facility that also handles tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish and soya. Gluten-free.

Read on for other blog posts on chocolate in Las Vegas:
http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/las-vegas-chocolate-part-1-jean.html
http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/las-vegas-and-chocolate-unusual.html