We get to see this "bacon effect" on a daily basis here at our Lake of the Ozarks BBQ restaurant! It happens every time we pull that incredible meat out of our smoker and each time it is served to one of our hungry Wobbly Boots Roadhouse customers.
Why does this meat in particular evoke such a euphoric feeling from nearly everyone on the planet? We did a little research on the subject, and we found out there are actually some scientific reasons why bacon is so appealing.
The Science of Bacon
Some foods contain a single molecule that is responsible for what you taste. For example, bananas and almonds are very distinctive flavors that mainly rely on a single molecule for flavor, but as yummy as they may be to some people, those are foods that aren't too difficult to resist.
Bacon, on the other hand, has a phenomenal combination of factors that come together to create that crispy goodness. The best explanation that we found came from an online article from the BBC. It gets a bit scientific but extremely interesting to us bacon-lovers.
" 'Some of the major flavour players are the result of the pork belly's fat breaking down,' says Guy Crosby, food scientist and science editor at America's Test Kitchen. 'It's not just the white marbling that's in play. The cell membranes of the muscle tissue contain fatty acids that disintegrate during cooking to yield a bouquet of flavourful compounds like aldehydes, furans, and ketones. By themselves, some of these molecules have distinct tastes or smells – furans have a sweet, nutty, caramel-like note, aldehydes a green, grassy note, and ketones tend to be buttery – but whatever they are doing together seems to be key. If any of these classes of molecules were missing from the overall bacon flavour, you would notice it.' "
So basically, the combination of sweet, nutty, caramel-like notes, + green, grassy notes, + a buttery flavor all come together in a magical way to create the magnificent bacon flavor we all know and love! The bacon that you get from our family-friendly restaurant at the Lake of the Ozarks takes the magnificent flavor of bacon one step further after it spends some time in our smoker.
Hickory-Smoking Makes It Even Better
The rubs and spices that are added to bacon play a part in the final flavor too. The chemical reactions of everything combined create a variety of tastes, pointing the various molecules in different directions.
The act of smoking bacon causes the meat to take on yet another set of flavor compounds. Wobbly Boots BBQ's hickory-smoked meats go through a long, slow cooking process that gives them a flavor that is the best in the Midwest. The smoke that comes from the hickory wood releases both acrid and sweet-smelling compounds that combine to add that amazing extra flavor that puts meats like our bacon on everyone's favorite foods list.
Get Your Bacon-Fix at the Boot
Wobbly Boots Roadhouse's menu features quite a few items containing our mouthwatering, hickory-smoked bacon. These menu items taste great on their own but adding bacon makes them even better! (That's the true magic of bacon!) Some of the dishes that you will find our bacon on include:- Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
- Texas Fries
- Cowboy Cobb Salad
- Texas Style Club
- Big Texas BLT
- Catfish BLT
- Grilled Turkey Wrap
- Buffalo Chicken Wrap
- El Diablo Burger
- Hickory Bacon BBQ Cheeseburger
- Baked Potato Soup
Alright, it's time to wipe the drool off of your chin, hop into the car, and get yourself on over to Wobbly Boots Roadhouse in Osage Beach! All of the mouthwatering, hickory-smoked goodness we prepare daily is available 7 days a week beginning at 11:00 am.
Whether you end up ordering bacon or not (but come on, you know you're gonna!), you can rest assured that whatever dish you choose will taste incredible. After all, when you dine at the place claiming to serve the best BBQ at the Lake of the Ozarks, you would expect no less and we always aim to please!
4717 Osage Beach Parkway
Osage Beach, MO 65065
573-348-2277
