Bacon lovers, this one’s for you — a story featuring some Michigan B&B innkeepers who show their love for America’s favorite breakfast meat.
If you go to Munro House B&B and Spa in Jonesville, you might be served bacon with a twist — literally. After heating the bacon, the innkeeper often twists it in a long spiral, letting it cool and harden in that shape. If crispy bacon is best, crispy curvy bacon is probably even better.
Our former Innkeepers Larry Robertson and Lisa Tallarico of Cocoa Cottage B&B in Whitehall also offer a different spin on bacon: gently curled coils. “One curious guest asked what part of the pig we use to make our bacon,” Lisa said. “Without skipping a beat, Larry said, ‘the tail, of course!’ That received a rousing laugh from the entire table, but the guest who posed the question remained convinced that we used the tail.”
Bacon lovers, consider the source
Numerous Michigan B&B innkeepers assert that WHERE they get their bacon is one key to how good it tastes.
At The Lamplighter B&B of Ludington, bacon is sourced locally at Sanders Meats. “Plenty of guests ask for directions to Sanders Meats after their first taste at breakfast,” said innkeeper Jen Hinderer.
Ebels General Store in Falmouth supplies bacon to House on the Hill B&B in Ellsworth, 80 miles away. “We buy a half pig and get different cuts,” innkeeper Marci Palajac said. Ebels sources only from local Michigan farms.
Honors for longest distance to favorite bacon source may go to Dapple-Gray B&B, near Copper Harbor at almost the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
When Ole and Ruth Van Goor built and opened Dapple-Gray, she had been in the antique business for more than 45 years. “One of my shows was at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.,” Ruth said. “Every year Ole would try to find out where the Grand got its bacon — it was unusual. One year, which turned out to be the last year of the antique show, they finally told him where it came from Plath Meats in Rogers City, below the bridge.”
Ole immediately contacted Plath Meats. “They worked out a deal where Ole would send them a freezer container and they would send it back with his order,” Ruth said.
Innkeeper Steve Gibson of Kalamazoo House B&B concurs that “great bacon starts with great product.” At his downtown Kalamazoo B&B, he said, “Hickory-smoked, thick-cut, premium bacon is the perfect starting place, and combined with a convection-perfected baking method to enhance and preserve flavor, bacon lovers can satiate their appetites for bacon here.”
Bacon inspires B&B culinary temptations
Innkeeper Jan Smith of Maple Cove B&B in Leonard makes the bacon lovers’ dream dish shown at the top of this page. She said she and her husband Mark call it “our deconstructed strata, which actually means we made up the recipe as well as the name.” They use French bread strata as the base (cubed bread soaked in eggs, milk, spices, and cheese), topped with a lightly fried egg and covered with a bacon basket.
Lamplighter B&B innkeeper Jen Hinderer works bacon into white cheddar, bacon, and apple biscuits, as shown above. She said, “These sweet and savory biscuits are a great base for a hearty breakfast sandwich made by nestling more bacon and white cheddar in between and topping it with an over-easy egg.” She added that the biscuits also are a great addition to a simple breakfast of fresh fruit with a slice of quiche.