When the swine flu news first broke, I immediately wondered whether I needed to stop eating pork. Some quick research confirmed that you can't contract swine flu from eating pig -- that means pork chops, bacon, ham, etc. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and other health officials continue to reiterate -- you can't catch swine flu from eating pork!

Yet I knew that many people would stop eating pork anyway. After all, some countries have banned pork from Mexico and the United States, and Egypt even decided to slaughter all of its pigs. And of course, many consumers have stopped buying fresh pork at the supermarket. It's gone so far that at least one restaurant in New York City has banned pork from its menu entirely.

Poor little piggies! Let's help get this industry back on its trotters. One New York Times blogger has declared her own personal "Support Pork Week," and I think we should all join in. Fry up some bacon for breakfast, make a ham sandwich for lunch, and roast some pork loin for dinner. Go out to eat and order pulled pork sandwiches, apricot-glazed pork chops, roast suckling pig, braised pork spare ribs. Pork has always been there for you when times are tough ("extra bacon on that cheeseburger, please"); now it's your turn to give this much-loved food a boost.

Ok, I give up. Much as we're all tired of the endless bacon-in-five-hundred-wacky-ways craze, I can't help but report on this latest finding that supports the mantra "bacon makes everything better." Yes, it does -- even a hangover!

British scientists have found that a bacon sandwich contains a big dose of carbohydrates and protein, which breaks down into amino acids. An alcohol binge robs your body of neurotransmitters, but these high level of amino acids help replace them and clear your head. Plus, food speeds up your metabolism, helping you get the alcohol out of your system more quickly.

As if we needed another reason to eat bacon.

OK, we get it -- EVERYBODY LOVES BACON. I've done a bunch of bacon posts and articles myself, talking about bacon every which way -- candied, jellied, minted, turducken'd, etc (though not in squeezable form -- yet). And yes, everything tastes better with bacon, but come on -- let's get on with our lives, shall we?

And then I saw this post on our message board about someone who actually *made her own bacon*. She bought some pork belly from the butcher, sprinkled on some curing salt (you can also use regular kosher salt), covered it with her own spice mix (brown sugar, cracked pepper and crushed red pepper), then wrapped well and stored in the refrigerator for a few days, flipping it once a day. This process is called dry curing, which is different from wet curing (naturally). In wet curing, the meat soaks in a brining liquid for a few days or is injected directly with the liquid, which means you're getting a lot more water in your product when you buy something that's wet-cured (like your standard bacon sold in the grocery store).

I love that someone went back to the basics and actually cured the pork herself, instead of using bacon in some weird, usually gross way just for the shock factor. Plus, making bacon allows you to control the quality of the meat you're buying, and you can customize flavors and experiment with all kinds of different rubs and spice combinations. A trendy bacon-infused cocktail or bacon ice cream is fun in theory, but eight pounds of spicy, sweet, savory homemade bacon? That's just good ol' fashioned deliciousness.

Here's another detailed post on how to make your own bacon, complete with pics!

Two of my co-workers sent me a link today to this story about Squeez Bacon, a ketchup-like condiment made out of 100 percent cooked bacon. The article says, "Each serving is as healthy as real bacon, and equivalent to 4 premium slices of bacon! You can put it on sandwiches, pizza, pastas, bacon, soups, pies, eat it hot or cold (warm Squeez Bacon® on toasted rye is to die for), substitute it for bacon in your recipes, or even eat it right out of the tube like we do!"

My first thought: Ewww. My second thought: People need to stop jumping on the "everything bacon!" craze and move on to a new ingredient. My third thought: I should request a bottle to sample, because, well...I wonder what it tastes like?

So I wrote to the folks at ThinkGeek.com, who were selling these squeezable bottles of bacony goodness for $7.99, and requested a sample. I was sure it would take a few days for them to get back to me; they had probably been innundated with requests for this new product. To my surprise, I got a reply almost immediately:

"Thanks for contacting us! As much as we'd love to have it featured (and it pains me to say this), the Squeez Bacon is one of our April Fool's Day joke products :) If there's anything else you're interested in, please let me know!!"

Um...what? I had just told two other people about this product. My co-worker (the one who had originally sent me the e-mail) wanted a bottle for her boyfriend. And it was all just a joke??? Who even remembered what day of the week it was, anyway?

Ok, so, they got me. They got me good. I admit it -- I fell for it. But I mean, come on -- with all the crazy bacon products out there these days, Squeez Bacon isn't far-fetched at all. In fact, I'm sure someone is working on a recipe for this right now...

And by the way -- this link (which I also got today) isn't related to food at all, and you might think it's an April Fool's Day joke, but it's not. At least, I'm almost positive it's not.

Photo courtesy of ThinkGeek.com

We've seen bacon in just about every form now -- bacon chocolate, bacon mints, bacon wrapped around sausage and smoked, bacon wrapped around turducken...the list goes on and on. While flipping through the latest issue of Sunset magazine, however, I stumbled across something I haven't seen before -- a recipe for coffee and brown sugar bacon. I've had candied bacon before -- essentially, bacon topped with sugar and baked -- but this recipe takes it to another level by adding a layer of coffee.

Coffee + bacon in one delicious little package? What a great way to wake up in the morning. Here's the recipe (it's easy!):

Coffee and Brown Sugar Bacon

Serves 8
Time: 40 minutes

• 1 lb. thick-cut bacon
• 1 tbsp. ground coffee
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. freshly brewed coffee

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment or waxed paper and set a flat rack on top.

2. Lay bacon strips on rack, overlapping slightly if needed. Sprinkle top of strips evenly with ground coffee. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and brewed coffee, stirring just to blend to a paste. Brush top of strips with half of sugar mixture.

3. Bake 15 minutes. Turn bacon over and brush with remaining sugar glaze. Bake until crispy, 10 minutes more.

Recipe courtesy of Sunset magazine

When it comes to foodies and bacon, I'm constantly amazed. There are bacon chocolates, bacon ice cream, bacon candy, bacon martinis...the list goes on and on. And yet, people still come up with crazy bacon concoctions that I've never heard of before. Our ever-vigilant folks in the iVillage community have stumbled on some seriously great (or gross) creations: the bacon and cheese roll, bacon jam and bacon rice krispies treats.

First, let's start with the bacon and cheese roll, which is probably my fave of the bunch. Fantastic photos and oh-so-simple step-by-step instructions here. I've gotta say, this is kind of brilliant -- a layer of pure bacon filled with gooey cheese, rolled up and then cut into slices... sort of like a bacon-and-cheese meatloaf. Sure, it's disgusting, but I'm sure it's disgustingly delicious. Our community members suggested adding a layer of scrambled eggs and hash browns, which I think is pretty brilliant. Serve that at your next brunch!

Next, the bacon rice krispies treats, which I also think is a fantastic idea; in fact, something about it just seems *right*. The crispy, chewy saltiness of the bacon seems like an ideal match for the crispy, chewy sweetness of the marshmallows and cereal. I'll be making this for my next bake sale-type event.

Last, the bacon jam. This is the only one I'm iffy on. There's no actual recipe for it, but apparently you can pick up a jar for $10. Apparently they render down a bunch of bacon with onions and spices, let it simmer, then puree it and chill it. I think the fact that it's chilled is what's throwing me -- maybe if you heated it up and got it all melty, it would be really good on some bread. In fact, I'm sure it would be delicious warm. Room temp or cold? Not so much.

And there's your bacon update for the week. In case, you know, you were wondering what's going on with bacon these days.

Around Thanksgiving, everyone starts making fun of turducken. You know -- a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey? I've never tried it, but I know people who have and they say it's actually pretty tasty. Makes sense to me -- I love all three birds individually, so why not all at once? Well, apparently the folks at Bacon Today decided to apply the "bacon makes everything better" theory to the Thanksgiving turducken. What I love, though, is that they didn't just wrap the outside of the turkey with bacon; they went whole hog (ha) and wrapped each bird in bacon before stuffing it into the next one, then wrapped the entire masterpiece in bacon. Now, that's a serious commitment.

See how they did it here (yep, step-by-step pics!).

I mentioned in a previous post my trip to the Jersey shore, where I spied a whole mountain of Cheez Whiz. Along the same lines, I also enjoyed plenty of bacon-cheddar spread, on this trip, provided by our generous host, Home & Garden editor Michele.

I've seen bacon-cheddar spread before but never, for some odd reason, tried it. It was super-rich, creamy, smoky, intensely cheesy and bacony all at once. And completely addictive. Every time Michele busted out the crackers and spread, even if I was full, I couldn't help digging in. I do love cheese, any kind of cheese, and can make a meal out of cheese and bread. But bacony-cheese and some kind of carb? Even better. (Washed down with plenty of wine, of course.) Consider it the next time you entertain -- your guests will leave very happy. And full.