With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, you tailgaters out there may be scrambling for Valentine’s Day ideas that are unique and creative but also has a hint of your own personal style. Although Valentine’s Day may be a holiday where the women tend to get the better end of the deal, we have an idea for you that would please any tailgater, male or female. And because Valentine’s day is supposed to be romantic, we couldn’t think of a more romantic way to express yourself than with bacon. We present to you a “How To” guide on making your own bouquet of Bacon Roses.
In order to make your own bacon roses you will need a few things from the store and a few other things you probably already have around the house. Here is what you will need:
Mini-muffin baking tin
Drill and drill bit
Artificial roses
Vase
Marbles or gravel
Roasting pan
BACON!
First things first. You will need to drill drain holes in the mini muffin tin in order to allow the bacon grease to drain out. We used a 1/8″ drill bit but any size you are comfortable with will do. Just don’t make it too small or the grease will not drain properly.
Next step is once you have cleaned out all the metal shavings produced by the drilling, place the muffin tin in a roasting pan or a broiler pan in order to catch the bacon drippings. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Now you will need to roll your bacon slices as tightly as possible making about as tight as a Drew Brees spiral to Marques Colston. I chose to use different thickness in cuts of bacon in order to provide some contrast for the final product. I went with some thick cut butcher bacon and then a thinner sliced brand that I got from Costco.
Roll each slice tightly and then place them in the muffin tin to help maintain the rolled shaped. Once you have filled up your tin holes, place the roasting pan in the oven and cook for about 30 to 45 minutes depending on how crispy you like your bacon to look.
While the bacon rose buds are cooking, turn your attention to preparing the rose stems. (I would suggest checking in on your bacon roses about every 10 minutes to see if they need moving around to help the grease drain out the bottom. If so, just use a fork to nudge them slightly and the grease should drain out easily.)
I picked up some artificial roses at a local craft store but you can pick them up pretty much anywhere this time of year near Valentine’s Day. Take each flower apart and keep only the plastic backing and the green piece that attaches to the stem. You can discard the rest of the flower.
Once you have reassembled those two pieces, I chose to cut tooth picks in half and insert them into the backing. This was done to provide a little extra support for the bacon rose seeing how it will be a bit heavier than the cloth rose pedals.
Once you have assembled all the roses back onto their stems, place them in your vase with the gravel, marbles or decorative stones at the bottom. I chose a large mason jar as my vase. A mason jar is a bit more fitting on a tailgater’s table than a Waterford Crystal vase in my opinion.
By this time your bacon roses should be about done. Take them out of the oven, remove them from the pan and onto a paper plate or paper towel to cool and let the excess bacon grease drain. Once they are cool and a comfortable temperature to handle, slide each bacon rose bud onto the toothpick all the way down to the plastic backing. Once all the buds have been placed, arrange the bouquet for the best visual presentation.
As you can imagine, this bouquet of roses will smell way better to a tailgater than any flowers purchased at a flower shop or online. The best part is that it is widely understood that bacon is an aphrodisiac to tailgaters.
Make this Valentine’s Day, the year you give something unique that shows you put in some thought, some effort and some creativity into your Valentine’s Day gift. Even better is you can stash this idea away for next football season when you are looking for a fun and creative center piece for your tailgating buffet table.
(A tip of the cap goes to the folks at Instructables.com for the original inspiration for this idea. They thought of it and we made it on our own to make sure they were easy and it actually worked. We also modified their version to make it a bit more tailgater friendly.)