Test #108: Bacon and ONION

The subject
The onion doesn't get enough respect. It gives zing to nearly every fast-food sandwich from the Whopper to Subway's pseudo-healthy heros, is tossed on top of tacos for texture and attitude, and brings unsavory foods like liver back from the edge of inedibility. Yet, when a fussy eater orders her lunch or dinner, one of their most frequent requests is, "Hold the onion." We think the multi-layered onion deserves better. One of the longest cultivated vegetables in human history, the onion is worth promotion from a flavor additive or a condiment to main ingredient (try thinly sliced onion with a little mayo on lightly toasted whole-grain bread and you'll see what we mean).

Oh, we'll hold the onion, all right--we'll hold it near and dear to our hungry hearts. In fact, we'll give it the star treatment by elevating it with a bacon pairing. We chose the sweet Vidalia variety from our vast store of onions.

The results
This test is the closest BDJ Labs has come to geniuine disappointment. Granted, the flavor was wonderful--the onion had further sweetened but not fully lost its zing, so the taste paired well with the bacon. However, the texture was full-on mush--it reminded us of the consistency of overly sauteed onions. You know--onions that have given up on life before they're poured, beyond limp and nearly transparent, next to another ill-treated food, like battered and overcooked liver. The staff at BDJ Labs declared that we would make amends to the remaining hunks of onion by preparing it in the Official Bacon Sandwich of BDJ Labs:
* Three slices crisp-cooked bacon
* Two slices Vidalia onion (RAW)
* Thinly sliced apple (Granny Smith or Gala)
* One slice sharp cheddar
* Two slices whole-grain bread
* Mayo
There...that's better.

The conclusion: Bacon + onion = meh

Tuesday: Bacon and peanut butter
Wednesday: Bacon and pineapple