Bacon, there’s no denying it’s delicious on just about everything (especially things involving cheese!)  So, after a little research, I decided to take on the challenge of making my own.

I found this great video tutorial, which I used to guide me through the process.

Here’s a summary of the steps involved and some snapshots from my process:

1. Pick up a pork belly from your local butcher. Ask them to leave the skin on the pork belly. This helps develop the flavor, and you can cut it off after it’s smoked.

2. Cut the pork belly into manageable chunks so each chunk can fit in its own big Ziploc bag. Add the spices and sugar/salt rub to the pork belly and then put the pork into the Ziploc bags. Set the bags in a cool area. (I used my garage in the winter. This is ideal because the temperature doesn’t change too much.) If you have an outside fridge that isn’t opened that often that would work, too.

3. Mid-week, move the bag around to make sure the sauce has been created (the salt extracting liquid from the pork belly mixing with the spices) and is fully covering the pork-belly. 

4. Take the pork belly out of the bags, rinse off, and allow it to dry for 24 hours. You can let it sit on an oven rack (but make sure no one turns on the oven!) The above photo is what it looks like after drying for 24 hours.

5. Smoke the pork belly in a smoker according to the directions, but make adjustments based on the size of pork belly you buy.

6. Cut off the skin once the pork belly has cooled.

7. Use a slicer to slice up the bacon.

Would you take on this challenge at home? It was a lot of work, but absolutely delicious!

By Mary

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Month, I’ve been cooking up a lot of delicious sandwiches! It’s always a challenge to get the perfect grilled cheesy texture, so I thought I’d look to the Tillamook Kitchen Quick Tips for some help. There’s a tip from Dave Danhi, of The Grilled Cheese Truck that suggests making a sandwich press by wrapping a brick or some tiles in foil. I used a small marble rectangular trivet I had laying around the house, wrapped it in foil, and got cookin!

This tip worked great! My grilled cheese came out perfectly melted, pressed, and crisp (but not burnt!) If you’re looking to make some delicious grilled cheese, but don’t want to invest in a fancy press, I highly suggest using this tip to make your own!

Have you tried any of the Tillamook Kitchen Quick Tips yet!?!

By Amalya

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Month, on April 12, (National Grilled Cheese Day) Tillamook celebrated by having a golden ticket surprise at selected grocery stores in Los Angeles, CA, and Dallas, TX. Now how cheestastic is that?! Every hour Golden Tickets were hidden next to items that matched the theme of a grilled cheese sandwich. Lucky participants who found the ticket redeemed their Golden Ticket at the Loaf Love Tour kiosk to claim their prize. Each winner received a coupon for a free 2 lb baby loaf of their choice! To make the event extra special, their ticket was put into a drawing with the rest of the other tickets TO WIN A YEAR’S WORTH OF TILAMOOK CHEESE! YUM! Below are some fun photos from our Golden Ticket Giveaway.

Don’t forget the bread! A must have to make a tasty grilled cheese!

Can you think of all the places a Golden Ticket could have been hiding?

Here are some cheesy hints!

One of our first winners comes to the kiosk to get his free coupon for a 2lb Baby Loaf!

Participants had a lot of fun going through the aisles trying to find one of our Golden Tickets. After speaking with many, almost everyone decided to have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner that night! There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being able to bring a Baby Loaf of cheese to one of our Tillafans.

You can join in on all of our fun by visiting us on Loaf Love Tour. Check the schedule – we may be coming to your city! Check out my cheesy adventures by following me on twitter @peppercornypaku. See you soon!

-Pakou

By Tillamook

Our team had such a great time at The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen in San Francisco, giving free grilled cheese to our fans in the area! Thanks to everyone who visited, and to everyone who entered our #Cheeseaholic Instagram photo contest. The winner is this ultra-cheesy, grilled cheese photo from @ob_ces_sivetraveler!

We wish we could have chosen every photo to win! Here are a few more of our favorites:

Follow @Tillamook on Instagram and share the #LoafLove with us!

By Katie

After being on the road for almost a month and a half already, it’s easy to start missing home a little bit! My cheesy family and I always get together once a week for a “family dinner” where we all make something to contribute. These last couple weeks have been a lot of fun with everyone cooking up recipes that make them think of home!

Potato + Broccoli + Onions + Cheese = Yum!
When Tillatastic Ash is missing her hometown of Walla Walla, WA she whips up a perfect recipe to make her feel at home again! Her cheesy, baked Idaho potato, broccoli, and Walla Walla sweet onion dish is quick to make and leaves the belly feeling happy!

Cheese and Crackers
If you’re wondering how I spend my Friday nights at home, it’s usually sitting around a table with friends playing games and snacking on cheese and crackers! My favorite combination is with an array of crackers to choose from and the 3 Year Aged Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar. The cheese is so decadently delicious, I usually just end up using the crackers as a vehicle for the cheese to get in my mouth!

Gluten-Free Pasta
Although ShellBe Sharp can’t have gluten anymore, that hasn’t stopped her from making delicious gluten-free meals that even gluten lovers like PepperJack Matt enjoy! Her favorite dish to make when away from home includes gluten-free brown rice pasta, a little of this, a little of that, and of course some Tillamook Cheese! Her cheese of choice is usually the Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar! To ShellBe Sharp this colorful dish reminds her of Fall in Portland, OR when the leaves are changing colors and the weather starts to get a little cooler.

Grilled Salmon with Butter, Rosemary, and Garlic
One of the perks of spending my Spring in Texas has been the 70+ degree weather on a regular basis! If I were at home this time of the year, I know I would not be uncovering my BBQ for at least another couple months! During one of our “family dinners” we grilled up some salmon with Tillamook Salted Butter, a little salt and pepper, garlic, and some rosemary! It was juicy and scrumptious and reminded me of warm and sunny summers in the NW!

Waffles
Food carts have really come into their own over the past few years in the NW, specifically in Portland. One of my favorite food carts to visit is Flavour Spot. They have several cheesy waffles featuring our very own Tillamook Cheese, but one of my favorites is their Sausage and Maple combination! To help me recreate this tastiness on the road I usually add Tillamook Unsalted Butter, maple syrup, and sausage on top of my Texas shaped waffles! While my version is a little different from Flavour Spot’s, it still helps me reminisce of all the wonderful food carts in my hometown!

Now that I’ve shared some of my favorite NW dishes, what are some of your favorites? Share with me on Twitter or Facebook!
Twitter: @AprilFoCheezy
Facebook: April FoCheezy

By Tillamook

Guess what, cheese fans: it’s National Grilled Cheese Day! In honor of this cheesiest, gooiest, meltiest of holidays, we’re putting all of our favorite fixins on sale for one day only. Hop over to the Tillamook Shop to get 20% off our favorite Grilled Cheese items. Think fast – the sale only lasts one day!

By Katie

The numbers have been tallied, the food has been weighed, and Tillamook is extremely proud to have been a part of making this year’s KGW Great Food Drive the most successful ever!

Thanks to generous individuals and companies, this year’s Great Food Drive raised more than 1.2 million pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank, more than DOUBLE this year’s campaign goal of 600,000 pounds, and far surpassing last year’s campaign results as well. Here at Tillamook, we’re thrilled to have contributed $30,000 from the sales of our cheese in Oregon and southwest Washington during the month of March. Additionally, our Tillamook employees alone donated more than 13,000 pounds of food to the Great Food Drive during March as well.

Overall, this year’s campaign raised enough food to provide more than 900,000 meals to those in need in our communities. Knowing that we were part of making a positive impact on that many lives here in our home state of Oregon means so much to us.

We had a lot of fun seeing our fans at food collection events throughout the state and welcoming our good friend and KGW NewsChannel 8 morning show personality Drew Carney to the Tillamook Cheese Factory to help promote the cause!

To all of the Tillamook fans that bought extra cheese in March to support this very worthy cause, thank you!

The problem of hunger is a year-round issue for adults and children across our state. To find out how to support the Oregon Food Bank throughout the year, visit www.OregonFoodBank.org.

By Tori

April 12^th is National Grilled Cheese Day, and Tillamook is helping you celebrate!

Tillamook is taking over San Francisco to celebrate National Grilled Cheese Day! Stop by The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen for a FREE grilled cheese sandwich, prepared by gourmet grilled cheese master and Tillamook Kitchen Chef, Heidi Gibson! Stop by The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen at 1 South Park from 5-7 PM for your free sandwich.

Plus, enter to win a year’s supply of cheese! Share your cheesiest grilled cheese moments on Instagram from April 8-12! Use #Cheeseaholic and tag @Tillamook to enter. Click here for official rules.

By Tillamook

Do you think you have what it takes to help choose the next winner of the Tillamook Cheese Factory Grilled Cheese Recipe Contest? Tell us why and you could be part of the judges’ panel, spending your Saturday tasting yummy recipes from our three finalists then telling the world whose recipe reigns the cheesiest!

How to Enter
1) Send an email to fans@tillamook.com and tell us why you deserve to be one of the judges for this year’s cook-off. Whether it’s your love for Tillamook Cheese, an eye for the perfect grill mark, an obsession with grilled cheese – or all three! – we want to know!
2) Submit your entry by midnight on Monday, April 15.

The winner will be selected and notified no later than Friday, April 19. The contest cook-off will take place at the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon on Saturday, April 27. See official rules here.

Good luck!

By Loafy

I’m a longtime lover of a grilled cheese sandwich, but lately, I’ve been searching for an extra kick in my ooey gooey toasty creations. After countless taste tests, I’ve found these five additions to be the perfect spicy complement to my grilled cheese addiction.

Gulden’s Spicy Brown Mustard
Gulden’s is known for its spicy brown mustard, which includes a blend of mustard seeds and spices. If you’re looking for a little spice, without getting too crazy, spicy mustard might be the choice for you – hot, but not too spicy!

Kelly’s Habanero Jelly
If you’re nervous about going too spicy, but want to dapple in the Habanero world, this is the perfect jelly for you! Made with a blend of Habanero and Bell Peppers, this unique jelly is a perfect balance of spicy and sweet.

Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce
This Portland native sauce is a mix of habanero peppers and roasted tomatoes that complements the creaminess of Tillamook Cheese without commandeering the flavor of the sandwich as a whole. With a taste that is spicier than Tabasco, it’s a great choice for the spice seeker.

Sriracha
This sauce was named after its birthplace, the Thai seaside town Si Racha. Sriracha Chilli sauce is made from sun ripped chilis ground into a smooth paste with vinegar, salt, garlic, and sugar. Sweeter than Tabasco, this sauce is a friend to any grilled cheese looking for a kick of heat.

Jalapeños 
This chili pepper means business. If you’ve tried Tillamook Pepper Jack, you’ve sampled the spice, but if you’re looking for more, try adding some into your sandwich. You’ve seen them, tasted them, and maybe even shed a few tears for them in sandwiches like The Jalapeno Popper Sandwich.

By Amalya