The Sunshine State’s favourite foodie Matt Golinski is bringing home the bacon this year.
Mr Golinski is joining forces with Spanish culinary king Miguel Maestre for the 2022 Kingaroy BaconFest, which is back from 19-21 August after a lengthy Covid hiatus.
“It’s great to be back on the food circuit again,” Mr Golinski said, from his home on the Sunshine Coast where he works as a consultant executive chef at Peppers Noosa Resort.
“I can’t wait to be a part of this one, which is guaranteed to have the South Burnett region sizzling.”
Golinski and Network Ten cooking guru Maestre are ambassadors for the first time. They’ll host cooking demonstrations and do their bit to celebrate local produce and promote swine-inspired fare.
“Candied bacon, bacon jam, bacon rocky road, and bacon donut with maple glaze all sound incredible and you’ll be able to try them next month,” added Mr Golinski.
With BaconFest just around the corner, Golinski is ‘bacon us hungry’ with one of his favourite pork-inspired recipes – banana pikelets with ricotta cheese and maple bacon.
“Bacon is the best isn’t it? And when paired with the right ingredients it makes for a taste explosion,” said Mr Golinski who will go the whole hog and share his favourite bacon recipes and cooking techniques at this year’s event.
Queensland produces more than 20 per cent of Australia’s pork and 95 per cent of it is produced for the Australian market.
Kingaroy’s Swickers Bacon Factory is one of the South Burnett region’s largest employers, with as many as 850 staff on its book.
Swickers’ parent company SunPork Fresh Foods is the major partner of Kingaroy BaconFest, which kicks off on 19 August with a Wine and Swine event, followed by an action-packed weekend that includes a Rasher’s Fun Run, the Australasian Barbecue Alliance Smoke-off contest, SunPork’s Swig and Swine Deck, demonstrations by the Flamin Mongrels, and for the first time, a Bacon Community Artisan Market and helicopter rides.
Organisers are hoping to break attendance records with as many as 20,000 expected through the gates.
Visitors are being encouraged to make a weekend of it, support local producers, and explore all the region has to offer.
Tickets to BaconFest start at $6. To book go to kingaroybaconfest.com.au
Matt’s favourite recipe – Banana Pikelets with Ricotta Cheese and Maple Bacon:
Makes 12 pikelets
Ingredients:
¾ cup self-raising flour
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 tbs maple syrup or honey
2 bananas, diced
100gm rindless streaky bacon
50ml pure maple syrup
200gm ricotta cheese
1 tsp lemon thyme
Method:
1. Whisk together the egg, milk and tablespoon of maple syrup.
2. Place the flour in a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, and slowly whisk in the liquid until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the diced banana.
3. Lay the bacon on a tray lined with baking paper and drizzle each piece with maple syrup. Bake at 180°C for 8 – 10 minutes.
4. Heat a heavy based frying pan and lightly grease with oil or butter.
5. Fry dessertspoon amounts of pikelet mix 6 at a time until bubbles appear on the surface, turn with a spatula and cook for another 2 minutes.
6. Top each pikelet with a tablespoon of ricotta, a slice of maple bacon and a sprinkle of thyme and serve while warm.
