You may recall - if you have the memory of an elephant and actually read anything around here - the Poorhouse's distaste for the idea of the Bacon Bar, a chocolate bar with ingrained bacon. The thought at the time was to take 2 of the sublimest tastes known to humanity, inappropriately combine them into one product, and then have a cheek to sell it at £2 per ounce, was an outrageous waste. Cognitively, it still seems that way.

However, since then, the Poorhouse has great reason to thank Stu of Crazy4Flavour, the UK distributors of "Bacon Salt" who has inclined the Poorhouse to confront his prejudices and give it - or rather a bargainous equivalent - a go.

First a quick Bacon Salt into. Bacon salt is a pot of salt that tastes and smells like bacon. It really does. It's suitable for vegetarians, but a quick sniff of the pot or dropping a couple of particles onto the tongue tip would have you think otherwise. The bacon flavour realism from a pot of vegetarian salt crystals is remarkable.

Stu, and his partner, Amanda, also maintain a blog of bacon-salt enabled recipes...most of which sound deliciously tempting. And then there's always bacon chocolate. Still, with assurances of its delights, and a general menu curiosity that should kill that cat, the Poorhouse attempted to recreate their most successful baco-choc recipe as found there.

Ingredients and equipment were acquired. It's not the longest of lists - a jar of bacon salt and some chocolate coupled with a heat-safe bowl and saucepan as per crazy4flavour's technique.

Water was boiled and put in in the base of a pan, and a suitably sized bowl placed above (the pan of potatoes on the top right is an insignificant extra, placed there mainly to make you think that the Poorhouse only has takeaway 6 days a week).

Ingredients were unwrapped and exhibited. The red strangeness in the spoon is of course the famous bacon salt. The 2 missing chunks of chocolate are not a manufacturing defect, but rather could be found in the Poorhouse's stomach contents, circa Saturday.

Dump the chocolate in the pan, attempting to not eat it all in the process.

Apply heat to base of pan. Wait for it to melt to delicious chocolatey goo. Remember, do not eat yet.

Chuck in the bacon salt. The official recipe suggests a rounded teaspoon per 100g of choc. The Poorhouse had more chocolate at his disposal so went with 2 flat teaspoons. Stir it in and continue the melty process a bit longer.

Pour out onto some baking paper for ease of future removal. The bowl will be hot - shocks - so be sure to wear a dirty old oven glove with a decorative floral theme for your own good.

Accidentally make something approximating dog muck.

Smooth it out a bit into a rectangular approximation of the original chocolate bar.

Lick out the bowl. Experience first bacon/chocolate blend experience of life.

Wait til solidification has occurred, and chop into mouth-sized bits.

CONSUME!

The verdict

Hey, it's not as revoltingly against the laws of nature as you might think! It is an "interesting" experience. Here's how it went with the first three pieces, of course swirled around the mouth until meltation occurred for the full taste phenomen to occur.

First few seconds: strange bacony taste but coupled with soft chocolate texture occurred. Then a wave of more traditional, but not offensive, saltiness burst forth. Midway through the chocolate flavour raises its prominence and drips its way down your food-pipe. You almost forget the magic ingredient it present....until, towards the end, the bacon amplitude is raised and the chocolate turns savoury. Post-chocolate, you're left with a few crunchy morsels of salty bacon on the tongue as the epilogue of your eating experience.

Weird, but fascinating. The Poorhouse isn't yet 100% convinced it is a general improvement on having bacon and chocolate separately, but it's definitely not getting thrown away and more will be made in the name of evolution and experimentation. It feels more like a fancy treat, a new taste experience, rather than another standard chocolate bar to mosh down into the existing gut-hole of fatty deposits.One for the dinner-party set maybe?

Rated: try it, you might like it. The Poorhouse is going to experiment with choc vs salt ratios to find the most delightful combo.

Coming soon (hopefully): opinions of some Poorhouse friends, some of which are probably rather more eloquent in describing the experience. Will they think it a trick, or a treat? Watch this space.

On Bacon Salt itself, now this product is definitely recommended, and not just due to the friendliness of its suppliers! The Poorhouse is really not much of a cook, but it improves any number of basic snacks - and probably some intensively fancy 3-course meals, should you have those skills.

It really, really shines as a delicious addition to beans on toast. It probably even beats the previous Poorhouse favourite of adding curry powder, egg and cheese to the mix. YUM. It also adds some intense bonus goodness when sprinkled on vegetables, and a certain extra je ne sais quoi when added to things like pasta sauce. Didn't try it yet, but it could be interesting on chips. In fact, probably most everywhere you would use salt, you could wham this in instead and check the gloriousness of the new creation. Recipes on the leaflet accompanying the salt regarding scrambled eggs and bacon flan look pretty tasty.

In fact, if you're as ridiculous as the Poorhouse, you can quite happily just sniff it and chuck it neat into your mouth, or perhaps wear it as a particularly attractive deoderant. Given the health warnings about extra actual salt one hears now and then perhaps snorting it raw isn't the wisest activity, but...everything in moderation.

The good news is you can buy it nice and easily online (or at Southport Food Fair, should you be in their neighbourhood at an appropriate time), and double-bargainously, thanks to the generous bestowment of a voucher code to this site! Hurrah! Throw in this code: NEWCRAZY50 whilst ordering 3+ and get an extra 50p off - making it £9.95 inc P&P for 3 57g jars. Recommended, and no, the Poorhouse isn't on commission!