Bacon and cotton candy sound like unlikely pairings for a flavorful treat, but Levy Restaurants and The Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway Executive Chef Joel Pena have proven otherwise. On Tuesday, Chef Pena combined the two and unveiled Texas Motor Speedway’s newest tasty treat, “Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy,” to the media at the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In an effort to help create unique, signature concession stand items for Texas Motor Speedway race fans during the 2013 season, Chef Pena spent the offseason in the kitchen trying to find ways to tie in Texas’ unique culture while at the same time building off the speedway’s “No Limits” Wild Asphalt Circus theme. His more than two months in the kitchen led him to “Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy,” one of the new menu items that will be available at concession stands for April’s Texas 500 NASCAR doubleheader weekend, as well as a few others that will be announced at a later date.
“It will definitely create a buzz,” Chef Pena said. “Expect the unexpected when you come to Texas Motor Speedway. That is the philosophy of the Wild Asphalt Circus theme and that is what fans are going to get with ‘Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy.’ We wanted to come up with something that is a traditional circus theme, but turn it around and make it something completely different and unique to Texas Motor Speedway.”
“Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy” features four ounces of bacon-infused cotton candy and topped with candy coated bits of bacon. The cotton candy will be sold in a specially packaged wrapper featuring the “Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy” logo during race weekend.
The creation came naturally to Chef Pena, who wanted to capitalize on the race fan’s affinity for bacon. From the importance of bacon on the tailgate menu, to the number of items on Texas Motor Speedway’s menu that featured bacon, the meat reigned supreme among fans.
After trying countless artificial flavorings, Chef Pena discovered the only way to get the desired flavor was to use real bacon.
After cooking the bacon, it is drained, dried and locked into an airtight container with sugar for 24 hours. The sugar then takes on the traditional smokiness and flavoring of bacon to create “Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy.”
“What makes the ‘Hawg Heaven Bacon Cotton Candy’ a home run is that we use real bacon to infuse the flavor into the sugar,” Chef Pena said. “All the race fans love bacon. We hope to see a lot of hands full of cotton candy in April.”
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