The Bacon Milkshake

Three different people sent me the same link on the same day. One of them asking, “would you even drink this?” Clicking it led me to this amazing discovery:

To most the idea of adding meat to a milkshake is horrifying. But for me the answer to my friend’s question was a resounding yes! I would totally drink a bacon milkshake.

I clicked around the internet, somewhat pained by my sheer predictability, and learned that the Jack in the Box Bacon Milkshake was a semi-secret menu item created as a part of their Marry Bacon promotion (a campaign that I can truly get behind). The milkshake is not being put on their menu and would only be available for a limited time in very limited quantities.

To a lot of people putting bacon in a milkshake is everything that’s wrong with American cuisine. They may be right, but I’m not about to stifle anyone’s culinary creativity because you never know where magic could emerge. When I was a kid I united root beer and chocolate milk and discovered that it was a sublime combination.  

On the drive home, I happened to pass a Jack in the Box. As if guided by some strange bacony force, my car seemed to pull over on it’s own. Before I knew it, I was shouting the words “bacon milkshake” at the drive thru speaker box.

Now the shake had been discovered and purchased.  So the big burning question remained: the heck was it? I won’t bury the lead by telling you it was really good.

By sight, there was no discernible way to tell that there was a magical ingredient in the shake. It looked like the standard Jack vanilla shake—complete with whipped cream and cherry on top. But the first sip betrayed the shake’s bacony secret. The initial flavor that came through was rich vanilla, immediately followed by the familiar smoky taste of bacon. The flavors harmonized really well and the balance between the shake and the bacon was perfect—smoky, rich, sweet and a touch salty. Thankfully, the consistency was that of a regular milkshake and there were no visible bits of bacon to be found.

On the ride home I drank half of the shake and had to summon every ounce of my willpower not to finish it before I could share the spoils with the rest of the family. WonderWife™ apparently had not seen my Facebook profile and had not yet heard of the concoction, so was confused when I thrust a fast food milkshake into her hands and said, “drink it.”

“Is that bacon?” WW™ delightedly asked before taking another sip. “It’s really…good.” She seemed surprised by her own reaction.

Passing the cup to the kids, the Bean announced that he liked the vanilla, but didn’t like the bacon. My little carnivore Sprout, who might even love bacon more than me, licked her lips and begged for another sip even after the cup was empty.

I gotta hand it to you Jack in the Box. You make one hell of a meat shake. A bacon milkshake is certainly nothing that should be consumed on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis. But it was a fun novelty treat for three out of the four of us.