You’ve heard of bath bombs; those fizzy, fragrant, round spheres filled with bath salts and calming oils that you plop in your bathtub for a moment of relaxation. But what if we told you that there is a different kind of “bomb” that exists, only in this case, one that satisfies your tastebuds?
We’re talking about B.A.F. Bombs, a flavor-packed ball of seasoning the size of a baseball, that comes in four different flavors: birria, tinga, pozole, and chile colorado. And no, you don’t throw these in a bathtub to make some kind of human caldo (stew), these are for your edible ingredients to bathe in and for your stomach to enjoy.
The owner of B.A.F Bombs, Shaylin Davis, created these seasoning bombs during the pandemic. It all started when Davis, who has always enjoyed cooking and birria recipes, began to sell batches of her cooked birria to her neighbors for dinner.
“Every Friday night I was making a massive amount of this and distributing it to my neighborhood," Davis told L.A. TACO via Zoom, describing a typical day's preparation at the time. "And I started thinking, I’ve got to make this simpler on myself because it's very tedious work."
That’s when the idea to create a seasoning packet came to mind. In her eyes, people would be able to cook their own meals at home using them to simplify the entire cooking process.
“I just thought making a normal seasoning packet is not enough," she said. "And then I honestly don’t even remember how, but I thought of the bath bombs and I made them, tested them and it worked. People are busy and they want something they can leave cooking, while they go about their day.”
Here's how these work: You select the flavor of bomb you want, add your choice of protein to a crock pot, add water, and then throw your flavor bomb in to do the work for you. Stir occasionally and the result is, much like the name implies, some Bomb Ass Food (B.A.F.) you're left with.
Davis creates every single bomb herself, mixing purchased spices, and in some cases, making them for those she can’t find.
When asked where she learned the recipes for dishes like birria and tinga, she mentions doing her own research on said dishes. She also grew up around Mexican food, but considers her first taste of authentic Mexican food happened back when she moved in with her best friend in college.
“Her family is a super old-school Mexican family and they are such a unit, I remember everyone always cooking together and you were able to taste that love and hard work in the food, even if it was something quick they whipped up,” she said. “And a lot of those flavors have stayed with me.”
However, out of respect for the food, the culture, and the traditional flavors, she also does her research on any dish she is trying to make. And if you think she is just sticking to Mexican flavors, think again, she is hoping to soon come out with a butter chicken flavor, a seafood sauce, and other flavors that she enjoys and are highly requested by her followers on TikTok.
She said her ultimate goal with this is not only to help make cooking easier and ultimately more flavorful for people, but one day to grow her business enough to partner with a domestic violence shelter. Here, she hopes to provide job opportunities to women and also offer free childcare to anyone who works for B.A.F. Bombs.
“If things go as they are, we’ll be able to get a proper warehouse with security, because when we do eventually work with [domestic violence] survivors, security and safety is highly important,” she explained.
You can purchase any of Davis's available flavors and stay up to date on new items at her B.A.F Bombs website.
