Tag Archives: bacon

Bacon explosion

Would you like bacon with your bacon? Okay, how about sausage with your bacon? Wait, actually – how about you weave a mat out of bacon, cover it with Italian sausage, top it with more bacon, and then string the whole thing up? And then, let’s say – hypothetically – that you take this bundle of pork product goodness, slather it with barbecue sauce, and then put it in a smoker for two hours?

Well, my friends, you’d have a bacon explosion.

I can’t even take credit for having discovered it. My dear friend Roxy passed it on after seeing an article in the New York Times.

Does anyone have a smoker? I’ll bring the bacon and Italian sausage.

Ho ho ho, green giant.

Brussels sprouts on Commercial Drive

Brussels sprouts on Commercial Drive

Take these home, trim the ends, and cut them in half. Saute them in olive oil, with garlic, julienned sundried tomatoes and lots of salt & pepper. Or, if you’re feeling particularly decadent, fry up some bacon and cook the sprouts in the rendered bacon fat. Ohhhhhh, divine…

Edible ornaments, chestnut smoke…

(This is my last Christmas post of the year, I swear.)

While snowed in this Christmas, I was lucky enough to catch Heston Blumenthal‘s Christmas special on TV. I’m already a huge fan and can think of nothing better than having dinner at The Fat Duck, but had I not been a fan before, I would have been converted. Blumenthal is one of the few people (aside from the Adria brothers) who can get away with the wacky stuff he does.

For instance: bacon ice cream. In a normal person’s hands, it’s probably disgusting. In Heston Blumenthal’s hands, it’s probably pure bliss.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, my lovelies!

For the past five or six years, Christmas day has looked like this: lying around in my pajamas alllll day, eating popcorn, and watching movies. The Christmas movie rotation includes My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (the original cartoon, not the Jim Carrey version).

This year, I’m dog- and house-sitting. This means that I’ll have to get dressed and feed her, and while I’m up I may as well head to my parents’ place and make them brunch. I’m thinking waffles with boozy bananas. Maybe some bacon for the salty-sweet thing. That should do it.

Bon Appetit: Fast Easy Fresh

I went to Books to Cooks last night for a demo by Barbara Fairchild, editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit magazine. She was talking about her latest book, The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook. The book is organized around key shopping ingredients (turkey, pasta, potatoes) so that you can use it at the last minute. Most recipes use between 6-10 ingredients, so it’s definitely designed to be used when you don’t have much time to cook.

While she talked, an assistant prepared a roast chicken with gremolata butter, bacon-wrapped dates, and mushrooms en croute. I had to leave before the chicken came out of the oven, but it smelled delicious. The mushrooms en croute were really tasty, with meaty mushrooms and a kick of lemon zest on a baguette chip, with melted parmesan cheese on top.

But oh, the bacon-wrapped dates were delicious. It was a juicy pitted date stuffed with smoked bacon, with the whole thing wrapped in bacon and baked until it was crispy, smoky, salty perfection. I had to exercise serious restraint, but I still ate three of them.

There were also wine tastings from Farmstead wines and Barrel Select. Tasty.

It was a perfect way to spend a snowy evening: in a cookbook store, listening to Barbara Fairchild talk about food while eating delicious food and tasting lovely wine. Life doesn’t get much better.