OK, maybe that's an exaggeration but I love bacon: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0611/p16s01-lifo.html Bacon keeps on sizzling Despite a bad rap from nutritionists, bacon is enjoying a renaissance among chefs, home cooks By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor It's been vilified by nutritionists and glorified by hedonists. It is the Achilles' heel of many an aspiring vegetarian. Its aroma is as recognizable - and beloved - as baking bread and chocolate chip cookies. But while almost everyone loves bacon, it has also long carried a bad rap as the guiltiest of pleasures - a treat that could melt in your mouth but would stick to your thighs, and that is much more down-home than haute cuisine. So why, then, is it showing up on the menus of four-star restaurants and the listings of gourmet catalogs? The Grateful Palate's "bacon-of-the-month club" has more than 1,000 subscribers - and that's just through word-of-mouth advertising. Sales of refrigerated bacon grew 21 percent between 1999 and 2001, according to the Mintel Group in Chicago. "Bacon has had a renaissance," says Sara Perry, a food columnist for The Oregonian and author of "Everything Tastes Better with Bacon" (Chronicle Books, $18.95). John Willoughby, executive editor at Gourmet magazine and coauthor of numerous cookbooks on grilling and meat, agrees. Because of the Atkins Diet - famous for getting weight-conscious Americans to load up on ground beef and half-and-half - people are eating more meat, he says. But Mr. Willoughby also credits bacon's intense flavor - something he says more chefs are catching on to. "Even if you use a little, you get a richer, deeper taste to whatever you're cooking," he says. He sautés it at the beginning of braising beef, for instance, and likes to cook onions in bacon fat. That idea of using bacon as more than just an accompaniment for eggs or a topping for a burger was part of what interested Ms. Perry, too. She still loves it as a breakfast food - bacon on Sunday morning is a tradition in her home - but is more excited about its possibilities as a flavor enhancer. In her cookbook, she adds it to white beans and pasta - one of her favorite recipes (below) - and to mashed potatoes (along with spinach and fontina cheese). She spruces up the old classics, too, adding a homemade herb mayonnaise to her BLT, and putting gorgonzola and toasted sourdough slices on her bacon cheeseburger. "Bacon has bite," says Perry, trying to explain its appeal. "It's chewy, crunchy, slightly sweet, and habit forming." Potatoes and pasta - fine. But apple pie with bacon? Perry admits she was skeptical of a dessert section. But then she got to thinking about pork and brown sugar - that irresistible browned coating on honey-baked hams, for instance - and decided to experiment a bit. The result is a chapter with concoctions like Try-It-You'll-Like-It Bacon Brittle and Double-Crunch Peanut Butter Cookies, which, Perry insists, are not gimmicks. "I like every one," she says firmly. "Especially the bacon brittle." As with sausage, cheese, and chocolate, there are now countless artisanal varieties available. Forget Oscar Mayer. Many of today's bacon lovers visit specialty-food stores or shop online for small-farm varieties, where the choices range from hickory-smoked and sugar-cured to garlic-stuffed and pepper bacon. Dan Philips, president of Grateful Palate, spends much of his time traveling through Appalachia and middle America looking for just such home-style variations. The cure recipe that each farm uses, he says, is as distinctive "as a thumbprint." Northern bacon tends to be hammier and sweeter, while Southern bacon is intense and salty. Mr. Philips loves them all, but notes two particular favorites: Gatton Farms, a Kentucky bacon that he says "is to die for," and Summerfield, a molasses-and-brown-sugar-cured slab bacon that he compares to Christmas pudding. "Once you have an artisan-made bacon," he says, "it's a whole other level." Perry acknowledges a particular fondness for Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon from Wisconsin, but says the key to buying any bacon is choosing one with a good meat-to-fat ratio. Many commercial bacons are almost all fat, and shrivel to nothing when cooked. She also advises cooking slices on much lower heat than is typical. It may take longer, but it will avoid the "roller coaster" look that bacon often gets. Besides, she adds, "you have that great aroma." That aroma, in fact, and the nostalgia it often evokes are a big part of bacon's appeal. Willoughby remembers a friend's daughter who felt homesick when she arrived at college. The first thing she did was to buy two pounds of bacon, cook it, and eat it. "It's one of those childhood indulgences," he says. "You connect it with all those memories."
I'm actually trying the Atkins Nutrional Plan/Diet and I eat 4 slices of bacon in the microwave for breakfast. It has 0 carbs and I use paper towels so it gets a lot of the grease. I like Turkey Bacon the best though, low fat/carbs, high protein. A lot more meat than pork bacon.
The turkey bacon I tried tasted like salty lunchmeat. Is there any brands or tricks that taste closest to the real thing?
i assume the 2nd thing she did was to call the hospital and inform them she would be coming in for emergency quadruple bypass surgery.
I'm not a big pork eater, but when I do, it's usually bacon and eggs on Sunday morning. If you want really good bacon, check out the smoked/peppered thick sliced bacon at Pete's Fine Meats...Richmond Ave. just east of Chimney Rock.
Thanks, Vegan, I wasn't going to, but I'll go out and get some and fry it up for lunch now. Bacon is yummy.
Mmmmm, Rotting corpse! mmmmm. In fact, I think I am going to have some dead animal for lunch! Thanks for the suggestion!
Who can name the movie this quote came from and the actor who said it..... "Mmmm. Dead Animal Flesh. America's Favorite Taste Treat!" I have a dead giveaway hint if y'all can't get it!
I thought the quote went like this : "What meal would be complete without a little dead meat? Yes, America's favorite food: dead animal flesh." I know where it's from...
LISA: No, I can't! I can't eat any of them! HOMER: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? LISA: No. HOMER: Ham? LISA: No. HOMER: Pork chops? LISA: Dad, those all come from the same animal! HOMER: Yeah, right Lisa. Some wonderful, magical animal...