My Life With Bacon

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a very short post. I'm doing a bit of travel and hope to have some bacon experiences from the road. THIS WEEK I made some St. Louis Style ribs. Purchased at Heinen's; two brothers from Ohio who've taken Illinois by storm. Great supermarket not too far from my house. When you get your ribs, be sure and ask the butcher if they will strip off the membrane. A lot of folks say it's easy, but I always wind up leaving a few sections intact, or gouging the pig (which would be bad). Better to leave such a delicate operation to the professionals. They were more than happy to oblige! Then, while the smoker is getting ready with lump charcoal in the chimney, I dusted the racks with a heavy dose of Carolina Dirt, from, of all places, Chicago! A fantastic rub and my personal favorite. The family likes it a lot. Let the ribs come to room temperature; I let them sit for about 45 minutes. Then into the smoker for two hours...

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a video of Allan Benton, the "King of Bacon:, and seaweed that tastes like bacon. But first: HOW ABOUT A BACON WATCH?  Well, not quite, but pretty cool nonetheless. See article here . Of course, it's always time for bacon! 1.4 Million views as of 7/17 at 4pm Central... certainly higher when you click below to go to the site. BACON FLAVORED SEAWEED?  Well, not really. It's actually seaweed that tastes like bacon naturally. Supposedly, it's a 'superfood', dense with nutrients. Vegetarians like my daughter Jennifer should try it! I'm really curious and will taste it myself when commercially available. Another product of academic research - out of Ohio State!   Article here.  Above is a pic of a food researcher experimenting with the ingredient. SON SAM SENT ME A VIDEO and you can watch it here . Part of the Zagat "A Day in the Life" series, it's about Allan Benton, who they call "the ma...

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a few comments about bacon and pulled pork at Lacrosse tournaments, and some bacon at STONEHENGE. THE US ARMY BURIED STUFF AT STONEHENGE , believe it or not. I've always wanted to figure out how to get Stonehenge into the blog. Well, here's my chance. A bunch of British archaeologists unearthed some WWII US Army mess gear there. 'Mess' in Army parlance means 'dining facility', believe it or not. What did they find? Tins of sunscreen and bacon (in separate containers). The sunscreen was intact, but the bacon tins were empty! That makes perfect sense. No soldier is going to get sunburned in England! But they have to eat! Interesting read here . BACON AND LAX - a great combination. Here's the Daug Pound courtesy of Red's Comfort Foods: Attended the Bluegrass Lacrosse Festival a couple of weeks ago. The Vendor Village had a number of great food trucks, including one with a smoker trailer, and a g...

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with some bacon wrapped poppers, some pork jowl bacon and a great 4th of July fireworks display. THIS WEEK'S BACON is not from the belly of the beast, but rather the jowl (cheek)! Daughter Jennifer brought it up from the city last weekend and I just make it up. Placing the cold pieces on the room-temperature griddle was a bit like putting a bacon jigsaw puzzle together. As opposed to the 'dress right, dress' approach to making bacon popularized by Oscar Mayer and others, the jowl is an irregular shape and doesn't lend itself to straight stippage. The package was attractive, and I've had other bacon from The Smoking Goose, and it was good. Eager with anticipation, the bacon sizzled on the 'cue. I stepped away for a moment and it got a little overcooked, but was outstanding nonetheless. As an encore, I did fry up some of my leftover Oscar, and as you can see, it was quite regularly shaped. Lined up perfectly. ...