December 1, 2013: Thanksgiving Bacon Extravaganza and Rick's smoked bacon from The Daily Grind

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues with a Thanksgiving smorgasbord of bacon, including some Turkey silliness, and a great Bacon Drink at the Signature Room.

 BACON IN THE NEWS for Thanksgiving was rather quiet.  There were plenty of stories about bacon and turkey; the silliest was this: Bacon-wrapped Turkey.  Now, I'm certainly a lover of bacon, but it's just plain silly.  Watch the video and decide for yourself.  While I wouldn't make it for the family, I might just try it with a turkey breast...

APPLES ON HORSEBACK from Food & Wine magazine was a highlight of our Thanksgiving.  The recipe is pretty straightforward: Pink Lady apples, thin slices of pancetta ('Italian bacon' from Mariano's Supermarket), Manchego cheese, and rosemary sprigs.   See the recipe here.  GREAT tasting and an absolute re-do.  Picture above.

ON SATURDAY, Debbie's family tradition of a family reunion / Thanksgiving redux had us hosting a full day including an architectural tour in Chicago, a lot of walking, and a stupendous dinner.  I won't recap the personal details, except to mention that we stopped at Burke's Bacon Bar on Rush street.  I've been meaning to make this trip for a long time.  The bacon bar is a small, nondescript take-out joint with phenomenal bacon.  We grabbed several bacon flights, which included some Tennessee bacon, Nueske's bacon, as well as a Ghost Pepper Infused bacon, which sent everyone into orbit.  Here are three good looking kids about to partake.

OUR NEXT STOP WAS A TREAT.  We headed up to the 96th floor of The Hancock building; our elevator friend Darleen was kind enough to give our group of 16 priority treatment.  We grabbed a great seating area and ordered cocktails.  Among them was the below Bacon Manhattan, which consisted of Jim Beam Maple bourbon, bacon infused Buttershots liquer and crispy bacon.  Scrumptious.  Unfortunately our waitress Nina couldn't find out where the bacon came from, but it was spectacular, along with the views!

ON TO THE BACON OF THE WEEK!  This week, I grabbed a pound-and-a-half of butcher-smoked bacon from Rick at The Daily Grind in Highwood, IL.  His website appears to be down (and it might come back up shortly), but the Yelp site is helpful, with good reviews.

Rick sliced the bacon thickly; this obviously reduces the crispness; next time we'll get it a lot thinner.  It smelled and looked fantastic.  Here are some shots of pre-cooking, cooking, and post cooking.

Wow, this bacon was great!  The crisp rating is only 1, due to the thickness.  Succulence rating of 2, due again to the cut; however, flavor was a solid 4 out of 5.  Fantastic.  Enjoy, and we'll see you next week!