AND OF COURSE SOME BACON CRIME. Looks like a few kids set up camp in someone's house when they were away. What were they doing? Cooking bacon!! Article here.
"The homeowner's mother said when she came to check on the house she knew something was wrong right when she opened the door, smelling something familiar coming from the oven."
PRICES DROPPING - FINALLY! News reports from around the country all say that bacon supply is increasing! Great news; the piggie population is recovering from the porcine virus. Good summary article here from the Huffington Post.
ZAGAT CALLS THE "BACON CRAZE" OVER! A good summary of the 2015 Zagat National Dining Trend Survey can be found here; summary table about bacon and kale below.
Nonsense. Last weekend featured the largest bacon 'fest' in the country, in Des Moines, Iowa. I wanted to go but it didn't work out this year. When confronted with Zagat's mis-call, he said:
"Who are these people?" asked CJ Rhein, who traveled to the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in Des Moines with her husband and eight friends from Minneapolis. "Are you kidding me – have you looked around here?" an indignant Rhein continued."
"Indignant", indeed! There are no indications that the bacon craze is abating; in fact, there's data pointing in the other direction. Nick Schweitzer is the head of breakfast meats at Hormel (and I'll be reaching out to him with some Field Agent info) and he says that Hormel continues to introduce new products. Other manufacturers say similar things. Boo, Zagat!
PORK BELLY FROM INOVASI! As regular readers know, we often go to Inovasi restaurant in Lake Bluff, IL, especially for their burger night - Tuesday. This week, I picked up my 12.2 pound pork belly and started the cure process.
Adam, the M'aitre d, was kind enough to order me one from the Wisconsin farm from which they source their meats. And the lovely Amber served us at the well-stocked bar. Between short samples of Bittermens bitters and my other adult beverage, we talked bacon and family stuff. I'll most definitely be ordering some of these bitters to give unique flavors to our drinks at home. Great burgers at Inovasi!!
ON TO THE PORK BELLY! Pictures and short commentary below. The curing will take about 10 days, and I'll smoke this bacon up next weekend! Looking forward to it.
Here's the slab out of the package, as I cut it in half to cure in a baggie.
Close-up shot of the cure I made. Since the belly was 12.2 pounds, I had to approximate.
It was somewhat difficult to get evenly spread, but that's why you rotate the bag daily, which I'll be doing for 10 days. I did this on Tuesday night, Inovasi burger night, so I'll be ready to smoke next weekend.
NEW HAMPSHIRE SCRATCH 'N SNIFF BACON SCENTED LOTTERY TICKETS went on sale last week, and my good friend Bob Wickham sent me ten of them. True to the advertising, they do smell like bacon! Although slightly burned bacon... I didn't win anything. Thanks, Bob!See you next week, when I will talk about the home-made bacon!
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