THE HOME RESTAURANT hosted Rich's 80th birthday party on Saturday. Although his birthday is the infamous tax day (April 15), we held it on Saturday so we could maximize getting as many family as possible to attend. Scattered far and wide, we loved making the trip! Jared was our host, and Katie took great care of us.
The Home restaurant is a beautiful, homey place with great food, procured locally. Highly recommended! And there are six menu items on the dinner menu that contain BACON. Jared told me about their pecan-smoked bacon, but everyone we so busy I never saw it.
BACON IN THE NEWS
YES, IT'S BACON MONTH IN CHICAGO. Bacon fest is next weekend. I'm not going to attend, but I already have my tickets to the North Shore Bacon Fest in Glenview, Illinois.
From an article in My Fox Chicago:
CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -The links above are fantastic, but if you're really lazy, the Chicago links can be found by clicking on the picture:
April is bacon month in Chicago and you can indulge in the deliciously cured delicacy at several free events.This Tuesday, April 7th, the Acme Hotel on East Ohio Street downtown is hosting a free “Kevin Bacon” movie night.They will feature some of the actor'smost popular films and bacon dusted popcorn.
Next Saturday, several local Whole Foods markets will prepare a free bacon sampling event from noon to 3pm.Two dozen Chicago restaurantsThe month culminates with Baconfest Chicago , April 17th and 18th, at the UIC forum. Tickets are still available.Click here for a list of events, participating restaurants and ticket information
SO HERE WE GO - AN OLD REVIEW. This week, we're testing your basic Oscar Mayer bacon. I cooked up a pound of Naturally Hardwood Smoked, and twelve ounces of "Center Cut" "Original"... kind of like what my mom used to make. What a place to start!
Oscar Mayer GOES WAY BACK - to the late 1800's in Chicago-land. Business was good from the start, and old German immigrant Oscar did well for himself and for smoked meats, sausages, and BACON. It took almost a century until Oscar's heir sold the business to General Foods, and now its owned by Kraft. I have to believe that Oscar's original bacon in 1893 was a little different than the bacon I tested today. And who doesn't like the Weinermobile?
MY STANDARD PROCESS USED TO BE to fire up the outdoor gas grill (a home-modified version of a Jenn-Air purchased some years ago). It's fueled by natural gas, and since I couldn't find a conversion kit, I modified the orifices myself to produce more than the normal amount of flame. I like a high flame to get my cast iron pans extremely hot to properly cook steak, another of my food favorites. More on those two topics (the gas grill and steak) in future posts.
FOR COOKING OUTSIDE, I highly recommend obtaining a flat rectangular pan, like the one I'm using here. I like to open the bacon package in the house and place the bacon on the pan while cold; this way I can cook up a pound of bacon at once and not have any splatter while I place the slices. I take the grates off the grill and place the pan right on top of the vaporizing bars over medium/low heat. I believe that cooking bacon a little more slowly, and turning frequently, produces cooked slices that are flatter and more evenly cooked.HERE'S THE REVIEW:
I started with the ORIGINAL O-M bacon. It weighed in at exactly 12 ounces, just like the package said. It produced 100 ml of rendered fat. The flavor was plain old bacon - no extra tastes, and it was chewy, not crispy. Basically, it was boring - but GOOD. What bacon isn't good? Post-cooking, it weighed 3.4 ounces, a reduction in weight of 8.6 ounces, or nearly 72%.
Next, I cooked up 16 ounces, a full pound, of the Naturally Hardwood Smoked. It weighed in at only 15.7 ounces - I got shorted on the quantity. It produced 150 ml of rendered fat, and the flavor was solid - the smokiness came through quite well. It had more flavor, more succulence, crispness, and overall was very good. The appearance was a little dusky - it didn't look as good as the plain type. Weight reduction was 11.2 ounces or 70%.
"WOW, HE HATE A WHOLE POUND OF BACON!" These words were frequently uttered in the Mislinski household as I grew up. If I only knew then what I know now, I could have said "Mom, it's a 70% or more reduction in weight! I only ate 4.5 ounces, which is less than a burger!"
OVERALL REVIEW. The ORIGINAL was BORING; the Hardwood Smoked, good for every day.
Oscar Mayer
|
ORIGINAL
|
Hardwood Smoked
|
Crispiness
|
1
|
3
|
Flavor
|
2
|
3
|
Succulence
|
1
|
3
|
Smell
|
2
|
3
|
Rendered Fat
|
High
|
High
|
Overall
|
2
|
3
|
No comments:
Post a Comment