Given that this blog is updated on a somewhat regular basis, it goes without saying that I often think about bacon. As in I probably think about bacon more than 99.9999% of the population, second only perhaps to those chefs who have to think about bacon on a daily basis because it is on their menus.
And even though it may not be obvious, my food interests actually do extend beyond cured pork belly! As a result, the number of food related magazines, books and blogs that I read on a regular basis has also increased significantly in recent years. And since bacon is my favorite food topic, I tend to notice when it is mentioned in anything I’m reading, more so than any other food.
Whether it is because of my heightened awareness for the presence of bacon, or because bacon is one of the best foods ever invented, or perhaps because bacon is experiencing some sort of culinary renaissance, it seems to me that it is nearly impossible these days to pick up the latest copy of Gourmet or Food and Wine and not encounter at least a few references to bacon.
For example, in this month’s edition of Gourmet…
- Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl writes of frying bacon for breakfast and “admiring the fine smoky scent of the meat as it wafts through the house. It’s such a cheerful aroma, and it lingers for a while.”
- A feature story about Woodside Farm Creamery in Hockessin, DE mentions a bacon flavored ice cream they make with fresh milk from their grass-fed Jersey cows.
- A recipe for Clam and Corn Chowder features bacon.
- BLT Burgers: “With the exception of beef and cheese, there is no burger combination more revered than beef and bacon. Here, we’ve improved on a classic by putting crumbled pieces of cooked bacon in the middle of the burger. It adds unexpected bits of crisp texture and diffuses smoky flavor throughout the beef.” Serve it on a grilled hamburger bun with mayo, mustard, iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes and dill pickles.
- And even though bacon wasn’t an actual part of this dish, for a recipe where they suggest cooking fish wrapped in zucchini, the instructions direct you to wrap the zucchini by “overlapping it like packaged bacon slices” so the cooked fillets become moist like you would encounter with fish cooked in the traditional French en papillote method.
The ideas I come across in my daily reading often serve as the inspiration for many of my own creations, so going forward I am going to start recapping some of my bacon reading with you here on Bacon Unwrapped, particularly as it relates to my bacon discoveries in Gourmet and Food and Wine magazines. Hopefully you will discover something that inspires you, as well.