Almost All Fat Bacon

9:55 am –

The slices were so large I pulled out two pans and am preheating the oven. I both begin to wonder where my bacon press from my mother-in-law resides now and to question my own use of any bacon-flattening devices. The rendered fat, from just two slices per pan, is already flabbergasting.

10:01 am –

I have never before seen bacon float on a sea of it’s own fat.

10:15 am –

About to post photos. Apparently when bacon is this fatty, you can get almost a full cup of rendered fat, easily, from just four slices. Furthermore, it’s insanely easy to burn almost all fat bacon.

10:21 am –

My house smells like burned bacon. Adrienne’s not going to visit me for a month.… Continue reading →

Bacon has ends?

Oh, man. I’m a terrible food blogger. Terrible. I had this vague recollection that I’d made an “ingredients” category here on MetaCookbook, with the intent of getting into discussions about, well, ingredients. I didn’t recall how many posts I’d put in the category, or the topics. I’m terrible.

Why? Well, because there’s a whopping ONE post in that category right now. And? It’s on bacon ends. Which is what this post is about. However, that post doesn’t have photos, and this one does, so it’s better. Also, having that post means I can say a little bit less about the cost and such, and talk a little bit more about how I made them this time, and my continuing impressions.

Also, it’ll remind me to have some opinions on some other ingredient or two, sometime.… Continue reading →

BACON!

Okay, quickie post. I’m planning to write something up later too (after I make gluten-free cookies), but I had to share.

Today we had the first of the bacon from our hog. It was super tasty! I actually liked it better than what we normally have from Meadow Haven. This still had the delicious flavor of the pig, but was less salty.

Which, to be honest, probably means we need to eat it faster. Tragic?

We also had chocolate-blueberry semi-whole wheat pancakes. They sound better than they were. Next time, less whole wheat flour & more chocolate.… Continue reading →

About those bacon ends we bought

Welcome to the inaugural post in a new category here on MetaCookbook! I just decided this morning that we need a new “place” to talk about food without a recipe being involved. Specifically, I expect to occasionally have something to say about an ingredient I used (or want to) that has nothing to do with a recipe. The category description:

“Notes about ingredients we use. Normally it’ll be oddball things we discover through this blog, but we reserve the right to be opinionated about something mundane as well.”

Today, it’s an “oddball”. At least for me. Namely, bacon ends.

As I mentioned in the “Borracho Baked Beans”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/221-113-Borracho-Baked-Beans.html post, we purchased bacon ends to use as an ingredient in (originally) mac & cheese for the “beer and bacon” party.… Continue reading →

[113] Borracho Baked Beans

Cover of Red Chile Bible by Kathleen Hansel and Audrey Jenkins

I have a friend who throws an awesome party approximately yearly. I think she is not the originator of this party idea, but it has migrated to her home through the years. The party theme is “Beer and Bacon”. It’s basically a pot luck that everybody brings a food that has beer or bacon (or both!) involved. Also, many people just bring beer.

Obviously, it is full of deliciousness.

This year, I was very torn on what to bring. I just couldn’t make up my mind. Eventually, I settled on bacon macaroni and cheese. Bill thought this was a very great idea, I thought this was probably a great idea, and it sounded pretty straightforward. All systems were go. Until I realized that this is a pretty straightforward recipe, and so possibly it might be one the hosts would make…

Yup, going back and looking at a few comments she made on her blog about her plans, I realized she was definitely making bacon mac & cheese, and so I should probably do something else and not duplicate that.… Continue reading →