J's Homemade Bacon

So, several years ago, I wanted to try brining and curing my own meats. I did  couple of corned beef roasts but I've been wanting to try my hand at bacon. So here's my first, real attempt at homemade bacon. It's not too tricky but it does take some fridge space and a little while to do properly, so it may not be for everyone. Also, if you look up homemade bacon recipes on the interwebs, you will find everyone has a particular way that they insist is the only way to do bacon properly.  Well, I've tried about three different ways of doing it now and the one I settled on isn't how anyone says to do it that I could really find but it's how I brine most meats in our house so it's what I'm comfortable with.

First of all, you'll need to source some raw pork belly. Not every store will carry unadulterated pork belly and you may need to look around a bit. Also, some places may carry pork belly in different stages of processing. I was fortunate to have my local Cosco carry pork belly in a slab with the skin removed as well as packages of that slab cut into 3-4 inch strips. I opted for the strips because we have a meat slicer I wanted to use for my slicing and it was not large enough to accommodate the full slab of pork belly, nor did my fridge have that much free real estate.

There's two basic methods of brining when it comes to bacon: dry and wet. If you do some research, you'll find people are very particular about the method they use and they're more than happy to tell you why. I tried both. I prefer the wet method to the dry method and my reason is simple: I got more consistent coverage and even penetration than with the dry method. That's all.

You will also find people are very adamant about the use of pink curing salt (a.k.a. Prague Powder #1, butchers salt, Morton Tender Quick Meat Cure, etc.) which is common table salt with sodium nitrite and coloring added so that it isn't confused for regular salt. This should not be confused with Himalayan pink salt, which is pink due to the presence of trace minerals in the salt itself and doesn't contain sodium nitrite. Do some research, use what you like, don't use an ingredient you don't want to. There are natural alternatives to sodium nitrite infused salt but what I basically found is that those natural methods use ingredients (usually celery salt) that eventually break down during the curing process into...sodium nitrite. Consuming nitrites is like anything else in life: Large quantities = bad. Moderation = good.

Quick note: I used agave syrup and Puya peppers as my sweet and heat in this recipe because it's what I had around the house since I've been doing a lot of Mexican food recently. Used crushed red pepper flake and honey if that's what you prefer or get crazy. It's your bacon.



Been jamming to a lot of Osker recently so I'm going to go with their song Kinetic off of the album Idle will kill. Some classic, late-ninties, early 2000s skate punk.

J's Bacon
Prep time: 3-5 days
Cook time: 2-3 hours
Difficulty: easy
Serves: depends on batch size

• 2-3 cups water
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp pink curing salt
• 1/4 honey (I used light agave syrup cause it was around and I thought 'why not?')
• 2 tbsp crushed red pepper flake (I used Puya peppers since it's what I had readily available)
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 3 lbs raw pork belly cut into strips with the skin removed

Get your red pepper flake, and cumin seed into the saucepan over a low flame.  Toast the pepper and cumin until they give off scent, a couple of minutes. You're just trying to wake up the oils in them and bring them to the surface so they will come off quickly in the water. 

Add the water, both salts, sugar, honey, and paprika to the pan and kick the heat up to high. Bring to a boil, stirring in the ingredients until they are all dissolved (except the pepper flake and cumin seed obviously). As soon as the brine comes to a boil, turn off the heat, and set aside to cool to room temp. You don't want it to be warm enough to cook the pork belly when you apply it.

Place your pork belly slab/strips in a gallon ziplock bag (I find the heavy duty freezer ones work best) or some other container appropriate for holding sweet/salty, porky water for a few days in your fridge without making a huge mess. Add the cooled brine. I like the ziplock bag because it allows me to expel most of the air from the bag making sure that the brine is in contact with the all the pork surfaces, all the time. That is one of the problems with the dry rub brine method is uneven coating and distribution of the season over time creates "hot spots" that are heavily seasoned and "dead zones" that have little seasoning by comparison. This method gives full coverage and full penetration.

Now just toss you pork belly in the fridge for 3-5 days depending on how salty you like your bacon. I prefer mine on the less salty side so I like the three day soak but try it out and if it's not salty enough or just doesn't give you that hammy/bacon kick you're looking for try a 4-5 day soak.

Lastly, comes the smoke. Now, you can take your bacon out of the brine. Rinse it off under cold water and pat dry with some paper towels. Set it out on a cooling rack over a baking sheet so as to allow for air flow on all sides and to catch any drippings or whatnot and place it in the fridge for 12 hours (just toss it in overnight) prior to cooking. This drys the surface and forms what's called the pellicle that better captures the smokes flavors and colors on the finished product. If you can't let it sit overnight for some reason, some dry time is better than none. At least let it dry till the surface is tacky to the touch.

See the paprika and chili bits adhered to the surface of the meat?!

At this point your bacon could be finished in the oven, sliced and cooked and served immediately. However, I like my bacon smoked. So I soaked wood chips for smoking. I used 50% apple wood, 25% alder, and 25% mesquite. I smoked at 225 degrees on my little gas grill and 3 lbs took about 2-3 hours each time or until the internal temp reaches 145 Fahrenheit. Remove from the grill and let cool.


One tip I will give for slicing bacon is that it should be very cold before you attempt to cut/slice. As in, just on the verge of freezing is perfect. The warmer it is, the harder it will be to slice thinly. Once it is sliced, package and freeze or cook up a bacon feast. Do what you want. I'm not the boss of you. You just made your own bacon. You make the rules now.

Skillet Potatoes with Shallots and Lemon

My mother-in-law (Justin's mom) had shared a recipe she saw on Facebook for skillet potatoes.  They reminded me of our Accordion Potatoes, only sliced all the way through and in a cast iron skillet.  I really liked the concept and wanted to give it a try.  Anything in a cast iron skillet is delicious!  But I wanted to combine what I was doing with the Accordion Potatoes... so I decided to add shallots and lemon.

They came out delicious!  Sort of pretty, as far as presentation goes... but the taste!  Man!  So delicious!  The lemons were thin enough that they sort of candied and you could eat them, rind and all, a fantastic flavour along with the potato and shallots.   The potatoes had so many different textures... some on the outside were as crispy as potato chips, the tops crisped up great, the bottoms were just tender, delicious, seasoned potatoes.  I loved this dish, and I am not a lover of potatoes! 


I chose some Off With Their Heads for this recipe - "Nightlife".  I dig this band.  I swore I had used them before on a recipe, but I can't find anything... so here we go.  -jen 
 

SKILLET POTATOES WITH SHALLOTS AND LEMON
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Cook Time:  75-90 minutes
Serves:  6

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 large shallots
• 2 large lemons
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 3 large baking potatoes, skin on (we used russet)
• 1 tablespoon Caldo de Pollo (dried bouillon - optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (if you don't keep bacon fat, you can just use 2 more tbsp of butter)
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced
• one-gallon-size Ziplock bag
• 12" cast iron skillet

Before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to coat bottom and sides of cast iron skillet.

Using a mandolin, thinly slice shallots, lemons, garlic cloves and potatoes.  (If you don't have a mandolin, just make sure you slice everything super thin... like a potato chip.)  Place the sliced potatoes into the gallon-size Ziplock bag.  Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, Caldo de Pollo, salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne.  Seal bag and use your hands to move the potatoes around and really mix it all up, separating all the sliced pieces so everything gets coated.

Arrange one layer of potatoes around the outer most edge of the skillet.  Once neatly arranged, carefully intersperse 1/3 of the lemon and shallot slices between the potatoes.  Repeat with a second and third layer inside the first.  Once the skillet is full, sprinkle the garlic slices over the top.  Melt the butter and the bacon fat (about 30-45 seconds in the microwave).  Pour all across the arranged potatoes.  I sprinkled a little more salt and pepper over the top.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 75 minutes.  Using a fork, test by piercing the center potatoes.  The fork should easily pierce the potatoes when cooked through.  If there's resistance, bake for another 15 minutes and fork-test again.  Baking times may vary since potato sizes vary and how tightly you arrange them - if your potatoes were bigger than mine, it could take up to 90 minutes.  Just keep fork testing every 15 minutes after the first 75 minutes.

When potatoes pass the fork-test and are golden brown, remove from oven and pour the lemon juice over the top while hot.  Serve hot (we served it with homemade pesto over the top).

Topped with homemade basil pesto

Before baking

Cream of Vegetable Soup

We've been making soup about once a week.  Throughout the week, we often have roasted vegetables several times and will often make a salad of some sort.  So when we're preparing vegetables, we've taken to saving things like the ends of carrots and onions, the stems of herbs, all of our vegetable "scraps", and storing them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  Then Justin makes stock out of them and we make a delicious vegetable soup.  Usually they're broth-based soups, but we felt like going with a cream style this week, packed full of vegetables (and bacon, which is totally optional).  Came out so rich and delicious!  We make large batches at a time so that we have lunches for work.  You can cut the recipe in half if you're not looking for quite so much.

The awesome thing about soups like this, is that you can customize the vegetables to whatever you like.  Don't like mushrooms?  Axe 'em and add cauliflower instead.  Don't like bell peppers?  Axe 'em and add potato instead.  I think most of our soups end up created just using whatever we have leftover in the fridge.  

To go with our soup, for no particular reason except to rock, is The Marked Men doing "All In Your Head".  -jen

CREAM OF VEGETABLE SOUP
Prep Time:  20 minutes (35 if using bacon)
Cook Time:  20 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes: about 14 cups

• 1 pound bacon, diced (optional), reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat
  
• 5 tablespoons butter (6 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (4 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
• 2 cups crimini or button mushrooms, diced fine
• 2 cups broccoli florets (about 1 medium crown)
• 1.5 cups yellow onion, diced fine (about 1 medium onion)
• 1.5 cups carrots, diced fine (about 3 medium carrots)
• 1 cup celery, diced fine (about 3 large stalks)
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced fine (about 1/2 medium pepper)
• 1/2 cup poblano pepper, diced fine (about 1 medium poblano)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2/3 cup flour
• 6 cups chicken broth 
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• salt, to taste (bacon adds a lot of salt on its own, as do most chicken stocks, so taste your soup before adding salt!)

Place diced bacon into a cold stock pot.  Turn heat to medium-high, and cook until crisped, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Using a slotted spoon, spoon out the crisped bacon and drain over paper towels.  Set aside.  Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the stock pot.

Add olive oil and butter to stock pot (still over medium-high heat).  Add all vegetables and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes.  Add the rosemary, thyme and marjoram to the vegetables and cook 1 more minute.  Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until flour absorbs oil and is no longer white.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisk in the stock and turn the heat to high.  Whisk continuously until soup begins to thicken a little.  Once it begins to thicken, add heavy cream, white pepper, black pepper and the crisped bacon.  Stir continuously until soup comes to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add salt to taste and serve.

Bacon Taco BLT with Herb Aioli & Bloody Marys

So, I was inspired to try this dish after seeing some pictures of people forming bacon into crazy shapes after it had been cooked but before it had crisped up.  I though it would be cool to make them into taco shells and stuff them full of lettuce and tomato to counter all the salty, greasy, bacon goodness, like a BLT minus the bread.  Then Jen decided to mix up and awesome green aioli to put on top and all that was left was something to wash it all down.  The obvious answer, of course, was a bloody mary.  A super baconny BLT should have a super tomatoey drink as a companion.

Note: My first attempt at this bacon taco shell was successful but very time consuming and so I would not repeat it again, ever.  It took almost 40 minutes for the bacon to crisp when I had woven it into a lattice and tried to bake it in a taco shell shape (pictured at right).  Instead I will present a far simpler and less time consuming process (pictured below) that I saw here.


To accompany the dish, there was no group, or song, better than the Supersuckers covering Willie Nelson's "Bloody Mary Morning".  Can't get much better than that! - justin

BACON TACO BLTs w/ HERB AIOLI
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 2

• 1 lb bacon 
• 6 large lettuce leaves
• 1 medium vine ripened tomato
• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 3 tbsp chopped green onion
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Place 4-5 strips of bacon on a paper towel on a microwave safe plate.  Make sure the edges all overlap so that the bacon "fuses" when it's cooking.  Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes, checking on it every minute or so to make sure it isn't burning.  When it's done, pull it out and fold the bacon pancake in half with something inside to make it form into a shell.  Some tinfoil should work.  After a minute or two it should have set up and become crispy.  Slice your tomato and lay some in your shell.  Stuff the rest of the space with 3 of the large leaves of lettuce.  Top with the aioli (recipe below) and you're good to go!  Make as many more as you have guests or as you think yourself capable of consuming.

The aioli can actually be made ahead of time.  It lasts for a long time in the fridge and goes well on everything; sandwiches, salad, wraps, slaw, etc.

Combine the mayo, sour cream , lemon juice, parsley, cilantro, green onions, and garlic and mix thoroughly.  Voilà!

BLOODY MARYS
Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 3-4

• 2 oz Demitri's Bloody Mary seasoning (this stuff is awesome but use what you like or can find)
  
• 1 qt V8 or tomato juice, whichever you prefer
• 4 shots vodka
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 dashes Tabasco or hot sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• olives or celery or some other garnish 

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a large pitcher and place in the fridge for an hour.  Serve in a large glass over ice.  Garnish with olives, celery or whatever you stick in your Bloody Mary.  I prefer whole green olives!

Stuffed Breakfast Chiles

Awww yeah!  I just made these bad boys a few minutes ago!  They're like reverse chile rellenos - the eggs are on the inside instead of the outside.  My fingers are still burning from the pasillas (which were spicier than expected, maybe I didn't de-vain them well enough!) - I never wear gloves when I handle chiles and then I regret it.  Wear gloves!!!  But really, these are only a little spicy, not really "hot".

I was thinking these stuffed chiles are pretty versatile.  I used green onion and bacon.  You could use jalapeños, cilantro (wish I'd had some!), sausage, chorizo, salsa.  Someone gave a shout for more vegetarian recipes - well here's one you can make vegetarian any way you want.  I love recipes like this where you can change it over and over and over again and just keep coming up with different combinations.  And... low-carb, if you're watching that kind of thing.

What goes with breakfast?  Well, naturally, I went straight to crack and dope... so Choking Victim was my only option, singing "500 Channels".  Get your skank on.  -jen

Homemade taco seasoning and Tabasco

STUFFED BREAKFAST CHILES
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Bake Time:  10-12 minutes
Difficulty:  Medium
Yields:  4 stuffed chiles

• 4 large pasilla chiles
• 1/4 pound of bacon
• 2 green onions, diced
• 6 eggs
• salt and pepper*
• dash of milk (like 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
• few dashes of green Tabasco sauce
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• toothpicks

Wash and dry chiles.  Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray (I like to line the pan with foil for easy clean-up).  Place chiles on baking sheet and broil on one side for 4-5 minutes until charred, then flip and broil on the other side 4-5 minutes until charred. 

Immediately place charred chiles in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap or place in a large plastic zip bag and seal.  Let rest for 10-15 minutes so that the chiles sweat.  Then remove and peel off the charred skins.  Cut stem ends off chiles and slice down one side to open them up so that they lay flat.  Remove all seeds and ribs from inside of chile.  Re-spray the same baking sheet with more non-stick spray and lay chiles flayed open on baking sheet.  

While chiles are roasting, you can dice up your bacon and cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp and crumbled, 10-15 minutes.  Line a plate with paper towels and place the bacon onto the paper towel to absorb the grease.  In the same skillet, saute the diced green onion for 1-2 minutes, just until tender.  Mix in with the crumbled bacon on the paper towel plate.

When chiles are done roasting, turn oven down to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper, Tabasco, and dash of milk.  (We always have some homemade "taco seasoning", and I used some of that to season my eggs, too!)  Using the same skillet again (I left a little bit of the bacon grease in it, or you can drain the grease out and use non-stick spray) over medium heat, scramble the eggs.  After 2-3 minutes of cooking, add the crumbled bacon and onion into the eggs and cook until just barely wet still.  Turn off heat.

On the open-faced chiles, add a layer of shredded cheese, then 1/4 of the egg mixture, then another layer of cheddar cheese.  Carefully fold the chile together and use a toothpick to secure it, leaving it seam-side up.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted.  Remove toothpicks and serve immediately.

Rich & Creamy Mac & Cheese

As I've stated before, we are always looking for a better mac & cheese recipe as it is, in my humble opinion, the ultimate comfort food.  If you were of the poorer persuasion as a child, then you undoubtedly grew up with the store bought stuff in a blue box (we all know what brand I'm referring to, hopefully) and while that is a suitable quick fix, I've got a recipe that doesn't take very long that comes out better by several orders of magnitude.  This can be doctored any way you like.  I decided to go with bacon and green onions at Jen's request and I believe it worked beautifully.  But you could do roasted garlic, or leeks, or add green beans, or sausage or pepperoni, or whatever you like!  Incidentally, you can use almost any cheese, or cheeses, you want with this so get creative if you feel like it.  Just remember that the harder a cheese is, generally, the more oily it'll be when it melts.  I went with some Colby Jack as it's a good all around cheese for flavor and meltiness and also used some Smoked Gouda to stretch the smokey flavor without overpowering the dish with bacon (is there such a thing?).

To accompany this musically, I went with an old favorite, Down By Law.  Their album Punkrockacademyfightsong is a classic and one I've listened to so often that I know it by heart.  My favorite song on there is without a doubt 1944 so I went with that, though I listened to most of the album again, just to be sure.  It's that good.

Mac & Cheese
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4-6

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pasta

• 4-6 cups water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 lb Rigatoni or Rotini pasta (these hold the sauce well but use whatever you like)

In large stock pot or dutch oven, bring water and salt to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta and return to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for 12 minutes or until your pasta is al dente.  Remove from heat and drain in a colander.  Place back in pot and cover till compiling the dish.

Sauce

•  2 strips thick cut bacon, diced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup shallot, minced
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups heavy cream (if you like a thinner sauce also use an additional cup of whole milk)
• 12 oz cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup green onion, diced

In a small skillet, heat bacon over medium high heat until crisp, 4-5 minutes, stirring as needed.  Drain off excess grease and set bacon aside.  In a 2 qt saucepan, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat and add shallots when the butter has melted.  Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until your shallots start to brown a little.  Add the flour and stir in thoroughly.  Reduce heat to medium low and brown the flour for 2 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper and heavy cream (milk as well if you are using it).  Return heat to medium high and bring the cream to a low boil.  Add 8 oz of the grated cheese, reserving a third for later use, and the green onions and crisp bacon.  Stir continuously until cheese has melted completely.

Add your cheese sauce to the drained pasta and mix thoroughly.  Spoon the cheese sauce and pasta into a 2 qt, glass baking dish, sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, and place in the 350 degree oven for 5 -10 minutes or until the top cheese is melted.  Serve immediately and enjoy the cheesy creaminess!

Caramel Corn

So glad I found a way to make caramel corn!  It's ridiculously over-priced to buy, and so freakin' cheap to make!  And right now, we're being cheap!  I've got the imitation butter as optional because it really isn't necessary to add, but I found that adding it definitely gives the caramel a better buttery taste... reminds me a little more of the butter-toffee flavoured corn you can buy than straight up caramel corn.  And I really recommend the saltiness of some roasted peanuts, if you dig nuts!

The Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck" totally made me think of something gooey and mucky like caramel. -jen

CARAMEL CORN
Time: 8 minutes prep, 1 hour bake, 20 minutes to cool
Serves:  makes about 2 gallon-size Ziplocs full
Difficulty: Easy

• 3/4-1 cup popcorn seeds
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon imitation butter flavour (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup roasted peanuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 F.

Pop corn with your preferred method.  I like using the air popper for this.  Pour popcorn into large roasting pan.

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter flavouring (if using), and salt.  Bring to a boil for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and quickly stir in vanilla and baking soda until combined.  Pour over popcorn and sprinkle on nuts, if using.  Stir well to coat all of the popcorn.

Bake at 200 F in roasting pan for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Spread over waxed paper to cool.  Then break up large chunks and serve.

Note:  Want to try Bacon Caramel Corn?  Follow the above instructions, but crumble 1 pound of bacon until crispy.  Sprinkle on top of the plain popcorn before pouring your caramel on it, and just stir in and continue following the instructions!  

Bacon Caramel Corn

Smokey Squash Soup

So we have all of these autumnal veggies sitting around the house and in an effort to use them before they start to go bad, I decided to make some squash soup.  I'd already been on a mission one day to make soup stock out of a chicken carcass and ended up going the extra mile to make a pork stock as well.  It seemed like the perfect base for a squash soup.  I went the smokey pork rout for the stock and tossed in a smoked pork femur, some trimmings off of a ham steak, and a healthy dose of bacon.  The result was awesome.  Some crumbled bacon and fresh chopped scallions made this an amazing comfort dish, perfect for a cold day or for the morning after a long night of debauchery when your body needs nutrients other than hard drugs and alcohol.  Hearty and filling, healthy veggies, smooth and silky texture.  Warms you from the inside!


Since it's a healthy and hearty soup it would naturally pair with some Supersuckers which is more like country/punk with a side order of "kick me in the teeth".  A little "Born With a Tail" makes this good soup seem a little more edgy so here ya go.  You can feel a little more rock-n-roll-devil-child while you eat your healthy squash soup. - justin

Smokey Squash Soup

Time: 1 hr
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

• 2 cups butternut squash
• 2 cups sweet baking pumpkin
• 1 lb bacon, chopped
• 2 cups onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp minced garlic (about 3 medium cloves)
• 1/4 cup dry vermouth or dry sherry
• 6 cups pork or chicken stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, grated 

I was working with a whole squash and a whole pumpkin so I simply cut them in half, seeded them, and roasted half of each, cut side down, on an cookie sheet covered in oiled aluminum foil in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes.  They came out perfectly.  If you are working with diced veggies, use the 4 cups and toss them in a little olive oil and roast in a 425 degree oven and check them after 25 minutes.  Pull when they are fork tender.

Brown the bacon in a large stock pot over medium heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crisp.  Remove bacon and dump all but 3 tbsp of the bacon fat.  Add the chopped onion and sweat until translucent and starting to brown.  Add the salt, black and white peppers, paprika, chili powder, ginger and garlic and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the vermouth or sherry and cook for 2 minutes or so to deglaze.  Don't forget to scrape the pot with a wooden spoon or silicon whisk get all those yummy bits off the bottom.  Those are called flavor.

Add the stock to the pot along with the squash and pumpkin and add 1/2 of the crisped bacon.  Didn't think I'd forgotten that did you?  Puree with whatever method you have available.  We have a stick blender and that makes it easy but a food processor or blender would work as well.  Just work in batches.  After a smooth consistency has been achieved, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or so.  When the desired consistency has been achieved (continue simmering if you like a thicker soup) stir in the cream and butter.  Once they have been fully incorporated, serve with rest of the crumbled bacon, chopped scallions, and Pecorino Romano as a topping.

I also thought that a dollop of sour cream would be good on this.  Or maybe some roasted apples or something.

Death By Chocolate Bacon Brownies

I'm no philosopher, but I truly believe there are two things that can bring people together in a beautiful, happy way: weed and bacon.  And you could use both in this recipe - it does use 3 sticks of butter, which would be a hell of a lot of bang butter... I'm just sayin'.

However, this recipe isn't about pot!  It's about the beauty of bacon and rock, and how it connected us with a guy named Mike in a kick ass band called Death By Stereo, whom we soon discovered loved food and punk rock (and bacon!) as much as we do.  We spoke of collaborating on our mutual art forms, but due to the 14 hours distance between us and the expenses, we had to settle for combining ideas instead for THE ULTIMATE AWESOME DESSERT!!!

It seems like a lot of death in the kitchen... Death By Stereo... Cooking To Die For... but then, six eggs, 3 sticks of butter, and a pound each of bacon and chocolate will probably bring all of us death, so it's apropos. 

And so without further ado, I present you with an idea brought forth by Mike Cambra, and put into action with a few twists by me... Death By Chocolate Bacon Brownies.  While you salivate over the recipe, you can listen to DBS' "Bet Against Me, You Lose", from their first album. -jen

Don't forget you can find Cooking To Die For on Facebook too!

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE BACON BROWNIES

• 3 sticks (1.5 cups) butter
• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1+ 2/3 cup flour
• cooking spray
• 1 pound bacon
• 2 tablespoons 100% maple syrup
• chocolate ganache (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and bitter sweet chocolate until combined and smooth.  Set aside to cool for a moment.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract until combined.  Add the cooled chocolate mixture.  Then fold in flour.  Coat a 9x11 baking dish generously with cooking spray.  Pour in brownie mix and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Center may be a little gooey still.

While brownies are baking, cut bacon slices in half length-wise, to create long strips.  Then dice into small 1/2" squares.  Cook in skillet over medium-high heat until brown and crispy (10-15 minutes, stirring occassionally).  For the last two minutes, stir in maple syrup (no need to drain the fat first).  Remove bacon from skillet with a slotted spoon onto a plate (not a napkin, it'll stick).

After brownies have cooled, sprinkle candied bacon bits over the entire pan of brownies.  If bacon has cooled and clumped, just microwave for 10-15 seconds until it's warm and loose again.  Then cover bacon with chocolate ganache and allow ganache to firm up a little before cutting and serving brownies.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Cook all ingredients over a double boiler until smooth, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

Once Baked Potato Casserole

I'm not really much of a potato person, but I do love a good twice-baked potato.  They seem like such a waste, though.  You can't scoop all the inside out, or your shell is too thin, and then most people just eat the stuffed innards and toss the skin.  With this recipe, we use it all!  It's like twice baked potato casserole... but, it's once boiled, once baked.  Whatever it is, it's awesome.

If you have cholesterol problems or are a physician, you might not want to continue.

Here's a little Social Distortion.  They go with potatoes really well.  -jen

ONCE BAKED POTATO CASSEROLE

• 4 large Russet potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons salt
• 1 pound bacon
• 6 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon butter, room temp
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoons chives, chopped
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• black pepper

Thoroughly clean potatoes and dice into large cubes, leaving the skin on.  Place diced potatoes into a large pot.  Add water just to cover the potatoes and stir in the salt.  Turn heat on high and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, cook 10-12 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.  Drain.

Meanwhile, chop bacon into small pieces.  Heat large skillet over medium-high heat and add bacon when skillet is hot.  Stir to keep from sticking and brown bacon until crispy, 7-10 minutes.  Remove using a slotted spoon and scoop onto a paper towel covered plate to drain.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine potatoes, 6 tablespoons butter, cream cheese, and cream.  Using a hand held mixer, blend until desired consistency - we like ours chunky.  Stir in shallots, chives, bacon and 1.5 cups of the cheese, setting aside the remaining 1/2 cup.  Pepper to taste.

Using the remaining tablespoon of butter, generously grease a 8x8 baking dish.  Spoon in mashed potatoes.


Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until cheese has begun to brown.

Garlic Cheese and Bacon Biscuits

I have no intro to this recipe, really.  I love cheese and garlic biscuits.  I wanted some.  Been on a bacon kick.  Decided to add bacon.  Made them.  They rocked!

(As much as I love bacon, I don't think I'm ready to make this monster yet, though.  Look, two recipes for the price of one!)

We both reeeeeeeeally liked these biscuits; they didn't last long at all.

Don't remember what I was listening to when making these - it was a while ago; I've been slacking with the posting.  But as I wrote it up tonight, I was listening to a little Lars Frederiksen and The Bastards (and some Rancid, and some Choking Victim, and some Minor Threat...)  But here's a little Lars and a little biscuits.  -jen

GARLIC CHEESE AND BACON BISCUITS

• 10 strips bacon
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons dill, dried (optional)
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• few grinds of fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup monterey jack cheeese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Chop uncooked bacon into small pieces.  Cook over medium high heat until crispy.  Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, dill, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.  Mix well.  Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and add milk, butter, bacon and cheese.  Mix by hand just until dry ingredients are combined (mix as little as possible!)  Using a 1/4 cup measurement, drop biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet about an inch apart.

Bake until golden brown, 20-22 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  I recommend removing them from the pan immediately (or at least flip them and let them rest on their tops).  Otherwise the bottom of the biscuits continue to cook and can get too dark.

Makes about 8 biscuits.

Check out that fancy paper plating!  Hey, I've got the rustic veggie thing going on behind it!

Bacon Maple Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I decided to jump onto the Bacon Bandwagon.  Since there's no donut shop in my nearby area that carries a bacon maple donut, I had to improvise.  Pork and pineapple go together.  Pineapple and maple go together.  Maple and pork go together.  It's rich, but it's sweet and salty and delicious!  Loved it!  And how many cakes do you know of that include a pound of bacon?!  It's awesome.

It makes me think fondly of the Prodigal Son that used to be in Chicago.  Irish pub in the front, angry, dirty punk music in the back, and bottomless free baskets of deep fried bacon on Wednesday nights.  I think I actually saw more blood spilled in that venue than any other venue.  That's just what happens when you get crazy and mix bacon and punk rock!  Chaos and anarchy!

The last show I saw there was my friend Germ's band, The Rotten Fruits, shown in the video here!  You can find Germ with his new band, Modern Day Rippers!  If you're in the Chicago area, check 'em out!  It's always a good show! 

BACON MAPLE PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

• 1 pound bacon
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened and divided
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 cups + 1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup (Grade B if possible)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1 & 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (rendered from bacon)
• 1 can pineapple slices
• Maraschino cherries
• non-stick cooking spray

Chop bacon into bits and cook until crisped over medium-high heat.  Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon from pan and drain on papertowels.  Save 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Spray 9x13 cake pan with non-stick spray and then coat with flour.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, and salt.  Stir until mixed.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 stick of butter and shortening and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add 2 cups of maple syrup and beat until smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add egg yolks and egg, one at a time, blending thoroughly after each addition.  Alternately add flour mixture and milk, 1/3 of each at a time.  Set aside

Melt 1 stick of butter and 2 tablespoons bacon fat over low heat.  Once melted, remove from heat and stir in 1/3 cup maple syrup.  In floured pan, sprinkle 1 cup brown sugar evenly over bottom of pan.  Pour butter and maple mixture over brown sugar.  Place pineapple rings on top and cherries in the middle of the rings.  Sprinkle bacon in even layer over everything.  Then carefully pour in cake batter.  Bake at 325F until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (40-45 minutes).


Cool cake over cooling rack for 10 minutes.  Then invert onto serving platter and let cool another 20 minutes.

 

(Served here with a Fig Balsamic reduction)

Rancid Recipes #3: Asian Barbecue Pork Sandwiches; Asian Barbecue Sauce; Baked Beans with Bacon

Song Title:  Memphis
Album:  Indestructible (2003)
Lyrics:  "By the time we made it to New Orleans, it must have been half past three.  By the time we made it to Memphis, we were crazy."

The song "Memphis" might be my favourite song off of the "Indestructible" album... though I suppose it depends on my mood.  This song gets me going!  This is the song that I play in the car as loud as my pathetic speakers will allow when I'm in a happy mood... but I will do the same thing with this song if I'm in a really pissed mood!  Right from the start you're assaulted with a great, driving beat backed by what I can only describe as electric bagpipes?!  When I get it loud enough... it kind of takes my breath away (awww).  And then it inspires me to make some southern barbecue!  Which I did... but for some reason, I was feeling like Asian food too, so it turned into Southern-Asian fusion!  This came out so tasty!  I'd never cooked meat in vinegar before and the flavour was so tangy, the meat was perfect and juicy, falling apart!  I was almost sad to put the sauce on the meat because it was so good plain!  We'll be making this again... and again! -jen

ASIAN BARBECUE PORK SANDWICHES

• 4-5 pound pork shoulder
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon chili paste
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• Asian barbecue sauce
• fresh sandwich rolls
• shredded carrots
• fresh cilantro

Cut pork shoulder into 2" steaks.  In a bowl, combine garlic, ginger, sesame oil, fish sauce, and chili paste.  Place pork steaks into slowcooker.  Pour vinegar and soy sauce over steaks.  Spread the garlic and ginger mix over the steaks.  Cover and cook on high for 7 hours.  Remove pork from slowcooker and shred.  Drain liquid from slowcooker and put shredded pork back in.   Begin mixing Asian barbecue sauce into the pulled pork.  I suggest starting with about 1/2 a cup and adding more to your taste.  I ended up adding about 3/4 cup sauce all together, as I don't like my barbecue real saucy; I like to be able to taste the meat's flavours.  (And now I have a lot of leftover sauce to use for other barbecuing.)  Rewarm pork and serve on a roll with spicy mayonnaise, shredded carrots and fresh cilantro.

Spicy Mayo = mayonnaise with sriracha hot sauce to taste.

ASIAN BARBECUE SAUCE

• 34 oz tomato sauce
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 jar (8oz) Hoisen sauce
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons dark molasses
• 2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dried cilantro or oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice
• 1 teaspoon Pasilla chili powder
• 1 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder
• 2 chipotle peppers (from a can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce)

Whisk all ingredients in a large sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

BAKED BEANS WITH BACON
(Gotta give credit to my mom, Loretta, for these! I might have zipped them up a little, but she's been making kick ass baked beans my whole life and I got my base recipe from her!)

• 1/2 pound bacon, diced
• 1 can (1 pound 12oz) pork and beans in tomato sauce
• 1 can (15oz) kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1-1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark molasses
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon whiskey
• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
• black pepper to taste

Cook diced bacon over a medium-high heat until crispy.  Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain.  In an oven safe dish, combine all ingredients (including crumbled bacon).  Cook at 325 F for 1 hour if you like your beans saucy, or for 1.5 hours if you like thick beans (which is how I like 'em!)