Category Archives: Bacon

Bacon Tastings: Møsefund Farms

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by in Bacon Tasting, Cured Meats, Smoked Meats, Tasting Charcuterie

≈ 8 Comments

DSC04232

I have reached my limit on Bacon. Not bacon, but Bacon. The desserts, the coffins, and festivals (where chefs have bacon shipped in and then trendify it) — all of it. The part that it is meant to commemorate, bacon, is all but eliminated and, in its place, gluttony has been substituted. When I see bacon on a menu item, it is simple to distinguish whether it is added to create balance and harmony or to advance and encourage gluttony. Not that gluttony doesn’t have any place at the table, there will always be special meals where indulgences occur, but the pride associated with the excess is what has gotten so deeply under my skin. Continue reading »

Boiling Bacon

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Bacon Making, Cured Meats, Making Charcuterie, Pork

≈ 3 Comments

St. Patrick's Day Supper

As a legit Irish-American, I have a certain amount of guilt inherent to feeling responsible for the drunken displays of youthful exuberance so associated with St. Patrick’s Day. This year, while on a long pre-dawn jog, I saw a group of twenty-somethings in green lined up outside of a bar at 6 AM waiting to drink. Now, I regularly see bar workers leaving the bar while on my run, but this was a first. Coincidentally, this was the year where I stepped back from novelty St. Patrick’s day meats of years past, both corned beef tongue and corned beef, Guinness, and cabbage sausage, and went traditional. Continue reading »

Happy Valentine’s Day — Hearts, Hearts, Everywhere!!

16 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Bacon Projects, Confit, Cured Meats, Duck, Lamb, Making Charcuterie, Offal, Smoked Meats

≈ 1 Comment

As we have done over the past four or five Valentine’s Days, my wife and I have retired from the restaurant dinner scene with a special dinner at home. Even if we had not had children over that same time, we likely would have made the move. The Valentine’s Day crowd makes the brunch crowd look like gourmands by comparison, which is really saying something, and we didn’t like dealing with exasperated servers or some of the step downs in menu and step ups in prices that we saw. We could go out whenever and save frustration by doing our thing in the comforts of home on days like Valentine’s or Mother’s days. Continue reading »

Collard Green Kimchi and the Big Jong Il

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Bacon Projects, Condiments and Pickles, Making Charcuterie, Pork, Sausages, The Low Country Sconnie

≈ 2 Comments


In a combination of crazy wanderlust through Southern foodways and an almost Portlandia-worthy desire to lacto-ferment every vegetable that I buy, I put together this kimchi of collards. It really was not that wild of a thought as collards are the same species as cabbage, the more traditionally used brassica in kimchi, but I thought it creative especially when used as a seasoning to an impromptu encased meat that we have been affectionately referring to as the Big Jong Il. Continue reading »

Bacon Tastings: Inovasi

08 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in Bacon Tasting, Pork, Tasting Charcuterie

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Being a city dweller, despite growing up in Wisconsin, I am predisposed to being skeptical of anything suburban. I had heard good things about Inovasi in Lake Bluff, but just haven’t made the effort to get out there. Everything that I hear is that the chef out there, John des Rosiers, has serious talent. He also has serious ambition as he has opened several small take-home outlets called Wisma. When a new Wisma opened a few blocks from work, I could no longer ignore. When I got there, they were putting their first package of bacon on the shelves. It was almost like they were waiting for a sucker like me. Continue reading »

Nose to Tail Greens & Peas

02 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in Bacon Making, Cured Meats, Making Charcuterie, Pork, Smoked Meats, The Low Country Sconnie, Whole Animal

≈ 4 Comments

Nose to Tail Greens & Peas (assorted meats clockwise from top: ears, tail, tongue, snout)

Before meeting my lovely bride, I had no tradition on New Year’s Day. We watched football, but nearly every New Year’s Day was spent the same way as my Christmas Day – in a car. Granted, my interest in food as a cultural touchpoint had not been piqued, but I was unaware of the traditions of cotechino & lentils or greens and black-eyed peas. The first New Year’s Day that she and I spent together, her mother was visiting and prepared a New Year’s meal of cheese grits,  collard greens and black-eyed peas. I did not understand the significance until she explained after the meal, but I would never spend another New Year’s day without eating collard greens and black-eyed peas.

One of my resolutions for 2012 is to learn more about classic Southern cooking and food traditions. Through some cursory research and discussions, I found that there are folks who are very particular about mixing different types of greens and how there are particular ways of cooking different types of greens. These details are what I am interested in learning more about. Continue reading »

Pork Skin

02 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Bacon Projects, Making Charcuterie, Pork, Whole Animal

≈ 7 Comments

Smoked Applestone-Style Bacon and Rind

One of most often asked questions to me in the bacon making realm is why keep the rind attached to the belly. Hell, the question came up to Ruhlman at the amazing demo at Butcher & Larder a few weeks ago. As far as bacon making, while I am a firm believer in following instructions, in my opinion, as long as the rind is attached to the belly when you buy the belly, you are doing it right. Whether you smoke the rind and remove it or remove it before starting the entire process is completely up to you, mostly because the skin is delicious and useful fresh or smoked.

The most obvious use of fresh pork skin is cracklins’. To be sure, these are really, really delicious when done right, but for this post, I will let the Publican continue their domination of the pork cracklin’ world, where they make cracklins’ that will change how you look at the protein pack stoner food, and focus on two easier home applications. Continue reading »

Making Bacon at Home: The Applestone Way

29 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by in Bacon Making, Cured Meats, Making Charcuterie, Pork, Smoked Meats

≈ 11 Comments

It was in preparation for making fabada last week that I had rummaged through the typical kitchen storage locations looking for bacon. I found my emergency package of Benton’s and a good bit of lamb and beef bacon, but I was down to a small package of good ol’ homemade (“house made” is so 2007, right?) bacon. Since the weather was beginning to cool, the stars and seasons were aligning to make for some bacon making. Also, in a serendipitous turn, I had just picked up The Butcher’s Guide to Well Raised Meat by meat hero Joshua Applestone from Fleisher’s Meats and there was a bacon recipe in the book that varied enough from my standard to give it a shot. Continue reading »

Bacon Tastings: Fatted Calf

29 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in Bacon Tasting, Cured Meats, Pork, Smoked Meats, Tasting Charcuterie

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With a suitcase full of cured meats and coffee, I am sure that we stuck out, if only slightly, from the SFO travelers who likely are carrying wine, but I would almost guarantee that our smuggler’s booty was of as high or higher quality than the wine being carried back. The final meat parcel was one that I was looking forward most particularly – it was bacon from the previously profiled Fatted Calf. Continue reading »

Bacon Tastings: Miesfield’s

10 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by in Bacon Tasting, Cured Meats, Pork, Smoked Meats, Tasting Charcuterie

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While stopping at Miesfield’s for their “Grand Champion” bratwurst. which were excellent, I was chatting up one of the butchers behind the counter. I asked them if they cured and smoked their own bacon in house. He affirmed that they did, so naturally, I picked up a few rashers to give a test spin. Continue reading »

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