Endless Bacon -

by Russell Warnick

Marshmallow Nachos

Growing up in England didn’t expose me to the many culinary delights offered here in the U.S.; at least that’s what I had thought. Watching television sitcoms and dramas I would hear references to foods and drinks that would always stimulate my curiosity. What was I being denied in England that people in the U.S. were eating freely?

When I finally moved here over six years ago I sought out a sweet dish what you guys call S’mores, and I have to say I was slightly disappointed. I’d had them before. My mother used to make a variation of these for me as a kid: marshmallow and chocolate chips sandwiched between two digestive biscuits and microwaved for 30 seconds. Ever since then my curiosity feigned. Apparently all the delights I thought I was missing were clearly a matter of translation.

A couple of weeks back I was sent some marshmallows in the mail by the gourmet marshmallow maker Plush Puffs to celebrate none other than National Toasted Marshmallow Day.

Yes, there is such a day and it happens to be this Sunday, August 30. I will admit I was slightly bemused by this as I don’t recall eating marshmallows since that fateful night back in 2003. Yes, it had that much of an impact on my life, but still, I was willing to give it a go and see what I could do with these sugary treats. I managed to create two dishes: my take on one from the Plush Puff recipe page and the other was inspired by something I stumbled upon last week. Check them out after the jump.

by BS

100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon

Long-time readers know that, like most of the western world, I’m obsessed with bacon. There’s just something about this salty, smoky, crispy, fatty, forbidden treat that elicits a drool factor no other food can equal. In recent years, food bloggers have taken bacon to new heights, helping us see how this beloved breakfast meat can be incorporated into nearly every dish imaginable. It’s been bacon for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks.

However, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend creeping up in the blogosphere: the bacon backlash. “Bacon has jumped the shark” opines Grub Street. “Bacon is Dead,” says J-Walk. “BLAME BACON,” yells So Good. I have four words for all you bacon haters: Bacon. Will. Never. Die. Fine, the bacon lube and bacon bras are a little creepy. Maybe we’ve gone too far when we’re literally trying to screw bacon. But I steadfastly refuse to stop eating it in every form imaginable.

So to celebrate the endless survival of bacon, I’ve compiled this handy chart of 100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon. From bacon apple pie to bacon guacamole, bacon pickles, bacon marshmallows, and yes, even bacon-wrapped tofu, here are the 100 most glorious ways to enjoy god’s greatest gift to tastebuds. But please, folks — try not to hump the computer screen. The bacon haters are watching.

Click on the photos for full recipes.

PS – What did we miss? Have a recipe that does right by bacon? Drop your link in the comments. If your photo makes us drool, we’ll add it to the list.

Also on ES: 100 Ways to Cook an Egg
100 Ways to Cook with Guinness
100 Ways to Cook with Sriracha

More Bacon: Recipes, raves and other bacon bits in Endless Bacon.

Update! Thanks for all your tips – even more ways to love your bacon:

in 100 Ways / Bacon / Endless Bacon / Featured / Personal / Pig 109 comments

by Russell Warnick

All of England on One Bun

Living in the US has taught me one thing: no matter what, no matter where, there is always an ultimate this or ultimate that, the ultimate burger, the ultimate hot dog, the ultimate blah blah blah…

I was watching a show the other week on this very topic, and the host was traveling the country in search of the ultimate/largest cheese steak. This got me thinking — it’s not all about being the biggest (cough cough), it’s about being the best. In my university town of Leeds there is a small cafe called the Crusty Bin. This eatery would serve up the best breakfast sandwich that has ever passed my lips. With this in mind there was only one thing left for me to do: recreate the Crusty Bin breakfast sandwich.

When I first told gansie that I intended on writing a post about a breakfast sandwich that I used to eat during my university life she immediately responded with, “I want it to start with a crazy university days’ story.” I suppose I could tell you about the time I gathered at the Crusty Bin with friends after our university summer ball, when after a night of drinking this was the only place we wanted to be. However, there was one person missing from our group because he was caught only hours earlier doing the dirty with his girlfriend in a portable loo in the grounds of one of England’s finest country estates… I can’t go any further as it wouldn’t be SFW. Or I could tell you the story of how I woke up the day after my 21st birthday, which also happened to be the day I handed in my final year dissertation — with a mohawk and an incredibly painful hangover which was cured by said sandwich. But I won’t.

You didn’t read this post to hear about me, you read this post due to the mouth watering picture above.

A gooey cross-section shot and the full deets on what’s in it after the jump…

in Bacon / Breakfast / Eggs / Endless Bacon / Featured / Sandwich 17 comments

by BS

Don’t You Dare Lose My Bacon

I love bacon as much as the next pork psychotic, but as I’ve said before, I don’t support the use of bacon in that many dishes. Some people love to throw it on everything, thinking that a dish cannot possibly be bad if it has bacon in it. But poorly used bacon pisses me off because when it’s combined with too many other ingredients, it can often get lost, and there’s nothing more disappointing than getting excited for bacon and then barely being able to taste it. I’m talking to you, bacon tuna melt. No thank you. Just give me a tuna melt with bacon on the side.

There are a precious few bacon dishes that just work. A good BLT is heaven, because the crispy stuff plays so well with the other, not overwhelming ingredients. Same goes for a cobb salad. I’m not against bacon cheeseburgers, but I feel the bacon gets lost unless you put like 8 slices on, and that kind of burger should really be a once-a-year occasion.

Needless to say, I was pretty stoked when I came up with this idea: bacon and egg salad. As far as I’m concerned it’s a perfect, simple way to incorporate bacon into a meal. Just take six hard boiled eggs, fry and break up three slices of bacon, and mix it up with a tablespoon of mayo, salt, pepper and whatever other spices you like to throw in your egg salad. Makes 2 American-sized sandwiches, and the bacon taste and crunch shines through.

PS – Of course you know we very much support putting eggs on everything. Thanks to everyone who commented with bonus egg recipes, we’ve updated our post on 100 ways to cook an egg with even more recipes. Check it out.

More Bacon: Recipes, raves and other bacon bits in Endless Bacon.

in Bacon / Eggs / Endless Bacon / Personal / Recipe / Sandwich 8 comments

by gansie

Of Family, Tomotoes and Cookless Bacon

Editors Note: Who doesn’t love a good family bonding story – and over food no less? ES friend LC has been chronicling her grandmother’s recipes. And when I say recipe, I mean ES-style: ingredient listings, no measurements, no guidance. Luckily, LC’s mom is a culinary professional. Below they tackle Tomato Pie.

I made a comment about my project a little while ago. My family’s recipes are kept by my grandmother in an accordion file full of scribblings and I have set out to transcribe them. The task has defeated one aunt and one cousin who said that it cannot be done because of the illegible handwriting, intentionally and unintentionally omitted items, and the color commentary (what is a “knuckle” of butter?)

I have spare time and talked my mom, a chef, into updating the recipes and gansie into posting them here for, frankly, additional help. We made a three course meal this weekend but I will post the recipes one by one so you all can concentrate on the details much better than we could.

We’ll start with cryptic tomato pie. Read about my grandmother and mother’s differing food philosophies, cheating, and one tasty piece o’ pie below.

in Bacon / Cheese / Endless Bacon / Personal / Recipe 8 comments

by rooms

Why Waste Perfectly Good Bacon Grease?

So I was at the ‘real’ grocery store the other day; I don’t go there very often because I do 75% of my food shopping at Tran’s Market. Anyway, whenever I do go I usually stop by the fish counter because I love seafood, but I like to eat it the day I buy it. So I picked up some Haddock, and then I noticed they also had these beautiful creatures called Mahogany Clams in the display.

They have a thick shell like a quahog and similar size, but much more beautiful. I asked the guy about them, and he said that he didn’t know what they were like, but probably good, not very good sellers because people didn’t know what they were. A ringing endorsement.

I live in Maine; apparently we don’t like to try new things here. I asked if they were local and he said he thought so, pretty much all their shellfish is local. And they were 15 cents a piece! Cents, my friends. There was even a little cents sign. Remember the good old “c” with a diagonal line through it? I was sold.

I picked up a dozen and a half.

My plan was to make clams casino, which I had never made, but knew contained bacon. I looked up a bunch of recipes and the common theme was mix some stuff with butter, cook your clams until they just open, put the butter mixture on top with a bit of already cooked bacon and broil until brown. Something about throwing out all that perfectly good bacon grease and then using a bunch of butter just didn’t make sense to me, so my version of bacon-y good mahogany clams casino after the jump.

in Bacon / Cheese / Endless Bacon / Pig 2 comments

by BS

Pig Progress: Very Necessary Eating Inventions Roundup

– “Cook better, look better, bite better” with the triple-spiral slicer Wunder Weener.

– Everyone give a big round of thanks to Sweden for FINALLY inventing a 100-percent real bacon product that comes in a tube. Behold Squeez Bacon.

– And at long last, a product that gets that bacon-y smell where you need it the most: Bacon Lube.

*I’ll let you readers decide which, if any, of these new products are April Fools jokes. Personally, I’m going to go ahead and believe in them all. The world is better that way.

More Bacon: Recipes, raves and other bacon bits in Endless Bacon.

in Bacon / Endless Bacon / Pig 2 comments

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