Bacon - - Page 19

by Borracho

Top 10 Worst Halloween Food Costumes

I cannot think of a worse Halloween costume than dressing up entirely in different cuts of meat. If the prospect of spreading salmonella, e. coli and other diseases around you isn’t enough, try fending off all the small critters. Wait a second…this isn’t a costume? Someone actually wore this for real? And to top it off, a group of butchers has actually warned the public about trying to duplicate it this Halloween? OK, so maybe pass on the GaGa-influenced meat outfits. But in that spirit, here are 10 more foodie Halloween costumes we hope no one will duplicate this year.

10. Bacon Tuxedo

“We’ll force a half-smile as long as your promise not to show these to anyone, Mom.”

9. Sandwich Girl

“I said I wanted to be a princess, a ballerina or a witch but a sandwich? Seriously Mom, WTF?

8. Vanilla Bean

Who doesn’t want to pay $109 to look like a decayed banana?

by gansie

Friday Fuck Up: The Carbonara Scramble

My boyfriend couldn’t have been happier. I brought pig into the house. Thinly sliced, smoked pig. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon.

The oven was home to our first usage—bacon baked quickly and at a high temperature for an evenly cooked crisp. We bit at the bacon in between bites of eggs and toast. A simple introduction.

We thought we’d keep it easy. Let bacon flavor an angel hair carbonara.

I looked up a few recipes on Epicurious and understood, well, thought I understood, the gist of a carbonara.

Cook bacon. Remove bacon. Cook onion in its grease. Boil Pasta. Combine parm and egg in separate bowl. Combine hot pasta, onion, bacon and parm-egg mixture. Toss. Creamy deliciousness.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. My carbonara got fucked.

in Bacon / Cheese / Eggs 16 comments

by Borracho

Gridiron Grub: Bye Week

Some of you may be familiar with the concept of a bye week in sports. During the season teams get a week or two without a game scheduled to relax and recoup. Practices are minimal and they get to spend time at home. This week is the first bye week in the NFL and it coincides with one year of wedded bliss for Wifey and I.

Wifey is well aware of my sports addiction and was even okay when we scheduled our wedding so that it would not conflict with any major PSU games. Because of her patience with me in this, and many other matters, we had some quality time planned this weekend. I also thought it would be a great opportunity for me to slack off and have my own bye week by opening up Gridiron Grub to all the ES readers.

Here at ES, we do love our pizza and have talked about it many, many, many, many times, but it is a classic football party food so next week it is my turn to try a riff on it.

This week however, we want to hear from you. What are your favorite pizza combos/recipes?

Share a description, recipe or photo in the comments and we will choose our favorite to be featured in next week’s post alongside my celery root puree and white clam/bacon pizzas, and of course, to “bask in the people’s ovation and fame forever.”

in Bacon / Cheese 4 comments

by Borracho

An ES Video Interview with Iron Chef Michael Symon

Maybe it was the flamboyantly dressed and incredibly intense Asian gentleman simply called “The Chairman.” Maybe it was the exotic ingredients like river eel and udon. Maybe it was the hastily dubbed frenetic pace of kitchen stadium. Whatever the reason, Iron Chef was the first show that truly sparked my interest in cooking and the limitless options cooks have when they use their imagination. To be fair, I was in college when I came upon the Iron Chef series, when my diet consisted of things like Easy Mac, the cafeteria salad bar and PBR, so it was all outside my small comfort zone. But still, it was amazing.

This was the time when the Food Network was beginning to gain a foothold and many of the programs were as much about technique as the recipes. Shows like Iron Chef, A Cook’s Tour, Good Eats, Food 911, etc.. really sparked a whole generation to step into the kitchen. Unfortunately since then, much of food television has moved towards personality and recipe driven programming. Even Top Chef seems to be shifting this way.

Today, my favorite food related show airs on the Travel Channel, but I still catch some others and I’ve really enjoyed the 2 seasons of The Next Iron Chef. Through that competition and Michael Ruhlman’s book The Soul of a Chef, I have come to appreciate the way Chef Michael Symon approaches food. While this appreciation is nowhere near TVFF’s foodie man crush on Season 2 Next Iron Chef winner Jose Garces, I still jumped at the opportunity to speak with Chef Symon about his new shows, Philly cheesesteaks, and his thoughts on tofu bacon. Click play above to watch my video interview with Michael Symon.

The Next Iron Chef premieres 10/3 on the Food Network. Michael’s new Food Network show, Food Feuds premieres 10/14. His current show, Cook Like an Iron Chef, airs Thursdays on the Cooking Channel. Phew.

in Bacon / Celebs / TV 0 comments

by BS

A San Francisco Sugar Crawl with Top Chef Just Dessert’s Tim Nugent

SF pastry chef Tim Nugent may have been asked to pack his knives stack his measuring cups and leave Top Chef: Just Desserts last week, but it was just in time for him to take ES on a tour of all his favorite local desserts. From the classics to the craziest, here are Tim Nugent’s favorite San Francisco treats.

TCHO Pot de Creme at Absinthe

“This is done the right way, the French way,” says Tim — just eggs, sugar, and super-rich chocolate from SF-based TCHO. “I get all that other stuff out of the way and just go right to the chocolate.” (Photo: Alex)

Crazy donuts, crazier ice cream and the one dish that strikes fear in the heart of all Top Chef-testants. Keep reading for more of Tim’s favs…

in Bacon / Desserts / Endless Bacon / Restaurants / TV 0 comments

by forkitude

Grease, Goats and Girth: The Iowa State Fair

After the two-hour drive to Des Moines, Iowa, my taste buds were ready for the greasy foods on a stick and ridiculous fair concoctions that only the Iowa State Fair could deliver. My goal was to attend the fair on an empty stomach so I could report back to you, dear ESer, about how the delicious fried things on a stick tasted. But I have a confession to make: I WAS NOT HUNGRY. After a sweet and greasy fried twinkie that got me all sticky, my body said “no way are you eating any more of this shit.” No, the wasp drowning in the sugary residue around a funnel cake was not appetizing. And last time I checked, hot beef sundaes would make any normal person want to vomit. About eight bottles of water and 500 pictures later, I was exhausted, smelly, tired and grossed out. I never did find those chicken lips on a stick. I feel somewhat cheated.

It was a twilight zone of meat: pork, steak, chicken, turkey, bacon, sausage, meatballs, 1/2 lb tenderloins, hamburgers. And it seemed that every other person I saw was a walking example of what happens if one eats state fair food as one’s daily diet. The people watching just got better and better and more alarming as we made our way around the fair. (Picture the humans in the movie Wall-E.) I couldn’t snap my camera fast enough. In speaking with one seemingly regular gentleman, he asked me what I was doing with the big camera. I told him that I was photographing state fair food. He asked me, “are you taking pictures of all the freaks?” Yes, yes, I was. I couldn’t keep my shutter shut.

We were also lucky enough to catch a few of the animals left in their pens, including a gigantic pig that looked like a hippopotamus, sheep, goats, turkeys, ducks and cows. The smell, oh the smell, can only be described as hot and pungent. And most likely, very soon, these animals would be on a stick somewhere. Gross.

Pop a few antacids before you browse the selection of photos:

in Bacon / Photos / Pig 4 comments

by Bliz

The Ultimate Recipe: Homemade Bacon

These days it’s almost cliché to rant about one’s love for bacon. What’s that t-shirt I’ve seen guys wearing? “I’m a vegetarian except for bacon” or “I put bacon on my bacon.” Yeah, yeah, we get it. Bacon is delicious. I love it, you love it, and the poor vegans are left out in the cold yet again, ignorance being bliss most likely. Of course I love bacon. It’s not a fad. It’s not like bacon is Hootie and the Blowfish and I’m in 5th grade trying to get my first kiss. Liking bacon is kind of like asking someone if they like music or sex or breathing air.

So how to take bacon mania to the next level? I decided to try my hand at making some porky heaven of my own. As usual, I grossly underestimated the amount of work that the process would require. It is a bit of a production so let me put the disclaimer out there that one needs about a month of empty fridge space, a smoking device of some sort, and of course, several pounds of fresh pork belly. Good luck finding a 5 lb slab at Whole Foods. I’ve tried more than once, so online is your best bet.

in Bacon / Endless Bacon / Featured / Pig / Recipe 17 comments