Bacon - - Page 32

by BS

Hillary, Huckabee Nab Endless Simmer Unendorsements

Way back in 2007, Endless Simmer started a presidential endorsement process to make sure our readers know who the best candidate for eating is. Because this crop has many more bad eggs than good ones, we’re working in reverse order, un-endorsing the candidates until we find a winner.

While this might not be the single most coveted endorsement in the world of politics, it should certainly be noted that our November unendorsment of Mitt Romney was quickly followed by a freefall in the one-time frontrunner’s poll number. Coincidence? Or the strength of the food blog universe finally making our voice heard?

Well now, on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, we are ready to unendorse two more frontrunners, almost certainly dooming their presidential prospects.

First up: Mike Huckabee. You might have assumed this folksy former fatty would be a shoe-in to win the ES nod, given that he is the only candidate who has written a whole book about food (his 2005 bestseller about his struggle with anorexia). But Huckabee’s food-based campaign began to unravel when I came across this passage in a New York Times Magazine profile:

I met Huckabee for lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. (I had offered to take him anywhere he wanted and then vetoed his first choice, T.G.I. Friday’s.)

Whoa, whoa, whoa, guvner – you had to choose ANY RESTAURANT IN MANHATTAN and you opted for TGIF, with the backup of Olive Garden?!?

I understand you are going for the whole populist preacher thing, so no one expects you to dine at Momofuku of Per se, but um…Famous Rays? Five Guys? Shake Shack? Chipotle for Christ’s sake! Anywhere but Friday’s. Mike Huckabee, you are unendorsed.

by BS

Don’t Worry, That Duck Bacon Hasn’t Gone Bad Yet

So I have to admit, I’ve been less of a crazy chef since moving back home to New York. When not surrounded by 10 like-minded culinarians living on the same block, I’m a lot less likely to come up with insanity like hot dog sushi. If I’m just cooking for myself, I often end up preparing a non-blog-worthy sandwich, salad or stir-fry. Which kind of sucks, because, you know, I have a food blog.

But this week, I finally got around to watching the Top Chef Holiday Special on DVR. In addition to such scenes as Padma playing Dirty Santa (not nearly as exciting as it sounds), it got me right back into the mood to be running around my kitchen, hastily throwing random ingredients together in attempts to semi-invent something semi-fancy. Remembering I had some awesome leftovers like duck bacon in the freezer, I put together this quickfire dinner.

If I was Rachel Ray, I’d call it a gourmet 30-minute meal. But then I would have to tell you dumbass things like its OK to substitute baloney for prosciutto, so let’s just call it a tortellini explosion.

in Bacon / Cheese / Fowl / TV 7 comments

by BS

When Cars and Jewelry Just Won’t Do, Give the Gift of Bacon

– Decorating the tree with candy canes? Bo-ring…you’ll be the coolest kid at Christmas with these bacon Christmas tree ornaments. [BU]

– Eating stale candy canes? Come on, now. Did you know you can make bacon cookies? Never fear, the bacon cookbook is here. [SE]

– Talk about a nice wake n’ bake – you’ll never hit the snooze button again once you have your very own Bacon-Cooking Alarm Clock! [MAKE]

in Bacon / Desserts 2 comments

by gansie

We’ll Pretend It’s 8 AM

Editors Note: One of our fav ES fans, Britannia, offered to cook us an authentic English Breakfast, with even the bacon shipped from England. Here is his account of the night. And, thanks again, Brit, lovely “dinner.”

It was my first outing cooking for the great Gansie, 80 Proof and BS, the pressure, the stress, what to do! I’m not a fancy cook, well, I can be, but if I tried and then messed up I’d never live it down. There was only one thing I could do, something I grew up with all my life, and I had the supplies. An English Breakfast.

The Meal: Eggs; scrambled and fried, bacon, sausage, baked beans, tomato, mushrooms, toast, brown sauce, and apparently vodka (special drink to be detailed in later post.)

Bacon, it’s from a pig. American bacon is cut from the under belly of the pig, this creates a more streaky meat, more fat. English bacon is cut from the back of the pig, this provides more meat, almost like a ham quality. English bacon (and I’m ready to duck, here) is far superior than American bacon — it just is. No further discussion. The only problem is I can’t get it here, this is a problem unless of course you have a kind mother who is willing to FedEx it overnight to you, or you have a friend visiting to bring with.

I cooked the bacon on a broil pan, cooking this way helps maintain its flavour, less greasy than a frying pan but not as healthy as grilling.

Read on for the rest of the breakfast-as-dinner meal.

in Bacon / Breakfast / Eggs / Pig / Recipe / Veggie 7 comments

by Liza

Bringing the Bacon Everywhere I Go

Have you ever seen anything more amazing in your whole life!

It’s amazing! Simply amazing! A BACON WALLET!!! It’s a wallet with bacon strips! I don’t think I will ever get over how awesome that is!

Good ES friend Violette presented me with this FABULOUS fashion statement and I just had to share!

MMMM Makes me hungry for bacon!

in Bacon 2 comments

by BS

You Had Me at Duck Bacon

So my new place in Brooklyn is a stone’s throw from Park Slope, the yummy mummy capital of the world, and the epicenter of vegan cupcakes, organic everything, $12 coffees, etc…the obvious first order of business was whether to join the Park Slope Food Co-op. There’s plenty of info around the internets about how awesome and awful this place is, so I’ll just summarize. Pros: Quality yuppie food at prices lower than Whole Paycheck; Cons: Soviet-style work policy.

After sitting through an indoctrination orientation session, I browsed through the store. While I was somewhat taken with the organic asparagus from Argentina and no-peel Kiwi berries, it wasn’t until I hit the meat section that I knew I was joining. Bison steaks, grass-fed filet mignon, salami, salami, salami, and OMG, WTF is duck bacon?

in Bacon / Endless Bacon / Fowl / Personal 6 comments

by BS

First Bites in Brooklyn

I took a break from moving and unpacking last night to take a walk and explore the local Ft. Greene food scene, making my first stop at 67 Burger, which opened late last year. It’s another casual, “step above fast-food” burger joint, offering made-to-orders. They drew me in with their signature 67 Burger, which is served with a creamy blue cheese spread and bacon. As you can see above, this is not one of those bacon burgers with a couple of slices of half-broiled bacon that get lost in the mix, but rather the kind where you pile on the pig like there’s no tomorrow.

The burger itself is decent, if not revelatory. Wow I don’t even know what that means, please excuse me trying to be Frank Bruni for a second. Anyway, decent patty, although I must issue the common complaint that my “rare” burger had not a drop of red. The real draw here are the toppings – you can load your bun up with foodie ingredients like roasted red peppers, crispy arthichokes, olive tapenade, and red wine pickled onions. The only drawback it they charge per item, so this can add up to a pricey burger. Skinny fries on the side are perfectly golden and crispy; curly fries even better. Oh, and there are salads for all you whackos.

Verdict: Not going to put Shake Shack out of business, or cause any problems for the rapidly expanding Five Guys empire, but a solid neighborhood standby.

67 Burger
67 Lafayette Street
Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
718.797.7150

in Bacon / Red Meat 3 comments