07 Sep 2017
By Lynn Ballard

Bacon Blog Day 7: If Kale Can Be A Thing, What About Red Wine Bacon?

Community, Humor, Personal,
by @WidowPage I've made red wine bacon before and it's become one of my favorites.  It's not something you would eat for breakfast, but it goes so well into many recipes.  Here's my list: Grilled Peach and Bacon Salad Spaghetti with Beef and Bacon Chicken Bacon Flatbread Mushroom Bacon Casserole It's also great in stews and coq au vin and it's amazing in beef bourguignon. One other thing: Until you get a chance to try bacon that isn't mass-produced, you don't realize how much flavor real bacon has.  Producers like Oscar Meyer inject their bacon with water because they sell it…
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06 Sep 2017
By Lynn Ballard

Bacon Blog Day 6: Bourbon Bacon

Humor, Personal, Thoughts,
by @WidowPage Thank you so much for sticking with me but this is when the bacon gets really good!   I got this recipe from here. Let's start with a gratuitous pork belly photo. It's a nice piece of belly. It's earned a bourbon cure. Use the following ingredients: 1 cup of bourbon, divided 1/2 cup Kosher salt 2 tsp curing salt 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 Tbsp black pepper 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp garlic powder Now the recipe calls for brushing the bourbon on the pork belly before combining it with the dry ingredients.  I don't do that.…
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04 Sep 2017
By Lynn Ballard

Bacon Blog Day 4: A Cure for the Fever

Community, Humor, Off Topic, Personal, Thoughts, Tips & Tricks,
Thank you so much for sticking with me and following along on this process.  I'm really enjoying this project and I would especially like to thank Bob for allowing me to use his blog. So let's cure this piggy's belly! I've cut it up into smaller pieces so we can try a couple of different cures.  I'm using a recipe out of Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's Charcuterie.  I love this book and even if you aren't even going to cure meat, it's great reading.  I also recommend their Whiskey-Glazed Smoked Chicken and their Smoked Scallops.  I've also made their…
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02 Sep 2017
By Lynn Ballard

Bacon Blog Day 3: Salty Talk

Computing, Humor, Off Topic, Thoughts, Tips & Tricks,
by @WidowPage Before I show you the curing process, we need to talk about salt and how it turns pork belly into bacon.  Curing doesn’t happen without salt.  If you look back into the history of bacon, humans all over the world were packing pork belly into salt to preserve the meat.  The Chinese and Europeans started curing meat as early as 1500 BC.  According to the Pork Board of America, Hernando de Soto’s herd of 13 pigs sparked early conflicts with Native Americans who developed a fondness for the taste of pork.  His herd eventually grew to 700 hogs,…
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01 Sep 2017
By Lynn Ballard

Bacon Blog Day 2: Look What Is On My Porch

Community, Humor, Off Topic, Thoughts,
by @WidowPage Yesterday as I muddled through a data reconciliation, my oldest daughter texted me “Your meat is here”.  My daughters aren’t really that interested in my bacon curing projects but they knew I had been waiting for 100 lbs of pork belly to arrive on my front porch.  My youngest even obliged me with a picture.  I couldn’t get home for another 3 hours and there was no way the girls would be able to carry that much weight into the house.  All I could do it count the minutes until I could get home and dig into the…
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