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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11 Jun 2013
By Bob Pusateri

A Day on the ‘L’

Personal
I've loved trains ever since I was a little kid. I have no clue why - it goes back as long as I can remember. From an early age, my parents fed this fascination by taking my brother and I to the Illinois Railway Museum. It's an awesome place - the largest railway museum in the United States. They have lots of railroad equipment from a variety of eras, and many pieces operate on their demonstration railroad. It's located in Union, Illinois, about 75 minutes Northwest of Chicago. If you're ever looking for something to do in the area, I…
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