Comments

Ok, so it turns out people have been posting comments on here. Although I have the settings configured such that I am to be receiving an email whenever someone leaves a comment, uh, turns out I haven't been getting them. Instead they've been waiting in some kind of comment purgatory until I accept or reject them. So good news - today I accepted them all, except the spam ones (no spam! just bacon!).

HOWEVER, for some reason, I can't actually see which post you're commenting on, so I can't reply to the comments without going through the entire blog. So, to the people who wanted my contact info - it's on the right side of the page (and always has been) - kasiab at gmail dot com. To the person who asked what kind of submissions I'm looking for - uh, read the blog. That kind. Whatever bacon related stuff you've got. And to the person who left a long post about being in a labor camp and the food being terrible; I have no idea what inspired that comment, or what in the hell you're talking about. Sorry.

Anyhow, I reminded blogger that I want to get emails (by deleting and re-entering my email address), and at least now I know to look out for comments that need moderating (heh heh), so feel free to leave some comments.

As a side note, goddamnit, what the hell is wrong with blogger? My other blog gets emails about comments but won't post to my GoogleBuzz - no matter how many times I've told it to - this one posts to Buzz but won't tell me about comments. ARGH.

Celery and Fennel with Bacon

My man and I found ourselves saddled with an entire bunch of celery recently and were trying to figure out what to do with it, having decided that we didn't especially want celery soup. I searched on Epicurious (such a useful iPhone app) and turned up this recipe. I'd never actually tried cooking fennel before, so I was intrigued. Although it sounds like a lot of effort, it was pretty easy - especially if you mod the recipe a little bit.

Basically, you chop the fennel and celery and boil them for 2 minutes (in salted water), then pull 'em out and run cold water over them. Cook the bacon in whole slices, and as it cooks, chop the shallots. When the bacon's done, set it on some paper towels and dump the shallots into the fat. Saute for a few minutes, add the celery and fennel and saute for another 10 minutes or so. Then add a cup of chicken broth and simmer until it's mostly gone. Crumble the bacon in, and voila, you're done. Sure, maybe the celery and fennel leaves and parsley would have been nice. But it was just fine without them. The picture on Epicurious is totally wrong, here's what it actually looks like:

I was actually surprised by how delicious this was. The celery was surprisingly flavorful. The fennel's anise-y flavor paired beautifully with the bacon - and this is coming from someone who despises licorice. The texture was maybe a a wee bit more mushy - especially the celery - than I might have liked - I'd probably cut down the chicken broth a bit, I guess? And upped the bacon, definitely. But overall, it was fantastic.

dyed bacon

A guy named Neil emailed me a link to information about his Bacon Color Wheel project. Check it out.

I have to admit, I'm a wee bit suspicious. Neil is a graphic designer, and the link is to a graphic arts forum, and I can't help but wonder whether these lovely hues should be attributed to food coloring or Photoshop.

But they certainly are weird looking.

Bacon Apple Sage Stuffing

My friends and I recently had Second Thanksgiving, which gave me a chance to try this Bacon Apple Sage Stuffing recipe that I randomly found online awhile ago. I love stuffing, but I've never tried making it before, so I was a little nervous. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, and here are my thoughts:

1. Stuffing doesn't seem like stuffing without celery. If I were making this again, I'd probably add some.

2. It's really quite dry. I baked it in a pan not a turkey, so that's part of the problem (though I added extra broth as per recipe), but I thought it was a bit too dry. On the other hand, my friend James told me that his favorite thing about the stuffing was that it was so nice and dry, making it a good vehicle for gravy, and generally stuffings are way too moist. So who knows.

3. The parsley seemed unnecessary. But I'm probably biased, because I really don't like parsley very much.

4. The apples were a fantastic addition, nice surprise amongst the bread chunks, and wonderfully moist.

5. Oh! It's worth noting though, that I ended up having to bake it in ceramic dishes (my metal pans seem to have mysteriously vanished), which meant that I actually baked it for an hour rather than 30 minutes. That might be the real cause of the dryness.

6. Overall - the flavor combinations were fantastic. The bacon definitely added a certain oomph, and the apples and sage and onions went together beautifully. I bet it would be really fantastic if you actually shoved it into the bird and baked it that way.

Baconfest Chicago

Baconfest sold out in 10 minutes yesterday. No, I did not get a ticket.