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By 2g1c2 girls 1 cup

Pork

The “Bacon Explosion”

There are huge leaps in a Civilization’s move forward that will forever be instilled in the annals of history: The discovery of Fire; The Invention of Gunpowder; Man’s first steps on the Moon. I was not around for the first two, but I had the pleasure of watching the last one on television when I was a wee boy. Imagine my happiness upon learning that I have now witnessed not one, but TWO great moments of civilization – The Bacon Explosion!

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html

Now before you read any further, you MUST check out the link above – Or the rest of this will not make sense at all.

On the Thursday before the Superbowl, my co-worker Jonathon sent me an Email with the above link. How this flew under my radar I’ll never know, and by the next morning Good Morning America featured it:

I was feeling the pull – It was like a Black Hole sucking me in and there was no way I could ever hope to fight it – I just HAD to make this dish!

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Bacon Weaving

The ‘weaving’ of the bacon strips went better than expected – It must be all those crafts I took when I was a kid at Camp – Never did I guess I’d be weaving Pork Products! I ended up doing a 6×5 “blanket” instead of a 5×5 as the recipe suggests – Although I used quality bacon, it must have been a bit thinner on the short side than the boys at BBQ Addicts used. All of the leftover bacon, probably about 1.5 pounds, went into a hot pan to cook.

In addition to the regular sausage, I also added some Chorizo – I figured it needed a bit of heat, as the only spice was from the BBQ rub and sauce. After spreading the Italian sausage over all of the bacon, I put the chorizo on top of that but only on one end.

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Cooked Bacon on top

The cooked bacon then went onto the top, followed by BBQ sauce (I used Maker’s Mark brand) and a sprinkling of BBQ Rub (Stubbs, one of my favorites).
Then the gymnastics – I rolled back the sausage, then rolled it forward with the bacon weave on the outside.

The Log

The Log

 Viola! BACON LOG! Another sprinkling of Stubbs and it was off to the smoker as per the recipe. Mine took a bit longer than theirs, about three house – But I figured it would since there was a slightly larger bacon weave.

 

A quick slather of Maker’s Mark (the BBQ sauce, not the Whisky – Although that might be interesting next time…..) turned the outside nice and glossy.

Right out of the Smoker

Right out of the Smoker

The result was amazing – The weave and the slow cooking ensured that the bacon didn’t shrink, yet it was nice and crispy on the outside. The meld of pork flavors inside was awesome, and the chorizo came over very well – Those bites had a nice little kick to them, but not too much. My first piece I had with eggs over easy – A perfect breakfast, and the second was the next day at lunch – Slapped between two halves of of a fresh roll, with just a bit more BBQ sauce for good measure.

Better Inside!

Better Inside!

Many folks, when hearing that I actually MADE this monstrosity, were surprised – But those that know me knew better – How could I NOT make it? This kind of stuff is in my Blood! It’s what makes me tick. Just look at that beautiful layering, with 2 sets of Bacon goodness, and sausage as well as chorizo. Each bite was different and each was PERFECT. Except for one thing – I want to try a true breakfast version – Omit some of the sweet sauce and add the eggs….. Hmmmmmm… I better get to work…..

The Latin Rap

 

Tamale Heaven

Tamale Heaven

In the land of strip malls and chain stores, when a big store like Staples folds and goes away, you have to wonder what that means.

Route 1 is just a few miles away and yet I hardly go up there – it’s just miles and miles of the same old thing – There are even two Target stores on Route 1 within miles of each other – What gives?

But there are times I venture up to the stoplight-ridden Route 1 – And Krispy Kreme is one of them. About a block North of my favorite donut was a Staples. And I mean “was” because it was in one of these strip malls where you really can’t see everything in it driving by and the first time I actually noticed it I saw a “Store Closed” sign.

The next time I drove by, I happened to catch a glimpse of a “coming soon” sign. What did that say? “Supermarket”? Thats JUST what we need!

But I was wrong – Not too far of base though. When I next drove by, I got a better look – “Mercado”. Not just ANY market, but a Mexican Market! I love ethnic food stores, so I couldn’t wait for this to open.

A few weeks later, I made my first foray into this hidden-away food gem. Upon entering, it looked pretty much like any small mom-and-pop-owned market: 4 or 5 Aisles of food, and small vegetable, dairy, and meat departments.

The first thing I noticed in produce were 6’ green stalks lashed to the side of a cabinet. The only other time I’ve ever seen sugar cane up close was in Havana, where a road-side vendor would feed it through a grinding machine with gears and wheels that ground together like something not seen since the Middle Ages, extracting the liquid, and mixing it with juice (and of course rum!) into a delicious, refreshing drink. I passed on the sugar cane, not because I didn’t want it, but because I had absolutely no idea of what to do with it other than crush the living heck out of it. I made a mental note to Google a recipe for it, and at the same time, wondered if I could extract the liquid with a Kitchenaid meat grinder…

Also of note in this area were the peppers – Beautiful shades of green, yellow, and red, a much better selection than in any other supermarket. In fact, it mostly resembled my local farmer’s market, with the exception of the fact that I did not recognize most of the varieties. I could not fail to notice the Poblanos, however – the biggest ones I’ve seen. Most were 9-10 inches long and thick, more like long green pepper but a much darker shade of green.

There was cactus, of course (not that I knew there would be, but looking back – why wouldn’t there be?) There were also so many things I couldn’t identify that I’d have to bring an expert back to walk me through.

In dairy I hit pay-dirt. I remember the first time I had “Queso Fresco” – that yummy, crumbly white cheese that you sometimes find scattered over authentic enchiladas or black bean soup: On our first trip to Mexico together, Leslie and I found a place on the water for breakfast, where we sat listening to the waves and eating chilaquilas, a bowl full of chicken, eggs, tortilla strips, and of course, queso fresco. In the much colder setting of the dairy section, I was looking at not 2 or 3 different varieties, but at least ten! I bought so much that day that we couldn’t finish it and ended up throwing some out.

(QUICK RECIPE: Thanks to Lisa and Mike – Caramelize some onions until they are very dark and sweet. Roast fresh poblanos until blackened, place in plastic bag to steam for half an hour, then peel the skins off and get rid of ribs and seeds. Heat onions and peppers with queso fresco until it starts to melt, scoop into fresh warm tortillas, and enjoy! Leftover filling? Use it in an omelet.)

Off to the meat section, my favorite part! The grocery case held all the usual suspects, and some not so usual – Tripe, which even I’m not a fan of. In the corner of my eye are what looked like 2 grey balls the size of my fist wrapped in cellophane. Not sure what they were I took a closer look, and my first reaction was right – balls! The label just said “Testicles,” not indicating from what poor beast they were from. But judging from the size, I’d have to go with Bovine for 500, Alex – Unless there are some mighty big pigs out there! Now I’ve eaten Lamb Fries before, but they are not at the top of my list – And when I return to “Cattleman’s” in Oklahoma City, I may just have to blog about it. But for now, I move to the Meat counter.

The first thing I notice are the fresh Chorizo sausage – 5 or 6 varieties, including Mexican, Salvadorian, and others. They ranged in color from a deep, deep red, almost brown – to almost pink. At some other time I’ll have to get 2 of each and do a taste-off. The other interesting thing about the meat counter were the heaps of what were labeled “fajitas”: Pounds and pounds of what looked like thinly-sliced flank steak. Another thing for the future list, and I’m thinking we should throw them on the grill at the next July Fourth Margarita party.

There were bakery and seafood counters – neither of which interested me, especially considering some of the seafood I’ve seen at Japanese and Korean markets.

I spent about a half-hour walking up and down the grocery aisles, then going back, and doing it again. I picked up some ingredients for the next part of this section: Corn husks and Masa Harina (corn) flour. The spices were extensive, and I bought some mexican oregano. The onle thing I didn’t find was dried Posole – All I saw was the canned posole, even those huge cans the size of which you remember some hairnet-wearing woman from your school cafeteria using that usually contained beans or canned corn or such. I can usually find the dried stuff at Whole Foods, so I wasn’t too worried.

I didn’t buy much – If you saw our kitchen cabinets and fridge you’d know why. But I did get a few things, and you will benefit from those purchases in the next installment.

Show Me The Belly!

 

Can't get any better than this.....

Can't get any better than this.....

Flashback to 2007! (insert trippy graphics and sound effects here!)

 

OK, so those who know me understand that I like Bacon. Those same folks also know that when I get into the kitchen, I don’t do things halfway or make anything easy for myself. When I decide to do something with food, it is never simple nor it is in small batches.

This was the case with Bacon. When I first decided to make it, the butcher shop at my local gourmet store was my first stop. “Do you have Pork Belly?” I ask – “Sure, we can order it – $7.50 a pound.” Huh? I am paying more for the Belly than what it would cost for me to buy the finished product? But I am a sucker, so I went for it. When the pork belly arrived, it was about an inch thick at its thickest point. This was NOT what I imagined. Off It went to the kitchen to cure, then to the smoker to smoke, then to the pan to cook – It was just OK. Between the practically miniscule piece of pork that cost more than already cured “boutique bacon” and the enthusiasm of a first-timer deciding to mix-and-match recipes to get the perfect balance (Garlic and Maple flavors go together, right?), the final product was as you would imaging – Ug!

Jump ahead to few months later – I’m wandering the aisles of my new favorite Asian market, Super H Mart, after a quick bowl of Kim-Chee soup, and what do I spy in the corner of my eye? Packages of cut-up Pork Belly, shrink-wrapped in the butcher case! So I knock on the door of the meat department – The guy that answers speaks NO English. Ok, so I grab a pack of belly and use hand signals to convey what I need. He nods his head, says something I don’t understand, and shuffles into the back. I wait.

And wait.

And wait. After what seem eternity, he comes out empty-handed and my heart sinks! but he motions for me to follow him into the back, and I do. Now most people don’t get to see where their meat comes from (which is probably a good thing), but I arrive into an extremely well-lit, very clean back area with the usual saws, knives, etc – and about 10 dudes running around doing their, well, “butchering” on all sorts of machines that remind me of shop class in high school – not what I expected at all. No blood, no smell, and It looked like everyone still had 10 fingers.

My little friend then shows me to his table. There, spread out in all it’s glory, is a big old pork belly with the ribs still attached (Sorry – no camera then!) Through more hand signals – Think of “karate Kid” and not the ‘wax on” part, I understand that the butcher wants to know if I want it with or without ribs (without please – Lets try to keep it simple this time!) After about 2 minutes of cutting and wrapping, I am handed my new bundle of joy. The best part, though is is price – $1.10 a pound! Now this is something I can afford without having to hire the Pups out as sled dogs in the winter!

I should have taken a photo of the whole belly – But by the time I though to grab the camera, I had already neatly cut it into 2 big squares ready for curing and smoking. Yes, I was a BIT excited when I got home that day and couldn’t wait to start, as you could probably imagine.

More on bacon later – In the meantime, you can check out the Photos