It's bacon day....

Easily the most excited I've been about my meat in a long time. Yesterday we had some friends over and the timing was right, I was smoking a pulled pork and had the apple wood and hickory at hand, perfect time to smoke my bacon!!!

Smoked:

Slicing:

Well looky there, it a bacon!

Sliced:

Cooking:

And done!

I little salty, and I'm not getting much from the maple syrup I used, but this is attempt #1 and I know I'll be trying again!

Bacon Ends & Pieces. A good thing

What are they? Well! I assume they are ends and pieces of good old bacon. For some reason, they seem to be expensive. Why? I don't know. They also tend to be very tasty. Why? STOP ASKING QUESTIONS! I think it's just cause it's the outside pieces that get the direct smoke or flavoring from whatever it is to create sweet luscious tasty bacon! What you seem to get are pieces that are almost bacon, and then hunks of fat and meat that are very ham like. Tonight they are burger toppers and snacks.

Dry Aged Prime Rib Roast

I've been a big fan of prime rib for years, and it's been our Christmas day meal for probably 10+ years now. I've done more experimenting in the past 2 years because the roasts have gotten as low as $2.98 a pound, and that's cheap! My traditional method has held firm, and that's covering with thyme, salt and strips of Farmland Cider House Bacon (thanks again Bill!).

I've learned a coupla things and will stick with that recipe, it's plain and simple, but the addition of rosemary and garlic is not a bad idea.

Another thing I'll always do is warm my meat up (snicker) before cooking. Never go from fridge to oven immediately, the lower and slower it can cook the better. I now take my prime rib out in the morning, maybe even the night before and let it get to room temperature.

I've not made up my mind if Select or Choice from the stores makes a difference, I'm a bit tainted cause a pricey piece from McGonigles in KC was a big disappointment, but that was years ago and not having the experience I do now, I think I overcooked it. I've gotten them from all over and have had good and bad, no rhyme or reason except that the more patient I am with cooking, the better it has seemed to be.

Another must is putting your plates in the oven and getting them warmed up. A medium rare prime rib won't have a lot of heat, and a cold plate will kill it. This also has another benefit, it finishes the cooking. I pull my roast when internally the probe says a mere 125 degrees, watching it like a hawk when it hits 115. Yup, check the Internet, that's classified as rare. Temperature will increase as it sits, and you MUST let it sit, at least 20 minutes. When you cut it, you may think it's not done cause of the color, but in my humble opinion, this is the best way. For someone who likes their steaks well done, order a pizza. This isn't for them.

This year, attempt #2 on dry aging. My buddy Brett prompted me to try this last February, and it was a success. Tender and tasty. Last Sunday I bought a Choice piece of meat, covered it in cheesecloth and plopped it in the fridge. Really that's all there is to it. You will want to cut off some of the fat and pieces that turn brown or funky on you, then proceed as normal, but it's as simple as letting it sit, changing the cloth a time or two. This will only be a 5 day age, in the future I will try a 14 day and see how it works. Day three seen below:

Yummy ribs, I must write down the recipe.....

I accidentally cooked some of the best ribs I've ever cooked this weekend. I say accidentally cause I didn't plan it, kinda half-assed monitored them, didn't use all my "tricks", tried a few things new and after it's all over.... I really should document what I do. Cause when you pull them off the grill and you get this remaining there, you know they're gonna be good:

Here they are plated. Those are onion rings from a home grown onion and our super special recipe. Nothing beats fresh deep fried!


Baby Back ribs, not country style or spare ribs. Baby backs are better meat, a more consistent row of meat, and tend to be more dark meat

Start them in the oven. Sure, you can do it on the grill, but you gotta be able to control the temperature. Low and slow. What I can't recall is 170 or 250 degrees.... Or how long. It was hours, was it 4? Or 6? I also blasted it on broil once with the bacon on top for more flavor.

Hold the sauce for now. Sauce has a lot of sugar in it, and sugar burns.

Get the grill ready, get it hot and let the temp drop to 250 or so.

I did dust them with a rub, something I made up a while back and think I wrote down somewhere. Lots of stuff in it.

I also swabbed it with apple sauce after a few hours of cooking.

After another hour or two, I laid a few strips of bacon on it, and one on either side to give it moisture and flavor.

When I put them on the grill, I throw some apple wood on the coals. In this case I used store bought, which is sadly like sawdust, but it smokes well. Other times I've soaked wood chunks.

By the time they're going on the grill, they're practically done, so keep the temperature down and take them off after an hour or so.

Wrapped up in aluminum foil and get the sides ready!

See why I need to write this down?

Pretty dang yummy Baked Potato Soup w/Cheese

There was a little snow storm here and the wifey tried to get to work but 40 minutes later, was back home, having only gone a few miles. It was very cold too, so I whipped this up, and it's a keeper. Thanks always to the Internet for the inspiration and basic recipe!

Yields: 4 Servings
Total time: Less than an hour from prep to serve

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup Butter
• 1/3 Cup Flour
• 2 Cups Milk
• 1/2 Cup Half & Half
• 1 Cup Homemade broth (beef, chicken, whatever)
• (if you're lacking the broth & half/half above, just make sure you have enough liquid)
• 2 Large baked potatoes, unpeeled and cubed
• 1 TB chopped garlic
• 1 Tsp Seasoned Salt or S&P
• 3 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
• 3 slices (equal amount) of diced ham
• 1 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 Cup Sour cream
• Chives & Tarragon optional as garnish

1. In a large stockpan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour slowly until smooth and bubbly.
2. Gradually stir in the liquids, whisking until thickened (a few minutes)
3. Stir in the taters, garlic, salt, and half the meats. Bring to a boil
   
4. Reduce heat and simmer 10-20 minutes until you think to yourself, "Damn, that looks good!"
5. Stir in the sour cream and cheese until melted.
6. Serve in big bowls, top with ham, bacon, chives and tarragon if desired.

Bacon & Eggs

How come you rarely hear about people eating soft boiled eggs, or poached? Even hard boiled is semi rare. "How ya want your eggs?" What are your choices? Well, eating out it's sunny side up, over-easy, scrambled, or what else? Are there other choices? Well done? I dunno. One of these days I'll ask for hard boiled at Denny's, think I'll get a blank stare? At least at home you can choose to add some fun in to the scrambly-ness, like cheese, garlic, ham etc. Or an omelet! There's a blank slate! My personal favorite there is just toasted garlic and a variety of cheeses, mmmm. Swiss, American and a surprise. Maybe some ham.

We all know the Internet is our friend, so a quick type in Google reveals baked, shirred, boiled (soft and hard), coddled, pickled, deviled, fried, poached, scrambled, and omelets. Seems like there should be more.

So today I made soft boiled eggs. They really truly just have a different taste & texture than fried. I really don't like the crunchy edges of fried eggs when they're done a little too long, and they gotta be runny. Soft boiled eggs are different, and I can't verbalize why. They remind me of Ma, who used to cook them for me when I was a kid. Maybe that's it.


Oops. Breaking one causes a mess:
Let it go though, it'll cook.


Yummy. Nice and warm with salt & pepper.
Here's an opinionated statement. I think the best way to cook bacon is to BAKE it. Surely that's where the name came from. But seriously, if you like limp greasy chewy bacon, don't try this, but if you've never tried this, give it a shot. If you don't have one of these racks, use that two part roaster pan that came with your oven, or risk it without. But by God PUT IT ON A PAN! Sorry....... Cook at about 300 degrees for about half an hour, but keep an eye on it, when it's done it tends to burn fast. Not only will your house smell like love (love smells like bacon), but you'll get nice and crispy tasty bacon strips that are perfect for breakfast, snacking on, dog treats, or sammiches!. Yum!!

Variation on a theme

I really do like this sammich. It's also good with fresh basil, which is what I have here. Getting close to the end of the tomato season here in Sparks, so I enjoy them when I can. Maybe another this weekend... Yeah.... Mmmmmm.

In my opinion, the best sandwich ever

Or sammich as I prefer to call them. Why is that funny to me? This has been a favorite for years:

Whatzit: Tomato Bacon Mayo love

From where: Homemade

Date: 08/14/07

Prepared: See below

Rating:


Ingredients:

Potato Bread
Butter or bacon grease
Your favorite spice blend
Cooked bacon
Tomatoes
Mayo
Recommended for a twist: Pesto


It's a simple sandwich, kinda like a BLT but no 'L' and a little beyond basic. Potato bread is great cause it's thick and holds up well to all the moisture from the mayo and toms. Lightly spread butter on it or bacon grease, sprinkle it with your favorite spice blend, something red is usually good (BBQ rub, seasoned salt, etc). Fry the bread up on a skillet and start slicing the toms. Use good juicy fresh ones like Brandywines. From here I think you can figure it out, mayo on one side, pesto on the other, bacon and toms, slap it together and eat it up. It's easy to make this one over salty, so experiment. I can eat two, easy!

Look *away* from the sammich.... Look AWAY!