Billionaire's Bacon

Have I got a recipe for you….something to start off 2013 right…..Billionaire’s Bacon. 

If I wasn't addicted to bacon before, I am totally and completely 100% addicted now (and yes, I am going to my Physician in a couple of months to get my cholesterol levels checked).

There is a reason it’s called ‘Billionaires Bacon’…It’s bacon-y, brown sugar-y gold .  GOLD!

It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack…birthday/Christmas presents…..the big game.....bribing your boss for a raise (yes, I dare say it’s that good).  And it’s super simple to make. 

Couple of things…

-Get a medium-thickness bacon for this recipe….you don’t need a thick thick cut (yes, I used the word ‘thick’ twice), but the thin stuff will melt away and you’ll end up with brown sugar jerky.  Something in-between the thick and thin should work.

-Maple or smoke flavour (natural or otherwise) bacon makes the Billionaire's bacon better. 

Bacon Tomato Lentil Pasta

These lentils look so pretty!

 Things I love about this recipe:

(1)   It’s got bacon (and no….I do not have a bacon addiction ….I’ve been tested...)

(2)    I love the bitter flavor of arugula

(3)    The lentils make the pasta seem creamy without actually adding any cream (healthy-ish, right?)

a.     I've also heard that lentils are good for you (wikipedia knows everything!)

(4)   The ingredient list is pretty simple...

a.     Whenever a recipe calls for 'pasta', I try to use brown rice pasta (as a general rule, I 'try' to 'healthify' the rest of my diet in an effort to balance out the amount of bacon that I consume....)

b.     If arugula isn't your cup of tea, you can supplement with flat leaf parsley (...now, I am not trying to tell you what to do here, but I would really 'recommend' giving arugula another try... )

I adapted this recipe from one I found in a Martha Stewart magazine a million years ago.  It's a good hearty winter pasta and makes for good leftovers. 

(Although I don't always do this....even though I should) I recommend reading the directions in its entirety prior to starting the recipe.  In order to minimize the cooking time,  you can caramelize (- this is possibly the most overused word in my Dad's vocabulary....he'll be excited that it made an appearance on my blog...) the onions and boil the lentils at the same time.

Bacon Tomato Lentil Pasta

(Makes 4-6 servings as a main course)

Bacon Caramel Popcorn

 

I still have bacon left over in the freezer from the Butchery and Charcuterie class that I took last November/December. 

My lovely aunt (the same one who organizes our yearly cookie exchange) sent me this recipe a couple of weeks ago as she knows I have a particular affinity for anything with bacon in it....

I love caramel popcorn.  (and I'm sure I am not the only person that finds it addictive.)

So - because of all of these things, I felt like the stars were aligning for me to make this recipe. 

Bacon Caramel Popcorn 
Adapted from Edible Canada.

(Approx. 10 servings)

Makin' Bacon.

The intention for this post was to talk about the next Culinary Arts course I took, Culinary Arts II... 

...I am going to go out of sequence here a little and talk about Bacon.  I love Bacon.  All types of Bacon.  It makes me happy. 

A couple of weeks ago I started the newly offered Butchery and Charcuterie class at GBC.  I really had no idea what to expect.  I enrolled in it because butchery seemed like a good skill to have.   To my delight, I discovered that on the first day of class, (bright and early on a Saturday morning) we were 'makin' bacon'!  I was like a kid on Christmas.  I had a big goofy smile on my face for the whole class.  

First, we were given a pork belly and the ingredients to make a rub for the pork belly in order to 'dry cure' it.  After rinsing, drying and scoring the skin side of the pork belly with a knife, we massaged it with the rub and left it to cure for the week in GBC's industrial-sized fridges. 

Pork Belly Rub for Dry Curing

(for 6KL pork belly)

216g kosher salt

108g brown sugar

21g INSTA CURE NO.1

(look at that colour!  Perfection...)

The next week....

We massaged it once again with maple syrup (Mmmmm....maple syrup).  And then smoked it in an oven (@350 degrees for about 3 hours, skin side up) with wood chips. 

(see that brown stuff in the pan?  I totally stuck my finger in it....It tasted like maple-fatty-goodness)

I felt pure joy through the whole process of bacon making.  I have a feeling its because I love bacon so much.  (and no, I do not have a problem...lol)

One of the best things I found with 'makin' bacon' is that the method demonstrated in class is completely replicable at home (and after tasting the end product, I would say that it's definitely worth doing).  We soaked and heated the wood chips (in a foil pan) on a stove top until they began to smoke, at which point we covered them with a foil cover.  We then poked holes in the foil cover so all that yummy smoke could infuse the pork belly in the oven. 

When I attempt this at home, I think I will be using a backyard bbq as I (unfortunately) do not have the industrial fans that the George Brown kitchens do to suck all the smoke that is emitted out before everything (jackets, furniture, carpets, clothes, hair etc.) smells like smoking wood (don't get me wrong, eau de 'camp fire' is great, but only to a certain extent).

So far, the Butchery and Charcuterie course is getting a big *thumbs up* from me...and there is still a whole class on sausage making to come!

Happy Cooking!