Nothing Says Love Like Bacon

For Valentine's Day, Foodgoat and I shared an intimate meal ... over burgers and fries from Wendy's. After all, what could be more romantic than matching Baconators?

The Wendy's Baconator, introduced last June, consists of six strips of bacon on top two quarter pound beef patties with two slices of American cheese, mayo and ketchup.

Besides having the most awesome burger name ever, the Baconator is actually really tasty. Wendy's burgers tend to be among the better of the fast food choices, but the Baconator stands out as being particularly yummy. The key, I think, is the bacon: the hickory smoked bacon is slightly sweet and quite flavorful and crisp. It's an aptly named product. And it's huge - much bigger than I could finish off. Or would want to: the Baconator comes in at (gulp!) 830 calories.

But every once in a while, Foodgoat and I look into each other's eyes ... and decide what we really want is a Baconator.

Saveuring Avocados

Look at that gorgeous cover on the latest issue of Saveur!

I read the cover story on avocados out loud while Foodgoat was cooking dinner (which, sadly, did not contain avocodos). We drooled over the luscious photos and descriptions, and by the end we had concocted plans that would require at least 20 avocados.

Saveur mentions pairing them with seafood a few times, but Foodgoat is an ardent fan of the avocado-bacon match-up, which is yumminess incarnate. And while the article makes much of the role that guacamole had in popularizing the avocado in the 20th century, for all the avocados we buy we've never made guacamole.

My experience of avocados goes far back into my childhood, and never in the form of guacamole. Like the article's author, I mostly remember eating avocados straight up out of the skin, in my case with a spoon and a sprinkle of sugar.

It's True: It's Boar, Not Boring!

When we are forced by circumstance to pick up bacon at the local grocery store instead of the West Side Market, I end up disgruntled. The quality of the packaged bacon leaves something to be desired, being less flavorful and usually very fatty. But to add insult to injury, the price is often double that of bacon at the West Side Market.

Then, while shopping at Heinen's a few weeks ago, we spotted a bacon that ungruntled us: D'Artangnan's Wild Boar Bacon. Sure, the price is a stiff $8 a pound, but eating wild boar... feral swine ... maybe even Hogzilla! Priceless.

It didn't disappoint, either. It tasted different from the run of the mill farm-bred bacon: meatier and more interesting and de-licious on a burger.

On a side note: this year's Fourth of July lesson is to never leave a cardboard box of paper bags underneath the barbeque grill. Especially when grilling.

Foodgoaticious: Stuffed Avocado with Blue Cheese and Bacon and Mushrooms

The other night Foodgoat was hankering for something new for dinner. Actually, what he wanted was the same delicious ingredients he has been immersing himself in lately, but put together in a whole new and different way. Hence, elements from the avocado salad and the Point Reyes blue cheese and bacon sandwiches were combined to create the New and Exciting Foodgoat creation: Stuffed Avocado with Blue Cheese and Bacon and Mushrooms.

First,
First, there was the making of the bacon. We were forced into using store-bought bacon and were surprised to discover it paper-thin, nearly translucent ripples of sheer bacon, rather than the fat strips strips we get at the West Side Market. They cook very quickly this way.

Then came the sauteeing of tomatoes and garlic and portabella mushrooms and olive oil and bread crumbs and I don't know what else kind of goodness.




Then there was the mixing in of the Point Reyes Blue. Don't be stingy.

The mixture is gooped into the handy nature-made scoop of a center of a fresh avocado.



The final product! Served with a side of (gulp!) peas topped with feta cheese.

Bacon Textures

No one actually needed to send us a review copy of the new cookbook, Seduced by Bacon by Joanna Pruess. If there is one topic that would actually get Foodgoat to read a cookbook, bacon is it. But it was an effective gesture anyway, since here I am posting about how we tried one of the many delectable recipes features the finest of fine foods.

While I tried to get Foodgoat to try the Peanut Butter and Bacon sandwich, the recipe we actually tried was the bacon wrapped shrimp with curry mayonnaise. It sounds like one of those foolproof recipes, does it not?, in which every single ingredient is delicious. What can go wrong?

Nothing, in my opinion. It was in fact yummy. But for Foodgoat, it was something of a miss. Why?

Texture. The bacon around the shrimp was ever so slightly ... floppy. I don't think it was the recipe's fault. But for Foodgoat, floppy bacon is a no-no. Had I had this dish with a bowl of hot white sticky rice, it would have been perfect.

Me, on the other hand, prefer floppy bacon to fried to a crisp bacon.

BLT, improved

BLTs are right up there with tuna melts and grilled cheese on my list of DELICIOUS SANDWICHES. However, Foodgoat has actually improved upon the classic BLT.

He has created the BABlue: Bacon, Avocado, and (Point Reyes) Blue cheese.

All the most delectable of ingredients, together in a easy, hand-held format.

This version included a green tomato (fresh from our garden) and potato bread, which is only the very best sandwich bread there is.

Won't you join us while Foodgoat makes his nw specialty?

First, the ingredients. Generous and random sampling ensures quality control. I conside this my most important role.


The bacon is prepared. And more quality control sampling.


Bread is toasted on the same pan. Conserve the goodness!


Assemble the pieces. Don't be stingy!


And voila! TASTY.



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And in other news ...

The history and economics of pie
Dinosaurs and their biscuits