Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

Wilted Salad

A great all-American dish dating back to the Colonial era, wilted salad uses bacon fat as the basis for a dressing in much the same way that olive oil is used to dress greens in the Mediterranean. The heat of the bacon dressing wilts the greens—hence the name. April McGreger, who grew up with bacon fat as the basis for a lot of her family’s food, told me that they called this “killt lettuce”—because the lettuce is “slain” by the hot fat, not because of any connection to Scottish menswear. The bacon’s flavor is a big part of the dish, so use whatever variety strikes your fancy. Because the fat will solidify once it cools, the dressing must be served warm.

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces mixed greens, washed and dried
• 6 ounces sliced bacon (about 3 to 4 slices)
• 2 scallions (greens and whites), thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• Coarse sea salt to taste
• 2 ounces cheddar cheese, diced (optional)
• ¼ cup walnuts or hickory nuts, lightly toasted and chopped (optional)
• Freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. 1. Place the greens in a large, heat-proof serving bowl.
2. 2. Fry the bacon in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove from the skillet, drain and chop it. Reserve about 4 tablespoons of fat in the skillet (augment with a glug from your backup supply if necessary).
3. 3. Add the sliced scallions to the pan and cook for a minute. Pour in the cider vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir well and boil lightly for a minute.
4. 4. If you’re using cheese or toasted nuts, distribute them over the greens. Pour the hot dressing over the top, toss well and sprinkle with the bits of cooked bacon and plenty of fresh pepper. Serve warm.

Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a side dish

See you at camp!

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

BLT in a Bowl

Basically, it’s everything great about the sandwich but served in a bowl, inverting the normal ratios of a BLT in order to make the lettuce and tomato the feature. Use good cider vinegar—I’m very partial to the oak-barrel aged one we get from Pierre Gingras in Quebec, or the one from Albert Katz out in California.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces sliced bacon (about 4 to 6 slices)
• 1 slice good bread of your choice, preferably a bit stale, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 6 ounces good greens, washed, well dried and coarsely chopped (I like mustard greens, but of course any good lettuce will work)
• 1 big or 2 medium or 4 small ripe, in-season tomatoes, cut into ½-inch chunks
• 1 ripe avocado, cubed
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• Coarse sea salt to taste
• Plenty of freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 eggs

Procedure:

1. 1. Fry the bacon in a skillet over medium heat. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the fat. Add the bread cubes and stir well. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on all sides.
2. 2. Meanwhile, put the greens in a pair of chilled salad bowls and top with the tomatoes and avocado. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cider vinegar and toss well.
3. 3. Add white vinegar and two inches of cold water to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and carefully break the eggs directly into the liquid. Cook until the eggs are lightly poached. Turn off the heat and allow the eggs to rest in the warm liquid.
4. 4. Chop the bacon and add it to the salad bowls. Sprinkle with the croutons and remaining bacon fat and toss well. (If there’s not enough bacon fat for your liking, add a glug from your stash or augment it with a good olive oil.)
5. 5. Gently remove the eggs from the pan with a slotted spoon and spoon one over the top of each salad.
6. 6. Option: Drop the egg (figuratively) from the recipe and substitute a handful of blue cheese broken into small bits. I like to put the cheese on the salad before I add the croutons, so that the heat of the hot bread softens the cheese.

Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a side dish

SEE YOU AT CAMP!

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

Kieron’s Grilled Plantain with Mustard and Bacon

When Kieron Hales, sous chef at the Zingerman’s Roadhouse, first told me about this recipe, I thought it sounded a bit crazy. But, lo and behold, it’s actually delicious. Kieron hails (sorry, couldn’t resist) from England, but he learned this dish while he was working in Maine, from a Jamaican-born chef. The recipe works either on the grill or under the broiler, and you can make it with either ripe plantains or bananas. The latter will of course be somewhat sweeter, but both versions are quite good.  Kieron recommends making it with a thickly sliced, very smoky bacon—consider Broadbent’s, Edwards’ or Benton’s. It’s also very good with the long pepper bacon from Arkansas—the tropical flavors of the plantains and bananas go well with the equatorial accent of the long pepper.

So yeah, it sounds strange, but tastes darned good!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons dried mustard (preferably Colman’s English)
• ¼ cup water
• 4 large ripe plantains (their skins will be mottled or black) or bananas
• 4 teaspoons freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper
• 8 to 12 slices bacon (each plantain requires 2 to 3 slices)

Procedure:

1. 1. Soak a handful of wooden skewers in water for at least 1 hour or overnight. (I used 6-inch bamboo skewers, but toothpicks will work, as well.)
2. 2. Mix the dried mustard and water together with a fork until it forms a paste. Let stand for 30 minutes so that the mustard’s flavor can “bloom.”
3. 3. If using the grill, bring to medium-high heat. Alternatively, you can do the whole recipe, start to finish, under the broiler.
4. 4. Rub each plantain with 1½ tablespoons of the mustard paste and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon pepper. Wrap each plantain in bacon slices, overlapping by one-third the width of each slice as you go. Secure bacon to the plantain by inserting skewers crosswise and at angles as necessary.
5. 5. Place the dressed plantains atop an oiled grill. If the plantains are very ripe, grill them for about 5 minutes, then turn and repeat on the other side for another 5 minutes. If the plantains are less ripe—with yellower skins—you’ll want to keep them on the grill longer (about 8 to 9 minutes per side).
6. 6. Carefully remove the plantains to a baking sheet and place under the broiler for another 15 minutes, or until the bacon is crisped and the plantains are caramelized.
7. 7. Take the pan from the broiler, carefully remove the skewers and cut the plantains into chunks. Serve hot, with some English mustard on the side for dipping.

Serves 4 as a side dish, or 10 to 12 as an appetizer

SEE YOU AT CAMP!

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

Grits & Bits Waffles

This old Georgia dish has long been one of the most popular items on the Zingerman’s Roadhouse brunch menu. The story is that the Dutch brought waffle irons here with them and that as they moved south from Manhattan they began to blend the local leftover grits that were so common into their waffles to make breakfast the next morning.

The dish really isn’t very hard to make, but by bringing together the flavors of wheat, corn, bacon and maple syrup you really get a great, unique way to start the day. As always I’ll recommend the Anson Mills grits, though other artisan offerings will also serve you well. The key is that the grits add flavor as well as texture to the dish. If you’re into sorghum or cane syrups, you could certainly use either one instead of the maple. When it comes to the bacon, I’d go with one of the dry-cured offerings—Broadbent’s, Edwards’ or Benton’s to stand up to all the other good flavors here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup Anson Mills (quick-cooking) grits
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 4 eggs
• 1½ cups whole milk
• 1 pound sliced bacon (about 8 to 12 slices), cooked and coarsely chopped
• 6 ounces sharp cheddar (I’d recommend a nice two-year-old white cheddar like the one we get from Grafton Village in Vermont), shredded
• Maple syrup and butter to taste for serving

Procedure:

1. 1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder and set aside.
2. 2. In a saucepot, bring the water and butter to a simmer. Before the water comes to a boil start adding the grits, stirring steadily until incorporated. Add the salt and stir well. Reduce heat to low, cover and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water if needed.
3. 3. While the grits are cooking, separate the eggs. Set the yolks aside in a dish, and refrigerate the whites.
4. 4. When the grits are done (you can always cook them longer than half an hour—they’ll continue to get creamier the longer you cook them), remove them from the heat; transfer to a large mixing bowl and let cool to 110°F. Stir the egg yolks into the grits one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. 5. Add the milk and mix well.
6. 6. Add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
7. 7. Beat the cold egg whites in a mixer or with a hand beater to medium peaks. Gently fold the whites into the batter and mix gently. Chill for at least 1 hour prior to cooking. (Note: the batter can be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to start cooking.)
8. 8. When you’re ready to eat, pour the batter into a preheated and well-oiled Belgian-style waffle iron, and add a generous bit of chopped bacon and shredded cheddar. (We use 1 cup of batter with ¼ cup each of bacon and cheddar.) Close the waffle iron and cook until golden brown. Remove the waffles from the iron and place on warm plates. Sprinkle more chopped bacon and shredded cheddar over the top of the waffles. Serve with good butter and real maple syrup.
9. 9. Repeat until all the batter, chopped bacon and grated cheddar have been used.

Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish.

SEE YOU AT CAMP!

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

Angels, Devils, Pigs . . . and a Nice Date with Bacon

These four little appetizers have been around a long time. They’re great ways to bring bacon into a party setting without a whole lot of work. You can adjust the portions easily to fit whatever appetite, group size, budget or BQ (Sarah Katherine Lewis’ “bacon quotient”) you’re working with.

Angels on Horseback
The angels, in this case, are oysters—their little frilly flaps get all fluffy and angelically wing-like under the heat of the broiler. Angels on Horseback is often presented as fancy food, but it’s in really basic books too, like V. M. Sherlock’s Apalachicola Seafood Recipes—a small, softcover, brown pamphlety thing that I like a lot. Ms. Sherlock calls them by the unfancy name “broiled oysters,” which just reinforces my belief that they’re really a pretty darned down-to-earth way to eat. I like to use Arkansas long pepper bacon—it’s got a nice bit of spice, but the moderate smoke level keeps the wood from completely overtaking the dish. Other bacons from the lighter smoke end of the spectrum, like Vande Rose, Nodine’s and Nueske’s, will also work well. As for the angels, any good oyster will work. I love Apalachicolas, which we bring to the Zingerman’s Roadhouse regularly from Florida. I’ll just share this note from Sherlock, who wrote that, “Throughout the ages, men have argued over the superior flavor of oysters of their regions, but until they have tasted the Apalachicola oyster, they’re in no position to judge.”

Ingredients

• 8 oysters, shucked
• 4 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise

Procedure:

1. 1. Heat the broiler.
2. 2. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around each oyster and then run a toothpick through the whole thing to hold it together. Place on a baking sheet, run it under the broiler and cook until the bacon is done, giving it a turn halfway through. If you want the bacon well done you can cook it part way in a pan before wrapping it around the oysters.
3. 3. Cook carefully: as V. M. Sherlock says, “Local appetites may differ but most will agree that you should never wash an oyster and never overcook one.”

Devils on Horseback
These are made in the same manner as Angels, except that the oysters are replaced by dark Devils—in this case, prunes. Pork and prunes are a classic combination found in all sorts of big-flavored dishes from southwestern France, and this easy-to-make appetizer delivers that same wonderful flavor pairing to your guests in mere minutes! Of course you know already that I’m going to say you have to find really good ingredients to work with—my favorites are the prunes from Agen in France, but I don’t think you can get them in the U.S. anymore. If you find a variety that’s better than the standard supermarket grade, grab it. I like to make this dish with one of the smoky, dry-cured bacons to balance the sweetness of the dried fruit.

Ingredients:

• 8 really good prunes, pitted
• 4 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise

Procedure:

1. 1. Heat the broiler.
2. 2. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around each prune and then run a toothpick through the whole thing to hold it together. Place on a baking sheet, run it under the broiler and cook until the bacon is done, turning the “devils” halfway through the cooking. Again, if you want the bacon well done, you’ll do better to cook it partially through on its own before you do the wrapping.

Clam Pigs
This is the same dish as Angels on Horseback, but made with fresh clams instead of oysters. Gotta love the name, which I came across in Sherlock’s Apalachicola cookbook!

Ingredients:

• 8 fresh clams, shucked
• 4 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise

Procedure:

1. Follow the instructions for Angels on Horseback, substituting the raw clams for oysters.

Bacon Dates
Taking our passion for bacon a tad bit beyond the now-standard allusions to love and sex, it seems reasonable to go ahead and actually make a real life “date with bacon,” don’t you think? That said, I guess this recipe really is a literal as well as figurative date with bacon (or, actually, if you prepare the whole recipe, 16 dates with bacon). Of course there’s really no limit, since you can multiply the recipe as many times as you like.

Bacon dates are a great little appetizer and extremely easy to make. If you’re up for a “double date” you could serve it for dessert, too—I’ve never thought of using the same dish to both start and end a supper before, but given Americans’ fondness for bacon it sort of makes sense to bacon-end the meal. I love the organic dates from Four Apostles in Bermuda Dunes, California. The sweet smokiness of the bacon with the buttery richness of their ripe dates and the spice of the long pepper gives this finger food a great bit of balance in its flavors.

Ingredients:

• 16 dates, pitted
• 8 slices bacon (we prefer these with the Broadbent bacon), cut in half crosswise
• 4 whole Balinese long peppers, quartered lengthwise

Procedure:

1. 1. Heat the broiler.
2. 2. Stuff each date with a sliver of long pepper, then wrap with a half-slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place the bacon-wrapped dates on a baking sheet and broil 10 to 15 minutes or until the bacon is crisp, turning once. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!
3. 3. Remove from the oven once the bacon is done, let cool for a couple of minutes and serve while still warm.

SEE YOU AT CAMP!

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is coming soon and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

American Fried Bread

I learned this really simple dish from the book Things Mother Used to Make, published in 1914 by Lydia Maria Gurney. It’s probably as down-to-earth, backwoods American cooking as you’re going to get. You can serve it as is for breakfast or add a bit sorghum syrup, maple syrup, or molasses drizzled on top. It’s also good sitting next to a salad for lunch or a light supper.

If you have reserved bacon fat on hand already you can just use that. If not, start by frying some bacon (let’s say one slice per slice of bread) in a skillet. Remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan. (In tight time, the meat would have been used for other purposes later, but I’d say chop it and serve it on a salad alongside the bread.)

Keeping the fat hot, put slices of stale bread into the pan. You can, of course, use most any bread, but my current favorite is a Zingerman’s Bakehouse mainstay and longtime American classic. Around here we call it Roadhouse Bread, but it was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as Rye ‘n’ Injun, or, at times, Thirded Bread. It’s made with a mix of rye, wheat, and corn (hence the reference to thirds) and has a bit of molasses in it, as well. It’s great on its own, and better still with bacon.

While the bread is frying add a couple of teaspoonfuls of either warm water or milk to the pan, and, if you like, flip it and cook until it’s nicely browned on the other side. As Mrs. Gurney said at the start of the last century, “This is a very appetizing dish.”

SEE YOU AT CAMP!