Due to popular demand

Here are, as promised, the photos of the backlog. Enjoy!! And get ready for the start of some new, more current, posts.

On a side note, a big welcome to our nephew, who just joined us on Saturday! He's adorable and, if we have anything to say about it, will be enjoying strained bacon and mushed up pork chops in no time.

A sign of life

Ok guys, I know a lot of you have been upset that we haven't updated the blog in over 3 months. I am too. See, life got in the way, and before I knew it, there was so much to catch up on, it was a bit overwhelming. I suspect that others of you who have tried blogging have had similar problems at times.

Anyway, please don't despair! And, it was very gratifying to hear from so many of you who missed the insight into our kitchen.

So: in the next day or two I'm going to just post pictures of what's gone on over the last few months. Then, we'll get back to normal. That's the plan anyway.

Thanks for your patience!

Let's hear from our readers

Here at Deep-Fried Bacon, we value our readers. We thank you for your time, your interest, your input, and (when you come to visit) your appetite. As a way to show our appreciation, we're going to answer a few questions from our overflowing reader mailbag. If this works out, it could become a regular feature, so keep sending in your thoughts and inquiries. Let's get going.

Dear Deep-Fried Bacon,

I know you like swine, even the parts of it that are less like the other white meat and more like fatty, unctuous, artery-clogging excellence. But what about the fishes? Rich in Omega-3s, good for your heart and brain, and as long as you're not Jeremy Piven, a great part of a well-balanced diet. So? Fish? Huh?

Best,
Piscine Pete

Dear Patty,

Great question! We do love to eat things that swim, not just things that walk on all fours. And a quick stop at Stew Leonard's (or Whole Foods once in a while) helps make for some good fish eatin'.

So, for instance, we might make some tuna burgers with spicy Asian mayo.



Or, maybe some tilapia tacos with chipotle-tomatillo salsa.



And we should probably eat more fish. But now you know, it's not all pig, all the time.


Hey yo baconeaters!

I know you like to deep fry bacon. Why don't you deep fry the rest of the pig?

Sincerely,
The little piggy that had roast beef


Dear little piggy,

First, I'm deeply disturbed that you want us to fry up your brethren. Second, I understand that you think being delicious means you are loved, and you just want to be loved. Third, you forget that the lovely missus is from Iowa, and the fried pork tenderloin sandwich is in her blood, literally and figuratively. If you haven't spoken to your Iowan cousins, then you might not know how the good people of the midwest take their tenderloins, pound them out nice and thin, marinate them in buttermilk for a day or so, bread them, and cook 'em up. Fourth, thank you for your deliciousness.



Dear Mr. Bacon,

I know you like to celebrate holidays. Have you celebrated any lately?

Very truly yours,
Patty O'McShaughnessy


Good Mr. O'McShaughnessy,

I don't mean to stereotype or generalize, but I assume from your name that on March 17, you told people to kiss you due to your ethnic heritage, and perhaps consumed a Guinness or Jameson's or twelve.

You'll be happy to know that on St. Patty's Day, we made some tasty Irish soda bread with raisins and caraway seeds, ate it alongside Colcannon (cabbage, bacon and potato soup), and washed it all down with a Guinness or two ourselves.





Hey-a, you-a,

Whya you no makea da pizza no morea, ay? And whya I sucha a stereotype tooa, ay?

Lemme knowa,
Dis guy

Hey dis guy!

Sorry to make you an even worse ethnic caricature than the Irish guy.

Because I feel bad, I'll show you the pizzas we made. Because I don't feel too bad, our pizzas were not so traditional. By that, I mean one with sauce, gruyere, monte enebro, prosciutto and arugula, and one with sauce, gruyere, asparagus, lardo, and two fried eggs. And if you're not sure what lardo is, you should be satisfied that they call it white prosciutto, and leave it at that.





So that's our first mailbag folks! Keep the mail coming. Have a good one.

Sausage Bread - The Gift that Keeps on Giving

If you ever find yourself presented with a gift of sausage bread, as we were recently, you are very lucky. Sausage bread is a savory, dense bread with sausage, cheese and some spices all rolled up into an eggy dough. The first couple of days we just enjoyed a slice of it for breakfast or lunch. It's the type of food that blurs the line between breakfast and lunch or maybe it is so good that I was just looking for an excuse to eat it any chance I got.

By the end of the week I was ready to be more adventurous with the bread. The ah ha moment came on Saturday morning when my husband and I were sitting around debating whether to have something savory or sweet for our regular Saturday morning breakfast. We will make french toast using the sausage bread.


Sausage bread french toast is prepared just like you would regular french toast only it is so much more. Pour some maple syrup on top and you have solved to the age old savory/sweet breakfast dilemma. You don't even need a side of bacon with it. During my euphoria upon tasting this concoction, I convinced myself that this was the next big thing to hit the New York brunch scene.




Our second a-ha moment with the sausage bread came a day later while making a tomato soup with garlic croutons from the Red Cat cookbook. Instead of the regular day old bread the recipe called for for making the croutons, we used the sausage bread.


The result was delicious. Eating the last crouton the next day with the soup for lunch, I felt a pang of sadness realizing there would be no more sausage bread to come home to that evening.

I Dreamed I Ate a Marshmallow, and When I Woke Up, My Pillow Was Gone!

I've always been curious about marshmallows. I mean, they're sticky and sweet, but not too heavy, they're spongy, Marshmallow Fluff is super awesome, and Phish Food is delicious ice cream. But what the heck is one? How does sugar, and whatever else, plus some ground up hooves, turn into one?

Or, my strong feelings about marshmallows might just be because what's a better childhood memory that coming in from the snow to a piping mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows?

Last week we had a semi-snow day from work. Might as well recreate some childhood memories, no? But, unfortunately, I was out of packets of Swiss Miss hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, so I'd have to make do.

But really, it's crazy: somehow you mix together gelatin and water,

Heat sugar, corn syrup, and water to 240 degrees,

Beat it all together for a while, adding in some vanilla at the end, and turn it into a pan,

Let it sit for several hours, then cut them up,

And before you know, you've got a very tasty marshmallow in your hot cocoa.