Sweet and Spicy Bacon

This year's winner for best bacon appetizer was Chris' sweet and spicy bacon. It was very nearly unanimous. It's funny how simple things are often the best, in this case, spicy glazed bacon strips.

Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: some really good bacon
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 lb thick-cut bacon slices

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Stir together brown sugar, cayenne, and black pepper in a small bowl.

3. Arrange bacon slices in 1 layer (not overlapping) on rack of a large broiler pan. Bake 20 minutes. Turn slices over and sprinkle evenly with spiced sugar. Continue baking until bacon is crisp and deep golden, 20 to 35 minutes more (check bacon every 5 minutes). Transfer to paper towels to drain.

NOTE: This recipe came from Gourmet Magazine, November of 2001

Nippy Brussel Sprouts

When my paternal grandmother passed away, I was sent a box of her recipes. In this box, I found a small cut out from some long-forgotten newspaper that had a recipe for Nippy Greenbeans. I tried it out on my family and it quickly became a favorite. Last Saturday night, I was searching the web for something to do with some wonderfully smokey and salty bacon that Shannon had made and given me. I had brussel sprouts in the fridge & was searching the web for something new and exciting. Every time I suggested a recipe, my husband would counter with "Nippy Brussel Sprouts". So I finally gave in and the result is a new twist on an old favorite. Oh, and this works well with green beans too!

Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: some really good bacon
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1/2 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed & halved
3 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons cidar vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/4 teaspoon savory

1. Cook the brussel sprouts in boiling, salted water until just cooked. Drain and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from grease & drain.
3. Pour off all but 1-2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Saute the shallot in the bacon fat until golden. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up the brown bits. Add the vinegar, dill, savory and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Re-heat the pan that the brussel sprouts were cooked in. Add the brussel sprouts & shake to make sure they are dried. Add the dressing and toss to coat.

Bacon Avocado Milkshakes

The first of hopefully many bacon recipes that was unleashed at the bacon party is Colin's Bacon Avocado Milkshakes. When pressed as to where he got his inspiration, he calmly responded, "What goes better with avocado than bacon?" Hard to argue with that logic.

Inspiration: Bacon Party
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: Blender

Ingredients
3 avocados, peeled and pitted.
1/2 cup of ice
2 tbs sugar
1 cup milk (plus or minus, depending on the consistency you prefer)
Crispy bacon strips for garnish

1. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree.
2. Serve with a sprig bacon (Or you may blend bacon directly into shake)
3. Drink near AED or with phone pre-dialed to 911.

Note: I think I must prefer milk shakes a little more milky and a little sweeter than Colin. So I would add more milk and more sugar.

Sausage Cabbage Soup

The other day when I was at Gartner's (my most favorite meat store in all of Portland), I noticed they had some specialty beer brats made up for the super bowl. While I had no immediate use for them, I couldn't pass up the chance to buy special brats for consumption down the road. So I bought a four banger, and threw them in my freezer for future use.

Flash forward to Tuesday night. I had a hankering for those brats, but I didn't feel like the same old-same old (as much as I love brats, mustard and kraut!). While I was digging in my freezer for the brats, I came across the turkey stock my sister made this past year. Then it hit me. Sausage-cabbage soup would be a perfect alternative way to enjoy the brats. Besides which, special brats and special turkey stock would make one hell of a special soup. And darn if it wasn't one of the tastier ways to eat a brat.

Inspiration: Special brats and special broth
Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: very large soup pot + a super nice sister that shares her turkey stock with you.

Ingredients:

4 bratwurst sausages (poked with fork or knife a couple of times on all sides)
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 small carrots, diced
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup white wine
3 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed into bite sized pieces
8 cups turkey stock (chick broth can substitute)

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add in whole bratwurst and brown on all sides. Remove and let cool. Once cool, cut into 1/2 rounds, and then again in half.
2. In remaining oil and sausage fat, saute onions and carrots and cabbage. After a couple of minutes add herbs and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent.
3. When onions are cooked, deglaze the pan with the white wine. Make sure to do your best to scrape up all of the sausagey goodness on the bottom.
4. Add in potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve with crusty french baguette

Bacon Party Review

Every year, I co-host a bacon party. It all started when a friend of mine and I thought that given how much people love bacon, we should create a party dedicated to it. So we devised a potluck where everything had to have bacon in it (in some form or another). And because we were naturally competitive people, we felt a competition to see who could make the best bacon dish was in order (complete with bacon prizes).

The first year people were just getting their feet wet. We had mainstays like bacon twice baked potatoes and devils-on-horseback, and we had some creative leaning dishes like bacon apple crisp and bacon bloody marys.

Last year, people were a little more adventuresome. Maple bacon creme brulee, Bacon Baklava and Bacon Pistachio Brittle were all winners. We had nearly 25 bacon dishes in all, and as a result I had a week long bacon hangover. (Coincidentally, this is when the national bacon trend/craze started gaining popularity. I'm sure we started it)

This year, in an effort to direct people's creativity, we provided 5 categories (each with a 5 dish cap) for people to enter. It was amazing what people came up with, and how well the dishes were executed. We even had a couple that are remodeling their kitchen compete (and all they had to make their Bacon Cheddar Soup was a hot plate!). I'm going to see if I can get some of the recipes and I'll import them onto the blog. Until then, I'm happy to take a little hiatus on the bacon (at least until tomorrow night).

Bacon Appetizers:
-Nut filled, bacon topped dried apricots
-Sweet and Spicy Glazed Bacon (WINNER)
-Buffalo Bacon
-Bacon Pierogi
-Bacon Guacamole (two entries)

Bacon Side Dish
-Bacon Dinner Rolls (WINNER)
-Bacon Cheddar Soup
-Bacon Mac and Cheese

Bacon Veggie
-Bacon and Grilled Asparagus Salad (WINNER)
-Bacon Ratatouille
-Bacon Jalapeno Poppers

Bacon Main Dish
-Bacon Wrapped Grilled Shrimp
-Bacon Braised Beef Wellies (WINNER)
-Bacon Explosion

Bacon Desserts:
-Bacon Ice Cream Sandwiches
-Bacon, Chocolate Bread Pudding with a Bacon Creme Anglaise
-Bacon Caramels (WINNER)
-Bacon Sugar Cookies
-Bacon Avocado Milk Shake
-Bacon Caramel Corn