Oh, Bacon

[Wink Holliday]

I'm a "flexitarian," which, for me, means that I only eat meat from animals that have lived natural lives: no factory farming, no feedlots, etc. As a result of my personal standards, I am pretty much a vegetarian.
I never ate bacon every day. When I was brunching regularly with friends, I'd maybe have it once a week. With a touch of maple syrup, please. But now that I can't have it at all, I crave it! My boy bought me a bacon-scented air freshener for my car (I refuse to take it out of the plastic wrapper) and we shared a Mo's Bacon Bar* from Vosges as a rare treat. I even found a recipe online for candied bacon, which I want to make when I find some happy-pig bacon! My favorite bacon, hands down, was Nueske's from Wisconsin. Lucky for me, I haven't been in Wisconsin since I went veggie, so I haven't been tempted. :)

What's your bacon story? Poppy? The floor is yours. :)


*That's Mo as in Mo Frechette from Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, MI... and the bacon is Nueske's!

[Poppy Fields]

But... but... I feel bad now. How can I discuss nature's candy when you're abstaining? I will comfort myself with the image of you visiting a nice farm where they raise bacon naturally and hand picking a rasher or 10.

Okay.

My thing to make (as soon as I figure out a phyllo substitute): bak'nlava!!
Oh, and chicken fried bacon. I fully expect to die shortly thereafter, but I'll die happy. And salty.

When I think about you...

[Wink Holliday]

Laughing at the thought of picking a rasher out of a tree! Pesticide-free, of course. ;)
Why do you need a phyllo substitute? Because I have a box in the freezer, and OHMYGODTHATLOOKSGOOD.

Poppy Fields said:

But... but... I feel bad now. How can I discuss nature's candy when you're abstaining? I will comfort myself with the image of you visiting a nice farm where they raise bacon naturally and hand picking a rasher or 10.

Okay.

My thing to make (as soon as I figure out a phyllo substitute): bak'nlava!!
Oh, and chicken fried bacon. I fully expect to die shortly thereafter, but I'll die happy. And salty.

When I think about you...

[Poppy Fields]

Silly, bacon doesn't grow on trees! It grows on bushes. Everybody knows that.

Thanks to one of my many genetic shortcomings, I can't eat wheat, which is sorta the essential ingredient in phyllo :(((( Soooo, when you make it, I want pictures.

Hot, greasy pictures.
Full of hardcore maple action.
Yeeeeeah, throw some more cinnamon in there. Uh-huh, you know what I like!

Sigh.

Wink Holliday said:

Laughing at the thought of picking a rasher out of a tree! Pesticide-free, of course. ;)
Why do you need a phyllo substitute? Because I have a box in the freezer, and OHMYGODTHATLOOKSGOOD.

[Wink Holliday]

GF Filo/Phyllo Dough

1 ¾ C fine white rice flour
¼ C sweet rice flour
4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp gelatin
1 egg
¼-1/2 C milk of choice
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp honey or agave nectar

1. Mix together rice flour, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum and gelatin. Make a well in dry ingredients large enough to hold the liquids.

2. Lightly beat egg with ¼ C milk, butter and honey. Pour this into well in dry ingredients. Mix everything together until you have a soft dough. (Depending on brand of rice flour, you may want to stir in more milk)..

3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap until ready to use for your favorite holiday pastry. Store in refrigerator if not using immediately.

Sigh. The gelatin means I couldn't make this recipe even if I wanted to... thank goodness I have no desire or need! Someone on a GF board recommended using rice paper as a phyllo substitute, and said it was easy to find in Canada. I don't even know what it is!

Poppy Fields said:

Silly, bacon doesn't grow on trees! It grows on bushes. Everybody knows that.

Thanks to one of my many genetic shortcomings, I can't eat wheat, which is sorta the essential ingredient in phyllo :(((( Soooo, when you make it, I want pictures.

Hot, greasy pictures.
Full of hardcore maple action.
Yeeeeeah, throw some more cinnamon in there. Uh-huh, you know what I like!

Sigh.

Wink Holliday said:

Laughing at the thought of picking a rasher out of a tree! Pesticide-free, of course. ;)
Why do you need a phyllo substitute? Because I have a box in the freezer, and OHMYGODTHATLOOKSGOOD.

[Poppy Fields]

Oh... oh my God... I think... I think I love you.
No. Wait.
I DO love you!!!

I have all those ingredients! I know what I'm doing with my Sunday. That is, if I can cut the umbilicus that has grown between me and PL!

The gelatin's a s****** for vegi's :( I've seen people suggest agar agar as a substitute, but I have no experience using it myself. If anyone would know it would be the folks over at eGullet or the postpunkkitchen people.

Rice paper is what is used to wrap spring rolls and summer rolls. It's not as delicate as phyllo, a little tough, actually, and it's hard to crisp it up without the use of a real deep fryer. I've thought of using wonton wrappers. Heard speak of mythical wrappers made with potato instead of wheat, but so far they have eluded me.

[Wink Holliday]

I have agar, and it does indeed gel well, but it lacks the "springiness" that would make, say a MARSHMALLOW. I really miss those!

Poppy Fields said:

Oh... oh my God... I think... I think I love you.
No. Wait.
I DO love you!!!

I have all those ingredients! I know what I'm doing with my Sunday. That is, if I can cut the umbilicus that has grown between me and PL!

The gelatin's a s****** for vegi's :( I've seen people suggest agar agar as a substitute, but I have no experience using it myself. If anyone would know it would be the folks over at eGullet or the postpunkkitchen people.

Rice paper is what is used to wrap spring rolls and summer rolls. It's not as delicate as phyllo, a little tough, actually, and it's hard to crisp it up without the use of a real deep fryer. I've thought of using wonton wrappers. Heard speak of mythical wrappers made with potato instead of wheat, but so far they have eluded me.

[Poppy Fields]

So, back during the great Homemade Marshmallows craze of 2006, I did a lot of reading. A hella lot of reading, and fantasizing about owning a stand mixer. Supposedly, xanthan gum - or a mix of agar agar and xanthan - makes a pretty good gelatin substitute. I just re-read some old saved stuff and there was a recommendation for a recipe in Elizabeth Faulkner's book, "Demolition Desserts", for xanthan gum marshmallows.

ChillOver powder from MaryJane's Farm is supposed to be excellent, as are the kits from Angel Food. Hey, we're moving to NZ anyway, right?

So, yeah, I like food.

[Wink Holliday]

Has anyone tried Bacon Salt? It's vegetarian! I want real-world opinions on it.

[Roxy Tart {PL Team / Comm. Mgr}]

I don't eat it, but I LOVE that you ladies really do have a bacon thread! Yay for the bacon lovers!

[Gasoleene]

If lovin bacon is wrong, I don't wanna be right...

[Wink Holliday]

Purina offers free ringtones on their Web site... including the Beggin' Strips "Only one thing smells like bacon, and that's baconnnn!" sound byte!
http://www.purina.com/downloads/forphones/Ringtones.aspx

[Wink Holliday]

We have plenty of elk, but I don't know if we have boar. Mmmm, wild boar prosciutto would be lovely!
Besides, I've pulled a lobster trap, but I've never fired a gun. Right now, I just eat very little meat, and I'm okay with that.

sfphotojournal said:

Wink, If you really want to make sure your meat lived a natural life: no factory farming, no feed lots. Do what I try to do, hunt for your meat.

Until I got married, almost all the meat I ate I took myself.

You live in Colorado, that's prime hunting grounds.