Sometimes you can google and get a great response to your question. And sometimes not.
I was wondering, for reasons that will become clear, when during the day do people eat bacon. So I googled “when do people eat bacon.” There are 157,000 results and the first one is titled “Why You Should Avoid Pork.” Goodness, how inappropriate. I think there is some hacking going on, by pig devotees perhaps.
I don’t know how many people avoid pork for dietary or religious reasons. Maybe 10% of us, 20%? I don’t know. I can say, from personal experience, that at every NYC deli and coffee shop and sandwich place in the city, by 6AM there is high stack of bacon ready to be served throughout the day. I think most of us consume our bacon at breakfast, but there has to be a spike at lunch: bacon cheeseburgers and, of course, the penultimate sandwich, the BLT. I never met a BLT I did not like.
Or did not eat.
As a component of a dish, of an entire meal, bacon supplies flavor, aroma, fat, protein, crunch, and a level of comfort that many of us crave. It’s ubiquitous because it is so important to us.
Theresa Gilliam is a lifelong foodie whose first plunge as an author is Bacon 24/Seven. That very title tells you the book is broad scope and advocates that bacon consumption does not, should not, end after 3PM. There are four chapters here spanning the 24-hour day:
- Dawn
- Midday
- Dusk
- Dark
Each segment of the day is given full, appropriate attention. There are old favorites here, like that BLT, but new ideas and European ideas that will inspire your bacon imagination.
For breakfast at Dawn, there is a Bacon and Red Pepper Strata that any Italian mother would smile over. There is Bacon Stuffed Toast to let you get all your daily calories by 10AM. But it looks so darn good. [Look for the Strata in tomorrow’s post, just in time for Sunday brunch!].
Midday has both weekday and weekend ideas for you. The Alsatian Tart is the centerpiece for any brunch. There is a Bacon Butternut Squash Soup that Suzen and I will test soon, but it’s already in our planning for next Thanksgiving.
Dusk is the time of day for tapas. So why not Teriyaki Salmon Skewers with Bacon and Pineapple, or Crab and Corn Chowder, or some crackers with cream cheese topped off with Onion and Bacon Jam.
In the Dark, bacon can be consumed many, many ways. You can drink it in the Bacon Manhattan. You can nibble on Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Dates, snack on Bacon Cashew Caramel Corn or simply indulge on Cardamom Cupcakes and Maple, Bacon and Cream Cheese Frosting. Perhaps on returning home, you will find on your pillow one Bacon Buttermilk Caramel. Who did put that there?
There are four dozen recipes in this lovely book. Enough for you to require several pounds of bacon, although there is discussion here about home cured and smoked bacon. You could become self-sufficient. And these serious recipes deserve serious bacon.
If you find the book cover striking, then you have developed a sense for the best in food photography. The photos in this book by EJ Armstrong are very beautiful, intense in color, and a figurative reminder of how strong is the impact of bacon on any dish. It’s not subtle at all. It’s bacon. But here you will discover bountiful reasons to enjoy your bacon, one strip at a time, around the clock. As the book says, 24/Seven.