Explained bacon

We've been doing what I consider a lot of thematic eating lately, or redundant eating, depending on when in my string of chard dinners you ask me.

I hear this is also called seasonal eating, which is supposed to be good, but sometimes it feels a little, well, exhaustive. I obsess about OH CRAP HOW AM I GOING TO MAKE ALL THIS KALE and I worry that Bubba is hatching a secret plan to leave me for someone who isn't trying to hide zucchini in his chocolate cake.

And while all this crafty vegetable cooking can be, let's say, inventive - the good thing is that it's typically good for you, in a nutritional sense, so no matter how you make it (save for recipes like these that are mostly delicious cheese), you're getting a good amount of nutrients and you can feel good about your dinner even if it was just a giant bowl of snap peas tossed with radishes and there's no meat in sight. Because, well, it's all healthy vegetables, so at least you're not eating Taco Bell.

Until now.

Bubba thought it'd be a good idea to expand our thematic eating into the world of meat. This may or may not have been a direct result of the vegetarian menus I've planned lately while I stressed about how to consume a weekly farm share and home garden's worth of vegetables before they went bad.

As you may know, I hate waste and I WILL.NOT.HAVE.IT. So, some of our dinners have been a little one sided in the vegetable category in an effort to avoid the tearful goodbyes at the trash can/composter when the endive has turned irretrievably rubbery and the green garlic has a new punk rock hairdo of mold.

But, rather than run out and buy a side of beef to hang in our kitchen or get the In N Out truck to park in our driveway, Bubba got a little extravagant on our asses and signed us up for a unique meaty delivery to compliment the vegetable and bread shares already coming in with alarming regularity.

Thus enters, The Pig Next Door's Bacon of the Month Club.

Bacon of the month club? Is this even a thing?


Why yes, my friends, it most certainly is. But don't feel weird for wondering, because I said those exact words when Bubba shared this surprise with me. And then before I could say something so me like can't we get bacon from the store, he pointed out that this is bacon from small farms using sustainable methods that is so much better than we'd ever get from a store so don't you worry your crazy broccoli-addled brain about it.

Oh.

"And then what would go better with all your homegrown tomatoes, a few slices of that artisan bread and that gorgeous romaine from the farm share than some crisp bacon all stacked up in a BLT, my beloved wife who is not crazy at all?"


He so knows me.

So now we have bacon. It is of the heirloom variety and it is, in fact, different from the Louis Rich variety I've come to know during my years of Evil Bacon Eating, just as I was promised. And because we have (and will continue to have) a good amount of it, you know I'll have to work it into my cooking and so, it will get worked into the blog, starting right now.



So far, we're working through what Bubba likes to call, The Purist bacon recipes and accompaniments. Things you'd normally associate with bacon, like BLTs and pancakes and eating it right off a paper towel - things like that.


And don't worry, I'm not going to get all this particular variety of heirloom bacon had a nose of applewood smoke and a hint of chocolate or any such nonsense because that kind of shit pisses me off.

And, plus people, this is bacon so let's not be ridiculous.

I will, however, continue to be my normal crabby and particular self so if there's anything specific about our monthly bacon share (yes, we're calling it that now) that doesn't meet my standards, you know I'll just tell you all about it and include all necessary swears.

And as my reasoning and skills for explaining away extravagant purchases and indulgent eating practices become more honed, I will be sure to share with you all the ways one might justify having a pound of bacon delivered to one's home on a monthly basis.

You know, for future decision making and gift giving. Helpful!

Meanwhile, if you have any favorite recipes for bacon (don't forget country style bacon that's like Canadian bacon because I have some right now and don't know what to do with it) and you want to share them with me with the off-chance that I might post pictures of them and talk about how awesome or disgusting they were, PLEASE let me know.

And I think it goes without saying that it's a damn good thing that I'm still running and am about to start cycling (oh yes, I just said that) because otherwise we might really become fatties. AND YOU KNOW I'M AFRAID OF THE FATNESS.

Go bacon.