Showing posts with label man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label man. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bacon + Bourbon = Proof God Was From Kentucky?



Peanut Butter and Jelly? Tom Cruise and a F-14 Tomcat? Daryl Hall and John Oates? Myth: Could the good Lord produce better combinations than these works of poetry? Well, over a short but productive lunch, I came across a recipe for the new mixologist rage...Bacon Bourbon. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd hear two things carved out of such perfection could be combined in flawless harmony. So I headed to my local Fresh Market, took out a second mortgage on my house and bought a pound of Nueskes Applewood Smoked Bacon...for $7.00 a pound.


I figured to get a good finished product, I'd have to start with quality ingredients...well, at least quality bacon. After frying 9 strips up, I got a yield of 3.5 ounces of bacon fat and added that to 750mL of Jim Beam White Label Bourbon. I let that Concoction of the Gods sit at room temperature overnight, and then tossed it in the freezer for 2 hours to separate the fat from the liquid. You can start to see the science at work here:

The fat coagulated on top of the bourbon and allowed me to simply spoon it out of the pitcher (perhaps I'll make a bacon candle with that?). After a few trips through the cheese cloth...



I had a perfect batch of Bacon Bourbon...



I have to admit, the 4 BLT's I made with the Bacon were a tad better than the bourbon itself...but it did produce a distinctly different taste than the Jim Beam I started with. Specifically, it was much smokier. I think I'll try it with a maple syrup old fashion and see if it gets any better. So long story short, Myth confirmed...you can't get a better combination than Tom Cruise in a DOG fight in a tomCAT. We'll discuss the irony of that later.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Man v. Food . . .mmmmmmmmmmmmmm


I think I may have missed my calling, well maybe half my calling. The new Travel Channel show (yes, I've now begun watching the Travel Channel - so long are the days of sticking below 50 on the cable box) Man v. Food pits Adam Richman against mighty portions. While I could maybe come close to eating half of what he eats, it wouldn't be a bad job to have - eat unhealthy crap while traveling around the country.

I stumbled upon this show and have watched several episodes: 1)The Sasquatch Burger, essentially a burger the size of a tire and 2) Gino's Deep Dish in Chicago. In each episode Adam checks out the local eats then tries to dominate an enormous amount of food - he's batted .500 since I began watching. Def a must watch for people who enjoy eating food, television, and saying "Sasquatch."

Various locations include Pittsburgh, Columbus, Austin, and Atlanta.

Check it out on Wednesdays at 10 PM

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