Here is a link to a great article on bacon...I just wonder what some of the accompanying recipes would be like with Bacon Savor included on the bacon....
http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2012/01/11/bacon-beautiful-bacon/And - here is the article - sans graphics if you prefer
Bacon, beautiful bacon: Meet the local chef who makes his own
By Libby Volgyes | Dining, Feast Palm Beach | January 11, 2012
Fritz Cassel, executive chef at Gratify in West Palm Beach, shows off two of his creations -- the 'bacon and eggs' dessert and his twist on the BLT. (Photo by Libby Volgyes)
Bacon lovers, you have a new shrine.
Gratify, the downtown West Palm Beach gastro pub with a culinary kick, wants to lure you in with smoky, delicious bacon. Homemade bacon, that is.
"We’re big pork fans around here. We like pork in all forms," says executive chef Fritz Cassel, Gratify’s resident Baconator.
He sizzles up barbecue sliders, sage-seared pork chops and ever-popular baby back ribs.
And then there’s his house bacon.
"I don’t even really remember what inspired me to make it the first time," says the 36-year-old chef. "It just hit me one day. I just felt like making bacon."
So the young, innovative chef with the sparkling eyes, a lifelong lover of bacon, grandson of a Southern chef who cooked biscuits in bacon fat, and father of a 6-year-old bacon fanatic named Ava decided to make his own, decadent, smoky, taste-bud-screeching bacon.
He starts with 8 to 10 pounds of pork belly, delivered fresh from his local purveyor, Bush Brothers Provisions. Then he cures it with his own blend of spices that weave together the toasted cinnamon stick and star anise flavors of his childhood star anise cookies and hints of allspice inspired by a former Jamaican sous chef ("He really loved that allspice").
Cassel rounds out his spice mix with black peppercorns, smoked paprika, sugar and kosher salt. He toasts the spices, grinds them finely in a food processor – a step which opens up the flavors – and then carefully rubs the mixture over the pork belly. He lets the meat sit for five days.
The chef, who created his own recipe by trial and error, marvels at its bursts of flavor.
"It’s really unbelievable just on a hamburger alone," he says.
Perfect porcine accent
Cassel's 'bacon and eggs' dessert -- you can see the recipe below. (Photo by Libby Volgyes)
But the bacon flair doesn’t stop with any old hamburger. Cassel creates dishes just for the bacon and throws it in to accent his other dishes or uses the renderings to cook with.
"It really gives you layers and layers (of flavor)," says Cassel. "I love bacon. It’s just a great ingredient. I like the smoked aspect or it can be the focus of a dish."
After five days of curing, he wipes the spices off the meat and places it in his homemade smoker (a hotel pan with a few holes in it and tin foil). He’s tried all different wood chips, including apple wood and cherry wood, but prefers hickory because the aroma reminds him of home – of Oklahoma and backyard barbecue.
"The hickory is nice. It’s familiar," he says.
After smoking the cured pork belly for a few hours, Cassel lets it cool down, then freezes it, which helps him slice it.
Then he starts daydreaming, imagining all the things he could do with it.
"It’s great. If I had one meat to eat (for the rest of my life) it would be pork for sure. It’s so versatile," he says.
Savory and sweet inspirations
He starts by adding the smoky pork to brussels sprouts in the form of bacon aioli. The explosion of taste is enough to turn any cabbage hater into a convert.
Then he judiciously adds it to his burgers and BLTs, one of his guilty pleasures ("A BLT is hard for me to resist – I’d go for it every time").
And then there’s a bacon-laced dessert. As in a vanilla custard "egg white" and orange custard "egg yolk" and chocolate-dipped bacon on the side.
It’s sweet bacon heaven.
The folks at Gratify aren’t too concerned that our collective bacon obsession might wane anytime soon.
"Bacon’s only been around for 5,000 years. I’m sure it’s just a passing fad," jokes Gratify owner Gene Playter.
Chef Cassel agrees:
"You don’t just get over bacon."
DESSERT BACON AND EGGS
Makes about 10 servings
FOR THE VANILLA CUSTARD:
1 quart cream
1 quart milk
1 cup sugar
2 whole vanilla beans
8 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
FOR THE ORANGE CUSTARD:
1 quart orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Zest and juice from one orange
1 star anise
FOR THE CHOCOLATE-COVERED BACON:
1/2 cup chocolate, either semi-sweet or dark, melted
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
10 bacon slices, cooked until crispy
To make vanilla custard:
Heat cream and milk with vanilla bean. Whisk together yolks, sugar and cornstarch.
Temper milk into yolk mixture and stir over medium heat until it thickens and looks smooth and glossy on a spoon.
Let it cool and pour into a ramekin or small, oval, freezer-proof dish. Freeze.
To make orange custard:
Heat orange juice and zest and star anise.
Whisk together yolks, sugar and cornstarch.
Temper juice into yolks and stir over medium heat until thick like a pudding. Remove from heat and whisk in juice from the fresh orange.
Let cool and place in a piping bag.
To serve:
Pipe an egg yolk-sized circle onto the vanilla custard
Brush melted chocolate onto a crisp bacon slice and sprinkle with sea salt.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON AIOLI
Makes 8 side servings
1 pound bacon
1 pound brussels sprouts
Bacon aioli*
*FOR THE BACON AIOLI:
1/2 cup bacon fat
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 egg yolks
Juice from one lemon
1 teaspoon garlic
1 pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon chives
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt, to tasteTo make bacon aioli:
Blend yolks, lemon juice, garlic in food processor or blender.
Slowly add oil and bacon fat until mixture thickens to a mayonnaise-like consistency.
Whisk in remainder of ingredients. Season to taste.
To make Brussels sprouts:
Trim sprouts and keep the leaves that fall off. Blanch and chill sprouts.
Slice in half. Sear sprouts in a very hot sauté pan with some vegetable oil (feel free to use some excess bacon fat).
Roast in a 400 degree oven until nice and brown.
Pan fry or deep-fry some extra leaves until crispy to garnish. Be careful, as they will pop in the pan at first, so drop them in and back away. To serve, toss cooked brussels sprouts in aioli and bacon pieces and garnish with crispy leaves.
GRATIFY BLT
1 good loaf of crusty bread, either ciabatta or a French baguette
Roasted cherry tomatoes, for topping
Cilantro chimichurri*
Arugula, for topping
Bacon, to taste
Olive oil, to drizzle, or a smear of bacon aioli (see brussels sprouts recipe)
Habanero sauce, optional
*FOR THE CHIMICHURRI:
1 bunch cilantro
3 cloves garlic
1 pinch crushed red pepper
Freshly ground black pepper, about two turns of the grinder
1 pinch salt
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup vegetable oil
To make BLT:
Toast baguette. Spread cilantro chimichurri on the bread.
Layer arugula, bacon and roasted tomatoes over chimichurri.
Drizzle with good, extra virgin olive oil or bacon aioli. Garnish with extra cilantro or fresh basil.
