Local legend, meat master, and friend Laurence Mate knows a thing or two about bacon.  I’ve written about him before at Smile Politely.  Two articles, actually.  People like Laurence are a great example of why the coming and going of food trends is meaningless.  What matters is the truth, the heart, the soul of it.

“For those of you who don’t give a shit about the fad but care about actual bacon, I am the bearer of glad tidings.” – Laurence

He wrote a post yesterday that talks about how many sources claim that bacon is dead.  Or, at least the fad of bacon in everything has passed.  I have succumbed in the past to bacon’s siren song.  Come on, chocolate bars with bacon and bacon ice cream are delicious.

Bacon as a trend, a fad, a meaningless addition to a sandwich, or as the flavor du jour may be on its way out.  Get the cheap, paper-thin, watery, national brand rashers off our plates.  Keep bringing on the good stuff–as long as people like Laurence are keeping the tradition alive, taking sublime meat and fat from well-raised animals, bacon deserves to live forever.

Chicagoan Michael Gebert writes the blog Sky Full of Bacon.  Actually, he does far more than just write–he has one of the best local-focus video podcasts around.  You should take it upon yourself to go back and watch them all.  There are only a dozen or so at this time, but each is like a great documentary showcasing some local gem.  Sometimes, instead of a professional-quality video podast, or a collection of links, he’ll share personal stories about food, like his grandmothers’ piccalilli recipe.  In interviews with local chefs and merchants, some mentions have been made of some of my favorite central Illinois producers.  See if you can figure out my favorite source for lamb.  I’ll give you a hint… it’s in SFoB4: A Head’s Tale.

Today, though, I’d urge you to watch a short video on Mike’s “Rules for Better Dining”.  One that I agree with quite strongly is the last one:

Mike G’s Healthy Eating Advice.

“If you’re going to eat something bad for you, make sure it’s really good”

Mike G’s Rules for Better Dining from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Oh yeah, and in the wake of my lunch yesterday with Dan “the Chocolate Man” Schreiber, I’ll be finishing out my chocolate series that I’ve been neglecting for far too long.  I’ll have posts on tempering & molding, churros con chocolate, and another artisan chocolate maker I was lucky enough to sample.

My wife spent a few months living in Japan during her high school years. She brought back a lot of memories, and a love for the food and culture of the country. She lived with a host family near Osaka, and experienced much of what the area had to offer.

One such specialty of the area is a particular street-food style of cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki. Normally you would find this dish made to order on a large griddle at a place specializing in just this dish. Numerous items like green onions, meat, seafood, or vegetables are mixed in to the batter or layered on top as it cooks. There are two main schools of okonomiyaki, the mix-it-all-into-the-batter style of Osaka, and the layered variety popularized in Hiroshima.

Because of where she lived, my wife wanted to make Osaka-style okonomiyaki, and it turned out to be easy and delicious. The batter can be as simple as eggs, flour and water, but you can make it more authentic and delicious by using dashi in place of water and grated yam in place of some of the flour.

Basic Okonomiyaki Batter
This proportion should be split and made into two pancakes, which will serve 2-4 people. It can be halved or multiplied easily.

• 2 c flour
• 1 1/2 c water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 or more of a cabbage (green or napa), finely shredded

1. Mix together the flour, water, and eggs.
2. Stir in the cabbage, and season with salt and pepper.

As I mentioned before, you could also stir in some chopped green onions, some ground meat, shrimp, squid, or other vegetables.

Basic Okonomiyaki Preparation

• oil (vegetable, olive, doesn’t matter much)
• 1/2 of the basic batter
• 4 slices of bacon
• okonomiyaki sauce
• Kewpie mayonnaise
• bonito flakes

1. Heat a 10-12 inch shallow-sided pan over medium heat. I like my cast iron griddle for this.
2. Spread a film of oil on the pan.
3. Pour on the batter and spread into a large circle (mine nearly fills the pan).
4. Lay bacon slices on top of the okonomiyaki. Press down to bind them to the batter.
5. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the bottom has browned.
6. Flip. This is much easier said than done. Use two spatulas and don’t worry too much about it breaking, you’ll cover up any mistakes later.
7. Cook on the second side for another 5 minutes, or until the bacon and any other raw meat in the batter is fully cooked.
8. Remove to a plate and garnish with sauce, mayo, and bonito flakes.

We like to smear some okonomiyaki sauce all over, then squirt the Kewpie mayo all over. Toss on some bonito flakes (also known as katsuobushi) and watch them dance in the heat from the okonomiyaki.

While it can be a meal all on its own, I served it with some daikon, peeled, cut into rounds, beveled the edges (a process known as mentori), and simmered in a kelp/dashi/soy broth until tender. Refer to this recipe for “furofuki daikon” from Recipezaar.

Okonomiyaki Sauce
from The Japanese Kitchen
You may be able to find okonomiyaki sauce at a local ethnic store, but it’s just a variation on steak sauce. Make your own by mixing the following and simmer for 3 minutes:

• 1/4 cup tomato ketchup
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon smooth French mustard
• 2 Tablespoons mirin
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

A note on Kewpie mayonnaise (sometimes referred to as QP mayonnaise). You may be tempted to pull out your typical mayo, but this soft, squeezable bottle dispenses a tangier version of the white gooey condiment. It’s made with rice vinegar or cider vinegar, which gives it a little sweeter flavor unlike the simpler creamy flavor of American mayo.

Pork products, bacon in particular, are today’s it ingredients. I have a vegetarian aunt-in-law that used to allow bacon into her diet. My brother had a no-pork policy for a time, but even then he allowed the crunchy strips of pork belly onto his plate. I’ve seen references on numerous blogs to bacon ice cream (3M hits on the Google search). The top results are from acclaimed pastry chef, David Lebovitz, who has written a few books on dessert. His recipe is for Candied Bacon Ice Cream, which sounded good, but I didn’t want the overdone sweetness that I expected from the candying.

I wanted to not only achieve the obvious synergy of smoky-salty-sweet-crunchy-smooth that this recipe is destined to exhibit, but I wanted to improve upon my previous ice cream making adventures. In the past, I’ve made ice cream that was over-cooked, I’ve over-churned, I’ve under-churned, I’ve burnt the cream. I also wanted to use some of my new powdery additives to improve upon a classic.

I took a basic ice cream recipe, flavored it with a little vanilla and cinnamon, added some stabilizers, and folded in bacon at the end. Here’s the recipe:

Bacon Ice Cream

2c heavy cream
1c milk
1 cinnamon stick, broken
2 eggs
3/4 c sugar
1.1 g locust bean gum (optional)
0.5 g xanthan gum (optional)
1t vanilla extract
5-7 slices crispy cooked bacon, well-drained and chopped or crumbled into small pieces

In a 2-3 quart pot, heat the cream, milk, and cinnamon over medium heat. Let it come just to a boil, and turn off the heat.

In a bowl, use a whisk to beat the eggs with the sugar until it lightens in color.

Temper the eggs with some of the hot cream: take a ladle of the hot cream and pour into the egg/sugar mixture, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Repeat with a few more ladles of the hot cream. This reduces the chance of your eggs curdling into scrambled eggs.

Add the rest of the hot cream to the eggs and beat to fully incorporate, then return all of it to the pot.

At this point, I decided I really wanted to use some stabilizers. It’s not that I’ve had stability issues with previous ice creams I’ve made, but I do feel like they could be, well, better. Many products that you consume have some sort of stabilizer or emulsifier, they are just there to improve food quality. You don’t need them, but I wanted to see if they made a difference. I decided upon using locust bean gum and xanthan gum. They generally are measured out as a percentage of the total mass, and I was adding about .04% and .1% of LBG and Xanthan gum, respectively. I found this on some food manufacturing site as the middle of the range for ice cream stabilization. If I come across it again, I’ll edit the link in here.

The stabilizers, if using, should be added to the custard mixture with an immersion blender.

Turn the heat on to medium-low. Stir it as it heats. You want to heat it to about 170 degrees. Other clues that you’re done: the custard will coat the back of a spoon (nape), the bubbles will disappear. The heat cooks the eggs, which thickens the custard. It also allows the gums to fully hydrate so that they can do their thing.

At this point, you should remove it from the heat, cool it down and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to let the flavors develop. I didn’t, because I was impatient, and it still tasted great.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions and fold in bacon bits. I use this Cuisinart model.

Put into some sort of container to harden in the freezer.

Serve with a crisp bacon garnish if you like that sort of thing. You should end up with something like this:

I expected it to be pretty good, but not this good. The bacon gives a crunch, the cinnamon and vanilla base are just flavorful enough to set a nice background for the bacon, which is the star of this creation. I’m not sure if the stabilizers made a difference or not, if you try it without, let me know how it goes. I used some bacon that was otherwise languishing in the freezer (Hormel Black Label if you must know). When I make it again, I think I’d use a thicker and/or more flavorful bacon. Other ideas: a bourbon & brown sugar swirl, maple syrup flavor in the base. I have another pound of bacon in the freezer… maybe a follow-up is in order?

Mo’s Bacon Bar

It’s my favorite chocolate bar when I’m not having good dark chocolate. Yeah, it has real bacon in it, and I like it with a peaty Islay Scotch, which pairs well with the smokiness of the bacon and the salt in the chocolate.