January 31, 2014

Bacon.

I'd said I was going to to step away from the computer to cook up a second pre-breakfast. Tank said: "Second pre-breakfast?... What are you a Hobbit? Or perhaps feeling a little eleven o'clockish? (It's always eleven o'clockish somewhere)." And I said:

So… you wake up at 3:30. Unable to go back to sleep, you get up at 4. You make coffee and a little snack. (I had peanut butter on half an apple.)

At some point, your husband will wake up, and he's all about cooking up a lot of bacon. That's officially breakfast.

But he's not up, and it's 2 and a half hours since the first pre-breakfast, so you make second pre-breakfast. (I made hot chocolate and scrambled eggs.)

The other thing is that the bacon-cooking method used takes something like an hour.

I'm just getting bacon now, at 9 o'clock, which is nearly 6 hours after I woke up. Hence the pre-breakfast imperative.
Madison Man wanted to know "What kind of bacon?" It's the bacon sold by the pound at the meat counter at Whole Foods, and I just happen to have photographed it:

32 comments:

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Life in Bag End.

AustinRoth said...

I love bacon, but a 1 hour cooking method?

tim in vermont said...

Did he cook the bacon sous vide? One hour?

Kelly said...

One hour? Did you do the water method? I've been up for five hours and have had a breakfast of coffee.

madAsHell said...

We recently acquired "The Spinal Tap++" of induction stove tops. Yes, you can turn it up to 11....hell, you can turn it up to 12.

My wife attempted to use the 12 setting to cook some bacon. The bacon went from pig flesh to carbon in less than a minute.

rhhardin said...

Bacon in 90 seconds, photographed just now.

Notice several time-saving features.

1. Paper plate, holding oils from several pervious soy products, prevents sticking.

2. No need to clean microwave very often. Guy involved.

3. Together with bread, butter and microwaved poached egg whites, makes a delicious sandwich.

4. The dog gets the yolks, producing a beautiful coat and great appreciation of finer foods.

Tank said...

I thought I was on an early schedule (at my desk at 7 AM). You put me to shame.

Admit no one is making bacon at Tankhouse in the AM. We often eat a big breakfast for dinner. And other bacon things for dinner too. I had an egg salad salad plate for dinner last night, with bacon in the egg salad. Hmmmm. Lure Althouse to egg salad with bacon?

Oso Negro said...

I will say this about you Wisconsinites - you do know your bacon. Nueske's applewood smoked bacon changed my life after a full 55 years of eating lesser bacon.

Ann Althouse said...

Click on link for cooking method.

Yes, it's the water method.

test said...

Or perhaps feeling a little eleven o'clockish?

I believe the term is "Elevenses".

rhhardin said...

Dog's half. Presentation is everyhing.

MadisonMan said...

If you're using the water bacon, which, per the link, promises that you don't end with a pan full of grease, it seems to me that that grease has to have gone *somewhere*. (I also don't like it that the smell of bacon doesn't permeate the house -- that's the beauty of bacon!)

So where does the grease go when you cook in water?

MadisonMan said...

water bacon cooking method, that is.

traditionalguy said...

Suddenly re-distribution is starting to make sense. You are eating High on the Hog. But as long as Zeus is getting a bite of it too, that's OK.

Anonymous said...

Vegie bacon? Ew.

Anonymous said...

Vegie bacon ew comment was to rhhardin.

rhhardin said...

The soy stuff is pretty good, though some burgers are not up to current taste standards.

Don't overnuke the bacon, is all.

Tank said...

Marshal said...
Or perhaps feeling a little eleven o'clockish?

I believe the term is "Elevenses".


I was thinking Winnie the Pooh !

test said...

Tank said...
I was thinking Winnie the Pooh !


Ah, I thought you were continuing with The Hobbit theme where elevenses comes after second breakfast.

Julie C said...

I too love the smell of bacon cooking in the house. It's the aftermath I don't like. For some reason, after we've cooked bacon on the stove, when the furnace goes on and starts blowing out warm air in the house, it has a weird metallic smell to it.

So I usually cook bacon in the microwave. I tried the water method, but it takes too long. I've got two hungry teenaged boys to get out the door in the a.m.

The microwave method is definitely less messy.

Kirk Parker said...

rhh:

"Veggie" bacon.


WTFFFFFFFFFF??????

Ann Althouse said...

@madisonman You do end up with grease in the pan.

Kirk Parker said...

Althouse,

Wait wait wait--do you mean you *don't* end up with saveable bacon fat and the end of the process?

Good grief, what do you fry your eggs in, then???

Lydia said...

When I was a kid, people kept a special bacon-drippings container on the stove. I remember my widowed grandfather using those drippings as the shortening in his coffee cake recipe.

prairie wind said...

Popcorn popped in bacon grease. Mmm. Bacon grease that doesn't stay in the pan ends up on the range hood, the kitchen ceiling, the salt and pepper shakers kept on the back of the stove, any decorative items displayed on the tops of cupboards.

Tibore said...

I just discovered that bacon vodka is a thing. I had no idea this product even existed.

Anonymous said...

Soy is goitrogenic and estrogenic. Not a good choice for anyone, but especially men.

Lydia said...

Inga, my first thought was of Asians and their consumption of soy, and an informative discussion here about the pros & cons of soy re the thyroid says this:

"There are estimates suggesting that Asians consume some 10 to 30 milligrams of isoflavones from soy a day at most -- and it's soy in traditional food form that is not processed or genetically modified. In the U.S., however, some people are getting as much as 80 to 100 milligrams of soy isoflavones a day, by consuming soy milk, soy nuts, soy protein shakes, soy candy bars, soy cereal, and foods enriched with soy, as well as soy supplements. Some soy and isoflavone supplements have as much as 300 milligrams of isoflavones."

So, maybe it's the over-consumption that's the potential problem?

Anonymous said...

Asians also eat a lot of fermented soy. Which supposedly is not goitrogenic or estrogenic. I suppose everything done in excess is going to be more harmful than when done rarely or occasionally.

Ann Althouse said...

I said it does.

Popville said...

Big "me too!" to Oso's "applewood smoked bacon changed my life", tho not a specific brand.

Maple cured - bleh!

ken in tx said...

In the Air Force, during KP, I learned how to bake bacon in a oven, in flat pans, pounds at a time. It turns out crispy and great that way.

The bacon grease container on the stove is a left over from WWII. People were urged to save the grease and turn it in for war production. It was one of the ingredients of nitroglycerin and therefore TNT for bombs. My family continued to save it well into the 60s.