Results from Blind Bacon Tasting

Yes, I tasted different bacons from all over the US so you wouldn't have to. I spared you. You can thank me later. The tasting results from today's Camp Bacon at 18 Reasons with Zingerman's Ari Weinzweig are below:

Bacons	Tasting 1	Tasting 2	Total	Ranking
1) Vande Rose (Iowa)	7	2	9	5/6 Tie
2) House of Sticks (California)	6	8	14	Third Place
3) Nueske's (Wisconsin)	5	1	6	7/8/9 Tie
4) Benton's (Tennessee)	11	5	16	Second Place
5) Niman Ranch (Iowa)	1	5	6	7/8/9 Tie
6) Broadbent's (Kentucky)	10	2	12	Fourth Place
7) Nodine's (Connecticut)	5	4	9	5/6 Tie
8) Bi-Rite (California)	4	14	18	First Place
9) Edwards (Virginia)	4	2	6	7/8/9 Tie

Procedural Notes: Each person was told to vote for 2 favorite tastes (each person voted twice). Although bacons were labeled 1-9 on the tasting plate, it's not necessarily the order of tasting and many people tasted them all twice.

The major bacon differentiators include: pig breed, pig feed, spices and length of curing, wet or dry curing, type of wood used for smoking, and length of smoking. (When comparing bacons from different countries, make sure you know which pig part you're eating. Some areas of the world use the back and loin of a pig instead of the belly, which we use in the States.)

Official Notes from the 18 Reasons Tasting: (errors are in original)

[First Place Winner] Bi-Rite's House-Cured Bacon - San Francisco. Butcher Chili Montes sources Becker Lane Organic Pork Bellies to make Bi-Rite's house bacon. Becker Lane is a fourth generation family farm who grows their own organic feed, which doesn't include corn. This is the same pork that Herb Eckhouse uses for his exquisite La Quercia prosciutto. Montes dry-cures the meat in a mixture of salt, sugar, nutmeg, juniper, thyme, bay, garlic and nitrite for about seven days. He then smokes it for about 6 hours over sugar maple hardwood.

[Second Place Winner] Benton's Bacon - Eastern Tennessee. Allen Benton has always been passionate about using the best pork. He sources small batches of old heritage breeds (primarily Berkshire) from farms that raise their pigs humanely, on pasture, where they are not confined to a small space or made to live on concrete. Benton's is known for its intense smoky flavor, and is sliced thick. `Whatever you do, don't overcook it - take it out the moment it gets crispy!' warns Benton.

[Third Place Winner] House of Sticks Bacon - San Francisco. From their friends at Prather Ranch, Dave Le and Ryan Freitas source pork bellies from heritage pigs (Berkshire and Tamworth breeds) which are raised locally on an organic and, more importantly, varied diet. They cure them with a mix of brown sugar, salt, black pepper and bay leaf that brings out a rich savory character in the final product.

In case you're interested, I voted for Bi-Rite and for Nodine's. It's interesting that Nodine's didn't come near the top in this tasting considering that it was "rated #2 in the country in the most recent California Bacon Cook-Off."

If you'd like to know more about artisanal producers, the history of bacon, great recipes such as Bacon Mayonnaise and chocolate bacon gravy, get Ari's book. Ari's favorite bacon recipe is American Fried Bread, which he found in a 1914 cookbook. This recipe basically involves soaking up bacon fat with bread, and frying the bread. He recommends Zingerman's Roadhouse rye bread for that recipe.

Ari's other exploits currently include training business owners how to train their staff. Last week, he conducted such a session at San Francisco's Ferry Building for the vendors. At the time of the session, I heard that Jacky Recchiuti was meeting with Ari and was hoping for a new bacon chocolate bar to be born, but alas and alack, they were not meeting about that. Ari's next book may be an anarchist's guide to building a great business because of his studies of Russian History at the University of Michigan.

Bacon Fat Mayonnaise
Makes about 2 cups

Adapted from Ari Weinzweig's "Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon" (Zingerman's Press, 2009). N.B.: this will look different from traditional mayonnaise.

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 7 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups rendered bacon fat (saved from frying bacon)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Freshly ground Tellicherry or other black pepper to taste

Instructions: Chill all ingredients and utensils (including the mixing bowl) down to about 40°. Don't skip this step or the mayonnaise may break.

Beat the egg yolks, mustard and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the lemon juice in a blender or mixing bowl on high for 2 minutes, until well-blended.

Add in the bacon fat (no need to add gradually if everything's properly chilled), continuing to beat until the mixture is thick. Depending on how thick and rich you like your mayonnaise, you may or may not need the entire amount of fat.

Slowly blend in the remaining lemon juice, sea salt and pepper, whipping it pretty much continuously throughout. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Now I'm off to invest in pork belly futures!

What's the oldest drink you've ever tasted?

How about a 3,800 year old beer? In 1988, experts set about recreating an ancient beer after finding a loose recipe on an ancient clay tablet within a hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of brewing. Dr. Solomon Katz of the University of Pennsylvania and Fritz Maytag of Anchor Steam Brewery did manage to brew the ancient beer in 1989 after decoding the recipe full of vague ingredients such as "flowing water," which meant the salty waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Goddess Ninkasi, whose name literally means "you who fill my mouth so full," must have been honored.

Now how about the elixir that mourners of King Midas drank at his funerary feast circa 8th Century B.C.? UPenn's Patrick E. McGovern, molecular archeologist and the leading authority on ancient alcoholic beverages, analyzed residue from the drinking vessels found in King Midas' tomb but could not determine which beverage those vessels had contained. Dr. McGovern found evidence of a mixture of barley beer, grape wine, and honey or mead which would have tasted awful all together without a bittering agent. Dogfish Head Brewery found the solution by adding saffron and reconstructed the historic beverage with barley, honey, saffron, and white Muscat grapes (because bonafide ancient stock from Turkish grapes wasn't available). This was marketed in 2001 as the Midas Touch Golden Elixir by Dogfish and you can read all about it in Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages.


You can now recreate the funerary feast of King Midas at home with your slow cooker. Get yourself some Midas Touch brew from Dogfish and the recipe for the lamb and lentil stew, which is available in The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World, and you'll be golden (unfortunately, pun intended).

You don't have to be vegan to love vegan food

While filling up on holiday party treats, Food Maven Tania L. from Berkeley really surprised me with her outstanding mini chocolate cupcakes - and it wasn't just the googley eyes on top (an homage to Stephen Colbert's googley-eyed clams?).

I was surprised how delicious vegan cupcakes could be and how superior they were to the conventional cupcakes in our local specialty bakeries like Kara's and Sprinkles.

Tania's cupakes were made according to the recipe
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule by Moskowitz & Romero who have also written the vegan cookie bible: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats. At the end of this post, you'll find the recipe for these cupcakes and the chocolate mousse topping/frosting.

If you're considering going vegan this year, now's the time for Philadelphians. To help you fulfill your new year's resolution, the Pennsylvania chapter of Friends of Animals is hosting a free program this January to help up to 30 people pledge to go vegan for one month. Participants in the “Vegan Pledge” will be paired with a vegan mentor, will be started off with a vegan care package, and will be invited to five meetings in Philadelphia. At the meetings, participants will be given cooking and shopping lessons, receive information about veganism, and will have lunches together where they will sample various vegan foods. "Philadelphians who want to dedicate 2010 to the animals, the environment, or their health have a great opportunity to do that," says Leila Fusfeld from FOA Philly. The program is already more than half-full, but there is room for about a dozen more. To register or find out more information about the Vegan Pledge, e-mail leila@foaphilly.org.


Happy 2010 everyone!

Chocolate Cupcakes
(From Moskawitz & Romero, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspooon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350; line muffin pan.
2. Whisk soymilk and vinegar in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour through salt.
4. Add sugar, oil, and extracts to soymilk; beat until foamy.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet in two batches, and beat until only a few small lumps remain.
6. Pour into liners, 3/4 full, and bake 18-20 minutes. (For mini cupcakes, baking time is closer to 12 minutes.)

Chocolate Mousse for topping
(From Moskawitz & Romero recipes in VegNews)

12 ounces extra-firm silken tofu (e.g. Mori-Nu brand)
1/4 cup plain soymilk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use 62% Scharffen Berger)

1. Crumble tofu in food processor or blender with everything but chocolate, and blend until perfectly smooth. May need to scrape down sides a few times.
2. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, heat in 30 seconds increments, mixing in between.
3. Add melted chocolate to tofu mixture, and blend until perfectly smooth.
4. Taste and adjust accordingly -- depending on the chocolate, you may want to add more maple syrup.
4. Chill for 1 hour for a firm mousse. You can serve on its own, or use a pastry bag to top the cupcakes.

Note: It's easier to pipe this mousse through a pastry bag if it hasn't been chilled for a full hour. The quality of the chocolate also matters -- I like it very dark, and find that a high quality chocolate (like Scharffen Berger) produces a *much* better result than generic chocolate chips.