Happy Holidays

From Gord's Bacon to each and every one of you, we wish:

12 peameal roasts
11grillers grilling
10 brand new ovens
9 postal boxes
8 thick sliced peameal
7 jars of mustard
6 thin sliced peameal
5 Canada geese
4 Gord's aprons
3 dozen eggs
2 sticky buns
and
a
Gord's Gift certificate for thee!

Enjoy your Holidays and we'll see you in
the
New Year!

Comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Braised Pork and Turnips

Turnips? Aren't they the butt of jokes...you know, falling off the turnip truck? Like Rodney Dangerfield, turnips don't get no respect...until now. Here, the brine of the peameal works so nicely with the wine.Thanks to Mark Bittman, here's a great combination that will earn the turnip its R E S P E C T. And after one taste, no one will think you fell off the back of a turnip truck.

Braised Pork and Turnips

1 T. neutral oil, canola or corn
1 T. butter
1 1/2 pounds peameal, cubed
1 1/2 pounds turnips, pealed and cubed
3/4 c. white wine
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 T. parsley

Heat a 12 inch skillet over medium high heat for one minute. Add the oil and butter. When the butter foam subsides or the oil is hot, add the pork, a few cubes at a time. When it's all in there, turn the heat up to high. Cook for about 5 minutes, undisturbed, until the pork is nicely browned on one side. Turn each piece, return the heat to medium-high, and cook for about 3 minutes more.

Add the turnips and shake so there's one even layer. Cook for another 3 or 4 minutes until the turnips brown. Add the liquid and stir once or twice. Add salt and pepper to taste and half the parsley. Turn the heat to medium low and cover. Cook about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove the cover and raise the heat to medium high; boil the liquid until it is reduced to a syrupy glaze. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

Peameal Roast with Apples and Raisins

It is finally Autumn. Pumpkins, squash, apples, cranberries...and they all go so well with pork. And can be made into nice chutneys, too. To celebrate the season, try this sweet peameal roast with apples and raisins that make a nice mild chutney. Sugar and spice and everything...nice!

Peameal Roast with Apples and Raisins

1 peameal roast
1 can Vernor's gingerale (any variety, but we're partial to Vernor's...)

3 Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored and sliced in 1/2 inch thick wedges
leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
2T. unsalted butter or margarine
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
3 T brown sugar
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
Pinch of dry mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the peameal roast in a roasting pan. Cover the peameal roast with gingerale until about 1/4 inch covers the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake until internal termperature is 150 degrees. Remove from oven and let the roast rest, covered, for 20- 30 minutes.

While the roast cooks, melt butter in a clean skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and thyme and cook and stir for 8 minutes. Toss in raisins and add applesauce, stirring frequently. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and dry mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the apples. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the apples are softened. Spoon spiced apples over slices of peameal.

Eat and Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome at Gords! See you next month!

Gordette

Sweet Corn Fritters and Peameal Bacon

Here in the midwest, late August and early September are all about fairs. County fairs, regional fairs and state fairs. It's harvest season, and out come the fruits of the labors: pies made with summer berries and apples, produce grown lovingly all summer, and animals raised by youngsters who are anxious to see just how their hog, goat, lamb or cow compares to all the others.

And this time of year is about sweet corn and tomatoes. These two items will taste no better at any other time of year. So here you have it, from The Harrow Fair Cookbook by Moira Sanders, Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney, sweetcorn fritters, topped with peameal and a big ol' slice of tomato. Make it at other times of the year with frozen corn...still yummy! Breakfast, lunch or dinner...or all three!

Sweet Corn Fritters and Peameal Bacon

8 slices peameal bacon
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3 T flour
1 cup fresh sweetcorn kernels
1/4 c. fresh flatleaf parsley

Fry the peameal and keep warm in the oven.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, about 2 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl and fold in the flower, corn and parsley. Gently fold in the egg whites. Coat the bottom of a pan with oil and heat. Place 2 T dollops of the corn batter in the pan, careful not to crowd the fritters. Flatten and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Place fritters in a warming pan in the oven and finish frying the remaining batter.

To assemble, on four plates, divide fritters between plates, top each fritter with 2 slices of peameal, a slice of tomato and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Enjoy!

See you next month...comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Slab Bacon and Mushroom Strata

I was looking for a brunch recipe the other day that was not sweet. Something that was savory and a little bit out of the ordinary. I came across this in the cookbook, "Pig- King of the Southern Table". It calls for slab bacon, which peameal fits nicely. It's much more lean than other slab bacons, so the recipe called for a little adjustment as there's no drippings, even after frying a pound of it. Also, because this is a strata, you'll need to make it the night before you're going to serve it, or at least two hours ahead, so the egg mixture has time to soak into the bread.

As the author notes, you can use a variety of mushrooms (ummm...what about picking your own morels in season...) and a variey of cheeses (I would have used some nice aged Canadian cheddar if someone else would part with it...). Use your imagination with this versatile dish.

Slab Bacon and Mushroom Strata

4-5 slices of white bread, crusts trimmed
1 pound peameal, diced
2 t. butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 t. Dijon mustard
1 c. shredded swiss cheese
2 c. half and half
3 large eggs, beaten
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Tobasco sauce to taste

Grease a 2-2 1/2 quart casserole. Arrange the slices of bread on the bottom of the casserole dish, and set aside.

In a large skillet, fry the peameal. Set it aside. Add 2 t. butter to skillet and saute the mushrooms and onions until golden, about 8 minutes. Return the bacon to the skillet, add the mustard to the bacon, mushrooms and onions and stir well.

Spoon the bacon mixture evenly over the bread and sprinkle the cheese on top.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, Worcestershire, seasonings and Tobasco. Whisk until well blended. Pour over the cheese and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees and bake for 45- 50 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!


See you next month. Comments are always welcome at Gord's.

Gordette

A Tale of Two Breakfasts- Egg, Bacon and Cheese Muffins

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way "
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Although Dickens was talking about two cities, prior to the French Revolution, he might as well have been talking about breakfast: bran cereal, low-fat yogurt, dry toast vs grits made with cream, waffles with syrup and fried eggs...oh, my. So I bring you a breakfast that straddles the fence...somewhere between lightness and darkness, and definitely heavenly!

Egg, Bacon and Cheese Muffins

3 English muffins, split in half
6 slices peameal bacon
6 slices tomato
1/2 t. salt and pepper
2 T. butter
6 eggs
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Toast or grill muffins until golden. Place on foil-lined baking sheets.

In skillet over medium-high heat or on grill, fry bacon, turning once, until crips about 8 minutes.

Place one slice of bacon on each muffin half, top with tomatoe slice and sprinkle with half of the salt and pepper.

In skillet, melt half the butter, crack 3 eggs into the pan, sprinkle with the rest of the salt and pepper, cover and cook until the white is set and the yolk is runny, about 2 minutes. Set on the tomato. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Sprinkle the eggs with cheese and broil or warm.

Serve with home fries...and fruit salad and yogurt to complete the Tale of Two Breakfasts.

See you next month...your comments are always welcome at Gord's.

Gordette

Pork Fried Rice

Is there anyone on the planet who has NOT enjoyed Fried Rice??? Pork, shrimp, beef. We recently tried a Chinese restaurant close to home and had this delectable food...and thought that it would be even a little BETTER with peameal. The consistency of peameal lends itself...firm but tender so it doesn't dry out and oh, MAN, it goes well with scallions. So...for your enjoyment with leftover peameal, we present.....

Peameal Fried Rice

(no photo...we were too busy eating!)

1/3 pound peameal, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 T. soy sauce
1 t. Asian sesame oil
3/4 c. long grain rice
3 ounces of fresh spinach
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 T. cooking oil
2 chopped scallions

In a medium bowl, mix the peameal, half of the soy sauce, 1/2 t. of sesame oil and a pinch of red pepper. Set aside. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in the rice and boil until done. Drain the rice.

Heat a large skillet over moderately high heat. Put the peameal mixture in the pan and cook until browned. Remove. Put the spinach and the rest of the soy sauce in the pan and cook until the spinach is just wilted, about 30 seconds. Remove.

Reduce the heat to moderate. Put a few drops of the sesame oil in the frying pan. Add the egg to the pan and cook until just done, about 30 seconds. Remove from the pan and cut into strips.

Heat the remaining sesame oil in the pan over moderately high heat. Add the scallions and red pepper flakes to taste. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the cooked rice and heat for 3 minutes. Add the remaining soy sauce, the peameal, spinach and egg. Heat, stirring 1-2 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

See you next month. Your comments are always welcome at Gord's.

Gordette

Bacon-Cheese Pull-Aparts

Peameal is just a wonderful breakfast meat. We have it almost every Saturday morning in some sort of benedict. And we've fixed it for a crowd, frying up slices to serve with eggs, toast, jam and potatoes. Some mornings, though, people are on the run...or sometimes they want a little something, but not that big American breakfast.

Enter Bacon-Cheese Pull-Aparts. Think of this as savory Monkey Bread. You remember Monkey Bread...refrigerator biscuits, cut into pieces, dipped into butter, shaken in sugar and cinnamon and piled into a bunt pan, baked and turned out. You pulled off piece(s), as many as you liked. This is more a slice apart, than pull apart. If you eat it warm, you'll need a plate and fork. Eat it a little cooler, slice off a piece, and all you'll need is a napkin as you go out to run your errands. YUM!

Bacon-Cheese Pull-Aparts
(based on a recipe in Iowa State Fair 14th Edition Cookbook: Prize-Winning
Recipes From the 2006-2007 Fairs)

2 eggs
3 T. milk
16 oz. can refrigerator biscuits
2 slices peameal bacon, cooked and cut into 1/2 inch slices
3/4 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
4 medium green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Spray an 11x 17 inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat egg and milk with a wire whisk until smooth. Separate dough into 8 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Gently stir the biscuit pieces into the milk/egg mixture to coat evenly. Move coated pieces to the side.

In the remaining milk/egg mixture, fold in bacon, cheese, onions, mustard and pepper. Spoon mixture into sprayed dish; arrange the coated biscuit pieces on top, in a single layer. Bake at 350 degree oven, 23- 28 minutes, or until golden brown. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!

See you next month! Comments are always welcome at Gords (gord@gordsbacon.com).

Gordette

Pasta E Fagiole

Weekends are often "cooking" days. There's plenty of time for recipes that take preparation as well as cooking time. So this last weekend, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I got Gord a copy of "Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes: The best recipes from the 25 best cookbooks of the year", volume 13 from Food and Wine for Christmas. The reason I purchased the cookbook was for some recipes by Donald Link, from a favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Cochon. As usual, though, once you start paging through a cook book, there are a LOT of recipes that call to you. One of them was this beans and pasta soup/stew. I'm sure you've made it lots of times, with a variety of ingredients...always, though, with beans and pasta, or it wouldn't be pasta e fagiole. This one called for...yes...PORK!!! So I had to try it. This recipe, from the cookbook, "Salt to Taste", published by Rodale Publishing, by Marco Canora with Catherine Young, uses pancetta or prosciutto, as well as slab bacon. I used peameal for the pancetta, reducing the fat content, because of the lean nature of peameal...and it was pretty darn tasty. In the original recipe, the pork is removed before serving. I chopped it after removal for those who wanted a little more with their soup!

Enjoy!

Pasta E Fagiole

Serves (a lot...the pasta swells...)

4 ounces peameal bacon, cut into 4 pieces
4 ounces smoked slab bacon
6 T extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for serving
2 c. diced white onions
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 T minced garlic
1 1/2 T finely chopped fresh rosemary (fresh is best!)
1 1/2 T finely chopped fresh sage
1 1/2 T tomato paste
2 1/4 c chicken broth
3 c. cannellini beans ( 28 oz canned beans)
1 pound short tubular pasta (I would use half this amount..it realllly swells)
3 T unsalted butter
2T freshly grated Parmigiano-Regiano (the real cheese...not the pre-grated variety)

Combine the bacons and oil in a stock put. Cook over medium heat. As the bacon browns, add the onions. Fry until the onions are soft. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add rosemary and sage. Cook for a minute or two and add the tomato paste, and cook over medium-low heat until concentrated and darkened. Add the broth and 1/2 the beans. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

As this is cooking, puree the rest of the beans with a little of the bean cooking liquid. You want about 3/4 of a cup. Scrape the puree into the pot and stir to mix. Simmer about 10 minutes. Remove the meat (you can discard or CHOP and sprinkle a little over the top when served). Season with salt and pepper. At this point you can finish the recipe and serve the soup, or you can refrigerate or freeze the beans for later use.

When you're ready to complete the soup, cook the pasta in a separate pot of boiling salted water (not in the bean broth). When it's almost al dente, lift it from the boiling water and add to the bean mixture. Stir in the butter and Parmigiano, add a few grinds of pepper and simmer until the pasta's done. Ladle into bowls, drizzle a little oil on the top and ENJOY!

The next day, when you take the leftovers out of the fridge, you'll wonder...where'd the broth go??? Just add more broth to your servings and you're good to go!

See you next month! Comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Gordette