Monday Miscellany

Reader, I had a retro moment this weekend when I grabbed the container of bacon fat out of my fridge while I was cooking. It wasn't a Maxwell House coffee can but a Whole Foods container instead and the brussels sprouts browned in bacon fat before finishing in the oven were a revelation. Someday I aspire to actually cooking pork in bacon fat, as Jennifer Hess of Last Night's Dinner does. Incredible.

Until I have a kitchen with a proper exhaust fan I'm not sure that I can cook bacon at home too often. My entire apartment reeks of it for days--even the cats smell of it. And as delicious as bacon is, I don't want to smell it for that long. The microwave method works well enough, and although a bit bloodless, it does contain the mess and stench in a way that stove top preparation cannot.

Today the New York Times reported that the American pig Renaissance continues with the re-discovery of the even fattier Hungarian Mangalitsa pig. This is a great little article about how excited chefs get about heirloom breeds. And such cute curly ears, too!


I look forward to eating you one day.

Tonight I caught up on the new NBC show starring Ian MacShane, Kings, a sort of futuristic David and Goliath story. As he is wont to do, McShane chews up every scene he's in, but if you haven't yet seen Deadwood or The Wire, skip Kings and rent these instead.