I Made That!

This post could alternatively be title: An Ode to Charcuterie and Michael Ruhlman. What you see above is a picture of THE BEST blt sandwich I have ever had in my life. It’s made on my homemade bread, but most importantly, with my homemade bacon! There are some things that I’ve just never even considered making and bacon used to be on that list, but not anymore. Thanks to that genius Ruhlman, I’ve now made bacon, cured salmon, corned beef and made chorizo sausage. I’ve even ordered a sausage stuffer attachment for my beloved Kitchenaid. There’s no stopping me! I can’t even begin to describe to you the difference between that stuff you buy in the grocery that they try to call bacon and what you can make at home. And when you make your own bacon you can customize the flavour so that it’s just the way you like it, in my case, with a hint of maple syrup. In honour of bacon and Ruhlman, I’ve re-written a little ditty that I’m sure is familiar to all of you. If you need a refresher, just have a look at the following video and then add my lyrics to the tune.

An Ode to Bacon (and Ruhlman)

I made it in my kitchen
Somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was
Until I made you

It was neat, can’t be beat
Made with ease, I was pleased and knew
That I made it real
Yeah, I made it real
Easy to do

Made some bacon
Made it for the very first time
Made some ba-a-a-acon
It’s the best meat
Oh so fine

Gonna give you all my time, boy
My fear is fading fast
Didn’t know that it was true
When it’s cured it lasts

You're so fine and you're mine
Your so good, that you make me cry
How your taste came out
Yeah, your taste came out
Go give it a try!

Make some bacon
Make it for the very first time
Make some ba-a-a-acon
It’s the best meat
Oh so fiiiiiiiine

Oooh, oooh, oooh
Oooh, oooh, oooh, aaaah
Oooh, oooh, oooh

That’s not all and there’s more
I made what, you can buy in stores
I can now smoke meat
And it’s great to eat
‘Specially when fried

Made some bacon
Made it for the very first time
Made some ba-a-a-acon
It’s the best meat
Oh so fine

Made some bacon, ooh, ooh
Made some bacon
Tastes so good inside
When I make it, and you taste it, and you love me

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Ooh, baby
Can't you taste that bacon
For the very first time?

If anyone happens to be musically inclined, feel free to record this song, you know you want to...

Bacon’s not just for breakfast either, it enhances ANY dish that it’s added to, like pizza. The pizza you see is topped not only with bacon, but also caramelized onions, garlic, my own smoked salmon and has cheese baked into the homemade crust. Upcoming posts will see me adding bacon to potato and cheddar soup, roasts, sandwiches and a multitude of other meals. You can’t go wrong with bacon, or Charcuterie. I have also been loving putting smoked salmon in everything.

It’s especially great in salads and I think it goes without saying that smoked salmon and cream cheese on a bagel is delicious. As for the chorizo sausage, since I don’t yet have my sausage stuffer attachment, I just made it into free form patties which I threw in the freezer to pull out as a flavour enhancer to any soup, stew or sauce. Don’t you worry though, I’ve used chorizo as more than just a background flavour, it’s played a starring role in a breakfast pita with eggs and cheese. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show you of the corned beef I made, but I had a great cabbage and corned beef supper, followed the next day by a corned beef sandwich. The following is my artistic rendition of what my corned beef sandwich sort of looked like.

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Bacon + Charcuterie + Michael Ruhlman + Sausage + Salmon