I Love Bacon!
Encyclopedia
I Love Bacon! is a cookbook
with over fifty recipes devoted to bacon
and bacon dishes, many of them from celebrity chef
s. Written by Jayne Rockmill with photographs by Ben Fink, I Love Bacon! was published in October 2010 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
.
based in New York City whose clients include Tony Caputo
, François Halard
, and the professional photographer and storm chaser
, Jim Reed. Rockmill had also become involved in producing charity food and wine events and is a long time supporter of the New York City Food Bank
and Share Our Strength
which focuses on ending childhood hunger. She conceived the book as a way to help raise money for their work, and a portion of the proceeds from I Love Bacon will be donated to the two charities. Rockmill began by asking chefs she knew personally to donate bacon recipes, and then contacted others across the United States. In some cases, she adapted the original recipes in collaboration with the chefs.
The book's illustrator is the well-known food photographer, Ben Fink, whose photographs appear in Food & Wine
, Bon Appétit
, Saveur
and publications of the Culinary Institute of America
. A native of Memphis, Tennessee
now based in New York, Fink illustrated Jacques Pépin
's, Fast Food My Way (2004) and Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America (2000) for which he won a James Beard Foundation Award
in 2001. Some of Fink's more unusual food photographs are those for Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge's 1997 InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook
, where the food is photographed against the background of a naked human body.
, John Besh
, Ming Tsai
, and Chris Cosentino
, as well as brief biographies of the chefs themselves. It presents recipes for making bacon from scratch as well as recipes for dishes with bacon as one of the chief ingredients. The recipes are grouped into eight sections beginning with Make Your Own Bacon which has recipes for "Classic Cured Bacon", "Spicy Braised Bacon", "Soy-Ginger Braised Bacon", "Crispy Pork Belly", and "Chinese Style Pork Belly". The remaining seven sections (Brunch; Small Bites; Soups, Salads and Sides; Pasta; Fish; Meat; and Desserts) contain recipes for dishes using bacon as one of the main ingredients.
The Brunch section begins with a recipe from Seattle-based Black Rock Spirits for "Bakon Bloody Mary", a variant on the traditional Bloody Mary
cocktail
using bacon infused vodka
with the glass rim dipped in lime juice and finely crumbled grilled bacon. Although the majority of recipes in this section feature bacon with its traditional brunch partner, eggs, there is also a recipe for "Mediterranean BLTs". This version of the classic BLT sandwich pairs the bacon, lettuce and tomato with toasted focaccia
bread and red-pepper aioli
in place of mayonnaise. Another version of the BLT using toasted brioche
and sun-dried tomato
es cut into mini-sandwiches appears in the Small Bites section which is devoted to bacon-based hors d'oeuvres.
Among the recipes in Soups, Salads and Sides are "Egg Chowder
with Bacon and New Potatoes", "Grilled Bacon and Cucumber Salad with Chili Caramel Dressing", and "Spicy Braised Bacon with Spagna Beans and Treviso Radicchio
" which uses thickly sliced pork belly
bacon. The Pasta section has a recipe for "Bacon Mac and Cheese" from Julie Taras Wallach, the chef and co-owner of the Tipsy Parson and Little Giant restaurants in New York City. Her variant on the traditional macaroni and cheese
uses cavatelli
pasta seasoned with dijon mustard, thyme, rosemary, garlic, and nutmeg and incorporates sauteed onion and pieces of grilled bacon. One of the recipes in the Meat section, "Veal and Foie Gras
Meatloaf Wrapped in Bacon", comes from Mark Allen, who in 1997 became the youngest chef, and the first American, to have headed The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton
in Boston
. Allen also contributed a recipe for the Fish section, "Whole Roasted Branzino with Carrots and Bacon". Other dishes in that section include "Pancetta
-Wrapped Monkfish
with Cauliflower Flan
" and "Bluefish
with Corn, Avocado, and Bacon Salad".
Like its somewhat lengthier predecessors, Sara Perry's Everything Tastes Better with Bacon
(2002), Pruess
and Lape
's Seduced by Bacon
(2006), and James Villas's The Bacon Cookbook
(2007), Rockmill's I Love Bacon! also includes sweet dishes using bacon. Among the recipes in the Desserts section are "Bacon Panna Cotta
with Huckleberries", "Cane Sugar and Bacon-Iced Cupcakes", and Cat Cora's "Pig Candy Ice Cream". Cora's recipe uses a pound (.454 kilograms) of chopped apple
wood-smoked bacon per quart
(.946 litres) of brown sugar
-sweetened vanilla ice cream.
Cookbook
A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...
with over fifty recipes devoted to bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
and bacon dishes, many of them from celebrity chef
Celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
s. Written by Jayne Rockmill with photographs by Ben Fink, I Love Bacon! was published in October 2010 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC is a company which publishes books, calendars, and related toys...
.
Background
The book's author, Jayne Rockmill, is a literary agentLiterary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers...
based in New York City whose clients include Tony Caputo
Tony C. Caputo
Tony C. Caputo is an American author, visual artist, entrepreneur, and former publisher.In 1985, Caputo founded NOW Comics, and NOW Entertainment Corporation a multimedia company that published comic books, children's periodicals, trade paperback books, and home videos of such characters as Speed...
, François Halard
François Halard
François Halard is a French photographer known for his interior and architectural photographs.- Biography :François Halard was born in 1961 in France but now spends time between homes in New York and France. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
, and the professional photographer and storm chaser
Storm chasing
Storm chasing is broadly defined as the pursuit of any severe weather condition, regardless of motive, which can be curiosity, adventure, scientific exploration or for news professions/media coverage....
, Jim Reed. Rockmill had also become involved in producing charity food and wine events and is a long time supporter of the New York City Food Bank
Food bank
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...
and Share Our Strength
Share our Strength
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and utilizes social media efforts to raise funds which are then used to fund long-term solutions to the hunger problem...
which focuses on ending childhood hunger. She conceived the book as a way to help raise money for their work, and a portion of the proceeds from I Love Bacon will be donated to the two charities. Rockmill began by asking chefs she knew personally to donate bacon recipes, and then contacted others across the United States. In some cases, she adapted the original recipes in collaboration with the chefs.
The book's illustrator is the well-known food photographer, Ben Fink, whose photographs appear in Food & Wine
Food & Wine
Food & Wine is a monthly magazine published by American Express Publishing. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and seasonal/holiday content and has been credited by The New York...
, Bon Appétit
Bon Appétit
Bon Appétit describes itself as "a food and entertaining magazine" and is published monthly. Named after the French phrase for "Enjoy your meal", it was started by M. Frank Jones in Kansas City in 1956...
, Saveur
Saveur
Saveur is a gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that specializes in essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews, who was also the editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2001...
and publications of the Culinary Institute of America
Culinary Institute of America
The Culinary Institute of America is a non-profit culinary college located in Hyde Park USA, founded in 1946. The CIA also has branch campuses in St. Helena, California, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as a campus in Singapore. It is a not-for-profit academic institution of higher learning...
. A native of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
now based in New York, Fink illustrated Jacques Pépin
Jacques Pépin
Jacques Pépin is an internationally recognized French chef, television personality, and author working in the United States. Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, Lyon in France, Pepin was raised by a father and mother who jointly owned a restaurant, where he later credited the start of his love for food. He...
's, Fast Food My Way (2004) and Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America (2000) for which he won a James Beard Foundation Award
James Beard Foundation Award
The James Beard Foundation Awards were established in 1990 and are often called "The Oscars of Food." Held on the first weekend in May, the Awards honor the finest chefs, restaurants, wine professionals, journalists, cookbook authors, restaurant designers, and other food professionals in the...
in 2001. Some of Fink's more unusual food photographs are those for Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge's 1997 InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook
InterCourses
InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook is a 1997 cookbook, written by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge with photography by Ben Fink, and published by Terrace Publishing...
, where the food is photographed against the background of a naked human body.
Contents
I Love Bacon! contains over 50 recipes from a number of celebrity chefs including Cat CoraCat Cora
Catherine "Cat" Cora is a Greek-American professional chef best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on the Food Network television show Iron Chef America.-Early life:...
, John Besh
John Besh
John Besh is the owner and executive chef at restaurant August in New Orleans, Louisiana , and owns six other restaurants: La Provence, The American Sector, Lüke , Besh Steak , and Domenica in the Roosevelt Hotel...
, Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai is a Chinese-American fusion cuisine chef, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-winning television personality.Tsai currently hosts Ming's Quest, a cooking show featured on the Fine Living Network, and Simply Ming on American Public Television...
, and Chris Cosentino
Chris Cosentino
Chris Cosentino is an American chef noted for his specialty, offal dishes, now considered haute cuisine by many, and his eco-consciousness. He is executive chef at Incanto in San Francisco. He was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and has appeared on Iron Chef America. As of September 2009, he...
, as well as brief biographies of the chefs themselves. It presents recipes for making bacon from scratch as well as recipes for dishes with bacon as one of the chief ingredients. The recipes are grouped into eight sections beginning with Make Your Own Bacon which has recipes for "Classic Cured Bacon", "Spicy Braised Bacon", "Soy-Ginger Braised Bacon", "Crispy Pork Belly", and "Chinese Style Pork Belly". The remaining seven sections (Brunch; Small Bites; Soups, Salads and Sides; Pasta; Fish; Meat; and Desserts) contain recipes for dishes using bacon as one of the main ingredients.
The Brunch section begins with a recipe from Seattle-based Black Rock Spirits for "Bakon Bloody Mary", a variant on the traditional Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary (cocktail)
A Bloody Mary is a popular cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and usually other spices or flavorings such as Worcestershire sauce, Peri-Peri Sauce, Tabasco sauce, beef consomme or bouillon, horseradish, celery, olive, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and celery salt...
cocktail
Cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
using bacon infused vodka
Bacon vodka
Bacon vodka is vodka infused with bacon flavor, part of a larger trend of "carnivorous cocktails" and the addition of savory flavor to mixed drinks...
with the glass rim dipped in lime juice and finely crumbled grilled bacon. Although the majority of recipes in this section feature bacon with its traditional brunch partner, eggs, there is also a recipe for "Mediterranean BLTs". This version of the classic BLT sandwich pairs the bacon, lettuce and tomato with toasted focaccia
Focaccia
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. It is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same....
bread and red-pepper aioli
Aioli
Aioli ) is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, and egg. There are many variations, such as the addition of mustard or, in Catalonia, pears. It is usually served at room temperature. The name aioli comes from Provençal alh 'garlic' is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil,...
in place of mayonnaise. Another version of the BLT using toasted brioche
Brioche
Brioche is a highly enriched French pastry, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs" It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied...
and sun-dried tomato
Sun-dried tomato
Sun-dried tomatoes are ripe tomatoes which are placed in the sun to remove most of the water content from the tomatoes. Cherry types of tomatoes will lose 88% of their initial weight, whilst larger tomatoes can lose up to 93% during the process...
es cut into mini-sandwiches appears in the Small Bites section which is devoted to bacon-based hors d'oeuvres.
Among the recipes in Soups, Salads and Sides are "Egg Chowder
Chowder
In North America Chowder is a generic name for a wide variety of seafood or vegetable stews and thickened soups, often with milk or cream. Some varieties are traditionally thickened with crushed ship biscuit instead of flour, which is more usual...
with Bacon and New Potatoes", "Grilled Bacon and Cucumber Salad with Chili Caramel Dressing", and "Spicy Braised Bacon with Spagna Beans and Treviso Radicchio
Radicchio
Radicchio is a leaf chicory , sometimes known as Italian chicory and is a perennial. It is grown as a leaf vegetable which usually has white-veined red leaves. It has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted.- History :Humans have been using radicchio since ancient times...
" which uses thickly sliced pork belly
Pork belly
Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat derived from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is popular in Asian cuisine, and forms a part of many traditional European dishes such as the Alsatian Choucroute garnie, the Swiss Berner Platte, and the German Schlachtplatte...
bacon. The Pasta section has a recipe for "Bacon Mac and Cheese" from Julie Taras Wallach, the chef and co-owner of the Tipsy Parson and Little Giant restaurants in New York City. Her variant on the traditional macaroni and cheese
Macaroni and cheese
Macaroni and cheese, also known as "mac and cheese", "macaroni cheese" in British English, or "macaroni pie" in Caribbean English, is a casserole consisting of cooked macaroni and cheese sauce...
uses cavatelli
Cavatelli
Cavatelli are a type of pasta. It has two meanings: the most common meaning is small pasta shells that look like miniature hot dog buns. It is similar in shape to casarecci, but shorter in length. The name is less frequently used for a type of dumpling made with ricotta.In Italy, cavatelli...
pasta seasoned with dijon mustard, thyme, rosemary, garlic, and nutmeg and incorporates sauteed onion and pieces of grilled bacon. One of the recipes in the Meat section, "Veal and Foie Gras
Foie gras
Foie gras ; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding...
Meatloaf Wrapped in Bacon", comes from Mark Allen, who in 1997 became the youngest chef, and the first American, to have headed The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Allen also contributed a recipe for the Fish section, "Whole Roasted Branzino with Carrots and Bacon". Other dishes in that section include "Pancetta
Pancetta
Pancetta is Italian bacon, typically salt cured and seasoned with such spices as nutmeg, fennel, peppercorns, dried ground hot peppers and garlic, then dried for at least three months. Associated with Italy, pancetta varies by region. It is also produced broadly in Spain.-Styles:Pancetta can be...
-Wrapped Monkfish
Monkfish
Monkfish is the English name of a number of types of fish in the northwest Atlantic, most notably the species of the anglerfish genus Lophius and the angelshark genus Squatina...
with Cauliflower Flan
Flan
Crème caramel , flan , or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top...
" and "Bluefish
Bluefish
The bluefish , called tailor in Australia, is a species of popular marine gamefish found in all climates. It is the sole species of the Pomatomidae family....
with Corn, Avocado, and Bacon Salad".
Like its somewhat lengthier predecessors, Sara Perry's Everything Tastes Better with Bacon
Everything Tastes Better with Bacon
Everything Tastes Better with Bacon: 70 Fabulous Recipes for Every Meal of the Day is a book about cooking with bacon, written by Sara Perry, an author, food commentator, and columnist for The Oregonian. It was published in 2002 by Chronicle Books. Perry describes her original concept of recipes...
(2002), Pruess
Joanna Pruess
Joanna Pruess is a food and travel writer and a consultant to the food industry. She is the author of nine cookbooks including Seduced by Bacon and most recently Griswold & WagnerWare Cast-Iron Cookbook.-Personal life:...
and Lape
Bob Lape
Bob Lape is an American broadcast journalist, writer, restaurant reviewer, and food critic.- Career :...
's Seduced by Bacon
Seduced by Bacon
Seduced by Bacon: Recipes & Lore about America's Favorite Indulgence is a cookbook about bacon written by Joanna Pruess with her husband Bob Lape...
(2006), and James Villas's The Bacon Cookbook
The Bacon Cookbook
The Bacon Cookbook: More than 150 Recipes from Around the World for Everyone's Favorite Food is a cookbook on bacon by James Villas. It was published by Wiley in 2007. Villas is a former food editor for Town & Country magazine, and The Bacon Cookbook is his 15th book on food...
(2007), Rockmill's I Love Bacon! also includes sweet dishes using bacon. Among the recipes in the Desserts section are "Bacon Panna Cotta
Panna cotta
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. It is generally from the Northern Italian region of Piemonte, although it is eaten all over Italy, where it is served with wild berries, caramel, chocolate...
with Huckleberries", "Cane Sugar and Bacon-Iced Cupcakes", and Cat Cora's "Pig Candy Ice Cream". Cora's recipe uses a pound (.454 kilograms) of chopped apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
wood-smoked bacon per quart
Quart
The quart is a unit of volume equal to a quarter of a gallon, two pints, or four cups. Since gallons of various sizes have historically been in use, quarts of various sizes have also existed; see gallon for further discussion. Three of these kinds of quarts remain in current use, all approximately...
(.946 litres) of brown sugar
Brown sugar
Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content, or it is produced by the addition of molasses to refined white...
-sweetened vanilla ice cream.
Reception
Carol Johnson writing in the Kansas City Star described I Love Bacon! as both a cookbook with "inventive" recipes and "a mini-course in some of the country's top restaurants." Johnson noted that not all of the recipes were for beginners but found the accompanying notes for many of the recipes with information about techniques and ingredients to be helpful for novices. She described Ben Fink's photography as "vivid and mouth-watering, if a little spare."See also
- List of bacon dishes
- Bacon maniaBacon maniaBacon mania refers to passionate bacon enthusiasm in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Especially fervent in the United States, the enthusiasm has been described as forming a "Bacon Nation"...
- International Bacon DayInternational Bacon DayInternational Bacon Day or Bacon Day is an unofficial observance, often celebrated on the Saturday before US Labor Day...
- Bacon martiniBacon martiniA Bacon Martini, also known as Bacontini, Pig On The Rocks or a Bloody Bacon Martini, is a cocktail that consists of bacon-infused vodka and is served with a garnish that can include ingredients such as strips of bacon, bacon bits and olives. Variants may include the addition of Bloody Mary mix...
External links
- I Love Bacon!, at the official website of Andrews McMeel Publishing
- Official website of Ben Fink, the illustrator of I Love Bacon!