An apology gift of bacon recipes.

I’m an ass. I don’t think I had many readers in my four-post life as a carniblogger, but I have been the ultimate in neglectful.  If this blog was my baby, the DCFS would have taken it ages ago and I’d be having a high profile trial where people boo and hiss at me when I walk up the courthouse steps.

I’m sorry.

As any person who has been neglectful in a relationship they still hope to continue, I offer pennance and gifts.  My gifts to you are two recipes involving bacon.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates With Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

-1 lb. bacon

-1 small package (4 oz.) of goat cheese

-roughly 2 cups of pitted dates

Procedure:

Begin by placing the pound of pre-packaged bacon on a cutting board and using a sharp knife to cut the package in half across the middle, making each slice of bacon half-length.

Using a sharp paring knife or other kitchen knife, cut a lengthwise slit along one side of a date, so that the date can be opened into a “C” shape.  Using a butter knife, cut a small slice off the goat cheese.  Spread goat cheeese inside of the date and pinch the date closed again.  It’s okay if it doesn’t close completely around the date.  There’s not really a such thing as too much goat cheese, imo.

Place the date on the end of a half-slice of bacon and roll, securing with a toothpick.  Place rolls on a cookie sheet (one that has edges is better, because grease drips off the bacon).  Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon.  This can be broiled, too, but I have ADD and cannot watch food constantly, so baking is easier and yeilds similar results.

If you bring this to a party, they’ll be gone in 2 minutes or less.

Any leftover dates, I tend to leave laying around and if the boyfriend has a glass of wine, he eats them.  Extra goat cheese is great on those amazing little rosemary-garlic flavored Triscuits.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

See? This feels better already.

Okay, so a few posts ago, I wrote about a bacon martini, which I wasn’t so sure about.  But today, I was looking up how to infuse vodka, and I came across this.  Apparently it’s for bloody marys.  Somehow, I was doof enough to forget that vodka is not just for martinis.  Vodka is for the breakfast drink of champions too.  And a bloody mary with bacon-flavored vodka?  Yeah, sign me the hell up.  I must buy a jar and some vodka stat.  I already have bacon, duh.  I may have neglected my carniblog, but I’m still me.

Ribz meet tha street

Okay, that’s enough attempt at sounding urban-chic.  Let the record state that I’m a white chick.  But seriously, folks, street fests, I’ve learned, are a pretty amazing way to try a whole load of different food items without having to commit to a huge order of anything.

I have to nod (belatedly) to North Center’s Ribfest where I wish I had consumed maybe one less beer so maybe I could remember more names of establishments that were there…I remember Robinsons, Hecky’s, Carson’s, and Gale Street Inn. Carson’s were pretty good, but I hope that Robinson’s stays home next year.  Their ribs were chewy and fatty. I was also disappointed to see that despite advertising to show up, Evanston’s Merle’s didn’t show.  I really wanted in their pulled pork sandwich, which I need to eat more of so I can blog about.  I hang my head in shame as I betray myself as a hog-centric blogger, because my favorite thing there was a pulled lamb sandwich.  Like pulled pork, only a little more savory and gamey-er.  Seriously awesome.  I was so ashamed of myself for going to Ribfest and liking the lamb best, I had to go eat a bacon wrapped hot dog to regain my street-cred.  Yes, you read that right.  Bacon. Wrapped. Hot Dog.  Next time I’m bringing more money and trying every rib sampler available.  And maybe getting less drunk so I can remember what I had.

I did the same thing and Randolph street festival this past Friday.  I tried some kind of ribs that were awesome; I’m pretty sure they were from Nicholas Quality Meats.  They gave me some free corn too, so can’t lose there. The game plan is to continue attending whatever festivals are available for me to attend and to continue sampling ribs and other meat options (meat on a stick is always a solid pick).  Taste of Chicago starts this weekend.  Hmmm….

Porkblog hiatus = temporary

Hey hey. 
No worries, I haven’t had a bacon-related heart attack or anything of that nature. In fact, I am just excessively busy at my REAL job (sadly no one wants to pay me money to write about delicious meats. Given my number of posts in the last week or two, I am in no doubt as to why).  The good news is my REAL job is in the field of education, leaving me the summer open to pursue life and the love of meat.
And I will spend at least a chunk of my first weekend as such at a festival called RibFest. 
So for now, hiatus, but In the (scripted)words of the Governator of California: “I’ll be back.”

Bacon martini anyone?

Yeah yeah yeah I know I haven’t written about any pork/bacon/other meats actually eaten BY ME in awhile.  I got invited out for seafood last night, so sue me.

Hopefully more amusement related to the topic of meat should tide you over until my friend makes me my magical meal o’ pork or I go to the restaurant show this weekend at the McCormick Place, whichever happens first.  So as for amusement?

How about “The Most Bizarre Bacon Products Ever“

Some of them are hilarious (bacon bra, bacon band-aids, or bacon tape anyone?), some are kind of gross (bacon breath mints, bacon ice cream), and some are, in my opnion, a good idea (The bacon-encrusted cup, namely. In the picture it’s filled with salad.  That’s like one HUGE step up from Bac-O’s!  Also, bacon salt.  C’mon tell me that wouldn’t be phenomenal on a baked potato…)

As for bacon cookies, I have to step in and say that my friend who is making me the meal o’ pork has already made these and I hear they’re quite awesome.

Beyond that, judge for yourself.  Can it be, is there a such thing as taking bacon too far???

Hey, nice shirt!

You gotta check out this shirt.  Yes, I most certainly own one; one of my girlie friends got it for me several years back and I enjoy it endlessly. My only overall complaint is that I wish they had a more manly-hued one for my rib-grilling-hot-dog-loving boyfriend, but really it’s the slogan that kills.  I think it’s a staple for anyone of similarly carnivorous mindset!

Course there’s always…

The meat shirt

I put bacon on my bacon

Meat is awesome

or

Powered by hot dogs
Man my friends are easy to shop for…I found about three people’s birthday gifts just looking at the meat-themed T-shirts!

 

Rib Review – Claim Jumper

Went out to Claim Jumper last night for my mother’s birthday.  I love this place and was in the mood for, you guessed it, pork covered in BBQ sauce!  So I went for the baby back ribs.

I’d give them an 8.5/10 – They were pretty tender but certainly didn’t drop off the bone.  The flavor was good, and had a slight hint of cinnamon, but not enough to be overpowering.  The BBQ sauce had a sweet and tangy flavor, and all in all, I enjoyed them, but they weren’t anywhere near the “best ribs ever” category.

Despite not being blown away by the baby back ribs, however, I still highly recommend this place based on AMAZING side dishes (fried zuchinni and cheese-potato cakes for me) and mega-tasty desserts.  

Gluttony, upping the ante on Thai stir fry and vegetarian conversion

It was my birthday celebration this weekend; 26 years of life, 25.25 of them have been spent as a carnivore-glutton.  I celebrated that fact with Saturday’s consumption of 2 hot dogs, 4 pulled-pork sliders, and half a hamburger.  I definitely have upcoming blogs in devoted extensively to hot dogs and pulled pork (my ultimate favorite), but the real find of my weekend,  was something called Prik Prow Noodle at this place. 

The place combines Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food, as well as offering a great selection of insane choke-a-T-Rex-huge sushi rolls.  But the Prik Prow Noodle is something I’ve never had before.  Their menu describes the dish as “Stir-fried flat rice noodle, carrots, onion, bellpepper, baby corn, green onion and chili paste”, which is certainly delicious.  My research tells me this is a Thai dish, given that “prik” is the Thai word I see in all the recipes that contain that chili-based sauce.  I can’t find a recipe for it anywhere online, although I do see “Prik Pow” coming up in searches, which leads me to believe a mistake might have been made on Thai Oscar’s menu.

I chose the dish namely because it seemed like it would be a little zingy without making my mouth feel like I needed to make out with a fire extinguisher, and I liked all the vegetables mentioned.  I wasn’t let down.  It was flavorful, slightly spicy, and I was pleasantly surprised with the texture and size of the flat noodles.  However, what put it over the edge was that my boyfriend had the brilliant idea to let them tag an extra $2.00 onto the order to throw some meat into that mess of stir-fried awesomeness.  Why not?  And furthermore, the choice made was BBQ pork.

And the ante was indeed upped.  Simple equation kids:

BBQ Pork + stir fry = GREAT
And on one more unrelated note, I had a great conversation with a friend this weekend.

Me: Are you still a vegetarian or whatever?

Him: Noooo…hell no.  I wasn’t going to stick with that.  Know what changed me?
Me: What?

Him: BUFFALO WINGS.

Score one more for team carnivore.

For the love of meat!

Welcome to a blog devoted to all things carnivorous.  I made this blogski because my friend promised to make me a dish that contains AT LEAST three types of pork in it.

Fact #1: I will write about other types of meat, but I am totally biased in favor of pork.  Deal with it.  Go to another blog named after YOUR favorite meat if you don’t like it.

Fact # 2: This is not a sexy site.  It’s not about “porking”, which may actually be the worst synonym for sex ever invented.  Sex is awesome, and so is pork, but they do not go together so closely, unless it is in the sentence I am just about to finish right now. 

This is mostly a place for me to explore my untapped desire to rave about restaurants that make good meat, post an occasional recipe, and occasionally go off onto tangents of my choosing.

So welcome! Butchers, barbeque chefs, and meat lovers enjoy!

***My apologies to the Kosher sects in advance, but what are you doing here???  Hog rules!***