I want to give you two more ‘meals’ today, to complete our series. Firstly, lets take a break for ‘bever’ (or ‘beaver’). ‘Bever’ is another small refreshment with flexible timing in the day. According to the OED it is ‘A small repast between meals; a ‘snack,’ nuncheon, or lunch; esp. one in the afternoon between mid-day dinner and supper’, so perhaps does fit better at afternoon tea-time. It is most usually taken to refer to a liquid refreshment, as you can guess from its association with the word ‘beverage’.

Our final meal, for now, is also beverage-based. It is ‘a collation consisting of wine accompanied by spices, comfits, or the like, partaken of before retiring to rest or the departure of guests; a repast of this nature following upon a feast or fuller meal; a parting dish, and in medieval times was known as the voidé (or voidée). The name is not hard to fathom as it took place as the guests were leaving and the hall was being cleared of the trestle tables (the hall then reverting to a large communal bedchamber). It was usually taken standing up, even by the King. There was a medicinal element to this little ceremony, the spices and beverages being chosen for their digestive and strengthening qualities. The traditional drink was hippocras ‘a cordial drink made of wine flavoured with spices’ (‘cordial’ here referring to its supposed tonic benefits.)

Ancient cookery manuscripts commonly contain instructions for the making of hippocras, but I found some interesting ‘new’ interpretations of the idea in How to mix drinks: or, The bon-vivant's companion,… by Jerry Thomas, and Christian Schultz (1862)


Hypocras Framboisé (Raspberry Hippocras.)
3 lbs. of raspberries made to a pulp; add 9 gallons of claret wine, and ½ gallon of alcohol, 95 per cent. Dissolve 8 lbs of sugar in powder in it. Filter.


Hypocras au Vin d’Absinthe. (Absinthe Hippocras)
2 ½ lbs fresh wormwood; macerate for 12 hours in 9 gallons of white wine, filter; add to this
40 lemons, the thin yellow rinds only.
40 cedrats, ditto
5 ounces of anise-seed
½ ounce of cloves.
Ground and cut; macerate the whole with ½ gallon of alcohol, 95 per cent; add 8 lbs of powdered sugar; strain and filter.


Quotation for the Day.

The king and the ambassadours were serued at a banket with two hundred and sixtie dishes, and after that a voidee of spices with sixtie spice plates.
Holinshed’s Chronicles III.

The Cheddar Pour

Two burger paddies topped with an oversized layer of cheddar cheese.

(submitted by Austincontralto via J&J’s Breakfast BBQ & Burgers)

Baconfest Chicago is a full day celebration of bacon: a Fest to end all Fests. Baconfest’s roster of bacon-inspired activities, bacon-foods, and bacon-spirits comprise the greatest single culinary and cultural festival ever dedicated to Bacon and Bacon only.

We’ve seen many other Baconfests and even attended a Baconcamp but Baconfest Chicago (April 10, 2010) aims to be the coup de grâce to all other festivals of bacon. How will it achieve the ultimate in baconawesomeness? Start with Baconfest Chicago’s location – the luxurious Stan Mansion. Bacon has finally found a facility worthy of its greatness. Next, take the price tag of $45 that gets you a 12-course bacon-enriched meal prepared by 24 exhibiting chefs from posh Chicago restaurants. Whew! I’m getting hungry just writing this article.

But wait, there’s more (that’s right I went there). The festivities for Baconfest Chicago also include:

• An amateur bacon cook-off sponsored by Nueske’s
• A bacon poetry competition
• A Bacon Expo where you can meet artisan bacon-makers and bacontrepreneurs and sample a wide spectrum of local craft bacons and bacon-related products.
• The Bacon Café, Bar & Cocktail Lounge, local restaurants will serve bacon-based snacks; local bakeries will concoct bacon-sweets; local bars will serve up bacon cocktails and refreshing beer.
• On stage local artists, poets, musicians and theater-makers will join with bacon experts from all around the region during the Bacon Cultural Explosion.
• And to top it all off, the Golden Rashers, the Oscars of the bacon world, presented to the winners of the Pro & Amateur Bacon Cook-offs, as well as a bevy of other prize categories.

Okay people. You love bacon. Chicago is a major airport hub. You bought your tickets right?

If you do attend Baconfest Chicago, please send us any photos, videos, or stories you’d like to share with the bacon-loving world. We’ll be glad to post them.

Today we are going to try to squeeze in nammet and nunchin. Nunchin (nuncheon) was the subject of a previous post, so I don’t need to repeat the whole story, but will help you schedule it in your day by reminding you that the word is not related to ‘noon’ but to ‘nones’ meaning the ninth hour after sunrise, therefore about three in the afternoon – meaning it competes with afternoon tea rather than luncheon.

‘Nammet’ (or nummit), if you remember as far back as Monday, was one of the meals claimed by Dorsetshire harvest workers in times past. Fitting in our nammet is made frustratingly difficult, or perhaps delightfully flexible by the variety of definitions it has attracted over the years.
According to the OED, it is (or was) ‘ A light meal, esp. one taken in the middle of the day’ – in other words, it is luncheon. An eighteenth century source however refers to it as ‘A short intermeal between Breakfast &; Dinner, or between Dinner & Supper’, which give us great latitude. Mr. Grosse, in one of his linguistic works, intriguingly says it is ‘a luncheon before dinner.’ Novelists have opinions on nammit too. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, ‘nammet time’ is ‘around three o’clock’. To add to the confusion (or the flexibility), the novelist John Galsworthy in his book Bit O’Love (1915), has a character say “I give 'im a nummit afore 'e gets up; an' 'e 'as 'is brekjus reg'lar at nine”, making it similar to dewbit, or maybe first breakfast.

I have no idea of the origin of the word ‘nammit’, but I do prefer the explanation that it is the same as, or related to ‘nemmen’ and ‘nemnen’ which are are forms of usage of ‘remnant’ in Middle English. Whenever it is, one carries one’s nammit in a nammit-bag, of which I have read, and of which I wish I was in possession.


For the recipe for the day I give you a nice breakfast cake or currant bun – quite suitable for anything from dewbit to afternoon tea. It is from English Housewifry, by Elizabeth Moxon ( 1764).

To make Breakfast Cakes.
Take a pound of currans well washed, (rub them in a cloth till dry) a pound of flour dried before a fire, take three eggs, leave out one of the whites, four spoonfuls of new yeast, and four spoonfuls of sack or two of brandy, beat the yeast and eggs well together; then take a jill of cream, and something above a quarter of a pound of butter, set them on a fire, and stir them till the butter be melted, (but do not let them boil) grate a large nutmeg into the flour, with currans and five spoonfuls of sugar; mix all together, beat it with your hands till it leave the bowl, and then flour the tins you put the paste in, and let them stand a little to rise, and bake them an hour and a quarter.


Quotation for the Day.
Christopher Robin was home by this time, because it was the afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl. .. A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards.
A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

The Chubby Girl Scout

Bacon wrapped Samoa Girl Scout cookies deep-fried and topped with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

(submitted by Grant)

Wendy’s has introduced a new bacon burger. This time it’s the Bacon & Blue. Our question to you is — what do you think? We want your reviews!

The basic details are:

• North American beef that’s never frozen
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Thick cut applewood smoked bacon
• Sauteed onions
• Steakhouse sauce

We’ll be doing a review of this burger soon, but before we do we want to hear what you think. Let us know!

I was going to skip luncheon today (as a topic, not as a meal – do you think I am crazy?), because I have talked about it before in previous posts (including the origin of the word, and good lunchtime manners, and what to serve at a Shooting Lunch). I came across some enlightening comments, however, which suit our theme of the week perfectly. They are from a lovely book on etiquette called Etiquette of Good Society (1893), by Lady Gertrude Elizabeth Campbell.


Lady Campbell expounds rather disapprovingly, but resignedly, to the new fashion of ‘luncheon’, proving to us that although we have ‘lost’ some meals (such as ‘dewbit’), we have also gained others. She writes:

“Luncheon has been defined as an insult to one's breakfast and an outrage to one's dinner. It is clearly an interpolation of no very ancient date. Three meals a day - breakfast, dinner, and supper - were formerly considered as amply sufficient; but now two more have added themselves to the list, and shouldered out to a great extent the old-fashioned after-dinner tea and supper. Luncheonis one of these extra " feeds " which has squeezed itself firmly in, and now the half-hour devoted to this meal is considered indispensable. We leave it to the decision of the medical community whether long abstinence or the too frequent supplying of the inner man is the most deleteriousto health. Luncheons are fairly established in most households. Sometimes they answer the purpose of dinner, and then they require to be more substantial, but still should only exhibit "an elegant sufficiency.”
Lady Campbell goes on to discuss the informal nature of an ordinary lunch – noting that informality is one thing, but ‘An elegant disorder is perfectly distinct from a vulgar confusion.’ A fine distinction, methinks, and I am grateful to Lady C for the statement, which I will apply henceforth to a number of areas of my life.

For the recipe for the day – for your next elegantly sufficient and elegantly disordered luncheon, I have chosen a dish from a cookbook written by another aristocrat – Lady Clark of Tillypronie. Her extensive recipe collection was published in 1909, after her death, but the recipes themselves clearly date back a long way.

Luncheon Cake. No. 2 (Small and very light)
1 lb. flour, ¼ lb. butter, same weight sugar, 3 eggs beaten together ready in a basin, 1 oz. German yeast dissolved n ¼ pt. warm milk and strained, 2 oz. sultana raisins, 2 oz. citron peel.
First rub the butter into the flour, next stir in the yeast and milk; add the fruit, then the 3 eggs; mix all together and pour into the tin, which it should about half fill; let it rise to top of tin before baking in a slack oven. It will take1 to 1 ¼ hours.

Quotation for the Day.

The word lunch is adopted in that ‘glass of fashion’, Almacks, and luncheon is avoided as unsuitable to the polished society there exhibited.
H.Best, Pers. & Lit. Mem. 1829.

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict

Sliced doughnuts topped with brownie mix, melted Cadbury Creme Eggs and frosting, garnished with red sprinkles and served with fried pound cake chunks.

(submitted by Edgemere)

Our quest for an increase in the number of daily meals continues, with inspiration and assistance from history. After our ‘dewbit’, first breakfast, and second breakfast, we have a serious choice: do we have ‘brunch’ or ‘elevenses’ before luncheon ? Brunch seems more of an idle, weekend affair, whereas ‘elevenses’ is for the working day, so perhaps we had better stick with the latter, it being Tuesday and all.

‘Elevenses’ (‘elevensies’ if you are a Hobbit, or a non-Hobbit with a penchant for puerile language) refers, as the word itself suggests, to food taken at eleven in the morning. Actually, the word applies not to the mere snack itself, but to the whole concept of a brief, healing pause in the crisis of the day. It is peculiarly British, and is rather more significant than its common definition of “a light informal snack” would suggest. It is, in fact, an institution, an inviolable right, a routine without which the British could not (would refuse to) continue with their working day. (Note to any country considering invading Britain: do it at eleven a.m. when everyone’s attention is focused elsewhere.)

Alan Davidson, in his wonderful Oxford Companion to Food, dates the origin of the word to the late eighteenth century. I have been unable to find any references before the early nineteenth century, but I do not pretend the wisdom and brilliance of the great man, so you must be content with my findings for now. The word (concept) sometimes appears as ‘elevens’ or ‘eleveners’, and there are certainly references in the 1830’s to ‘elevenses’. I was delighted to find that once upon a time there was also ‘fourses’ (or fourzes) - another lost meal to add to our collection – a similar snack and break from toil taken at that hour of the afternoon. From the OED:

1849 W. & H. RAYNBIRD Agric. Suffolk vi. 296 The name ‘fourzes’ and ‘elevens’, given to these short periods of rest and refreshment, show when taken.

Tea is essential to ‘elevenses’. Only Americans and other foreigners take coffee. The tea is accompanied by a sweet biscuit (a ‘cookie’ if you are an American) – not one of a novel or gimmicky nature, please, but a reliable and comfortingly familiar classic. Here is one such example for you, from Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery (1870’s)


Ginger Biscuits.
Rub four ounces of fresh butter into half a pound of flour, and add three table-spoonfuls of sugar, half an ounce of ground ginger, and one egg beaten up with a little milk, into a smooth paste. Make up into small round biscuits, and bake on buttered paper for eight or ten minutes; leave a little distance between each cake.


Quotation for the Day.

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?
Winnie-the-Pooh.

The folks that brought you hover bacon have done it again. In the name of science and love of bacon, they have sought to answer once and for all the question that’s been plaguing the world for so long…

Can a rocket be made of bacon?

You know you’ve always wanted to know the answer. The Rather Good team provides the proof.

Hobbits, as we all know from the movie, enjoy seven meals a day - breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper. Some non-hobbits have also managed to establish the same habit, according to at least one historical source:

“In Dorset, the agricultural labourers were accustomed some years since to say that in harvest time they required seven meals in the day – dewbit, breakfast, nuncheon, cruncheon, nammet, crammet, and supper.”
[Nall’s Glossary of the East Anglian Dialect, 1866]

Does this seven-meals-a-day stand up to examination? Another nineteenth century commentator opines:

“… this seems to have been rather a quaint jingle than an enumeration of meals, as some of them, nuncheon and nammet for example, clearly indicate the same.”

The story weakens further when you find that cruncheon and crammet appear to have been made up for their poetic value, for there is no mention of either in the Oxford English Dictionary. The idea remains tantalising however, does it not?

It is true that some of us (Bavarians, Poles, and Englishmen who hunt) are familiar with the delights of Second Breakfast, but most of the rest of us are satisfied with three choices of meals every twenty-four hours. Could we do better? Should we do better?

My aim this week is to introduce you to some ‘forgotten meals’, in the hope that, as a race, we can lift our game. In fact, I think it very nearly possible that, if we work at it, we can find a meal for every hour of the day.

We will start Dorsetshire harvestman-style with a ‘dewbit’, or ‘a small meal or portion of food taken in the early morning, before the regular breakfast’. This dewbit – so called, obviously because it is taken while the dew is on the grass - is ‘not so substantial as a regular breakfast’ (regular First Breakfast that is.) It is a habit I have had myself for many years, but I take mine in liquid form only – a cup of tea while the dew is still wet (sometimes while it is still falling, even, being the lark that I am.)

For those of you who prefer some small food portion as your dewbit, yet are concerned about damaging your appetite for first breakfast, may I suggest these light-as-air breakfast cakes?

East-Wind Gems.
It is not known whether these hygienic breakfast cakes are of the days of unleavened bread, or a
modern invention. You need not fear the east wind they may have imbibed, for the hot oven
counteracts its mischievous influence, and they are not only hygienic, but taste good. Their fibre is like nut meats, and you will enjoy giving the teeth just the exercise they need when you are eating them.
You are supposed to have baking-irons for these gems, else you had better not attempt them.
Take very cold milk and water, half and half. Stir in Graham and white flour, half and half, little by little, until you have a batter that will drop from the spoon and not run. It must be stirred rapidly, lightly, and thoroughly, the more the better, to incorporate a large amount of air and insure lightness. It needs a strong arm to carry this into effect.
Have the gem-pans ready hot in a hot oven. This you must be sure about to secure light gems.
Drop the batter into the hot irons while in the oven, or if you are very quick take the irons out for convenience. They require a quick oven to bake them, else you lose the air they have taken in, which is a nice point to determine, for the oven should bake as fast as it can without burning.
If you don't succeed this time try again, - keep trying and don't give it up. Make your batter a little thinner or thicker, your oven a little slower or quicker. There is a way, you may feel sure, and if you keep trying you will find it out, and will be likely to repeat your success often. When these culinary curiosities are in perfection they are light and pufiy, and you have pure unleavened bread, with no taste of "emptyings" or soda.
[What to get for Breakfast; M. Tarbox Colbrath, 1882]


Quotation for the Day.

Oh, my friends, be warned by me,
That breakfast, dinner, lunch and tea,
Are all human frame requires.
Hilaire Belloc.

Country Breakfast Wrap

Scrambled eggs, pork sausage, potatoes and American cheese rolled inside a buttermilk pancake topped with maple syrup.

(submitted by Joe Stracci via The Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory)

Austin, TX based graphic designer Brady Clark has created a couple prints that true bacon lovers should have hanging on their walls.

These beautiful pieces celebrate nature’s meat candy with glorious design & color and are only available in very limited editions.

The Thank ‘Que print is 24″ wide by 18″ tall and is printed on #130 Cougar natural stock. This special print is signed and numbered and is limited to 100 in the first edition.

The Amen print is 9″ wide by 24″ tall and is printed on #130 Cougar natural stock. This awesome print is signed & numbered and is limited to 100 in the first edition.

Order your bacon prints today!

The Hickory Rancher

1/2 pound beef patty, muenster cheese, 7 pieces of maple bacon, sauteed onions and a housemade honey hickory BBQ sauce on a kaiser roll.

(submitted by xoitoshigox3 via pouryourheartintoit and The Lunchbox Laboratory)

Maple Bacon Truffles

Balls of dark chocolate and bacon bit ganache coated in a white chocolate and maple-infused syrup the garnished with bacon bits.

(Submitted by That Guy Ruste)

If there is a heaven and you arrive at the pearly gates around lunchtime, it’s likely they’ll be serving the PBLT from the Delta Diner. This heaping hunk of a sandwich is simple in concept but gargantuan in flavor. I’m salivating just thinking about this spectacular sammy.

The Delta Diner is a fun little spot in the middle of the northern Wisconsin woods with a quirky menu and amazingly attentive staff. They have quite a few bacon items on the menu but I opted to test out the PBLT (Perch – a local freshwater fish, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich for this taste test.

I hesitate to be so bold, but on first bite the PBLT joined my all-time sandwich top five. The perch was fried with a light and tasty batter, the tomatoes were perfectly ripe, the lettuce was from-the-garden fresh, the bread lightly toasted, the secret sauce tangy, and the bacon – heavenly. The three think and perfectly cooked strips of bacon were smoked locally from Ashland, Wisconsin’s Sixth Street Market and some of the best bacon I’ve ever tasted…and I’ve tasted a heck of a lot of bacon. Lucky for me I live a few blocks for the Sixth Street Market — look for a profile of their bacon in the near future.

Bottom line, if you’re ever in Northern Wisconsin or Minnesota make your way to the Delta Diner. I hear there’s a bacon steak there that is a bacon lover’s dream come true. I’m grabbing my car keys now to go give it a try…

One of my recent themes has been single-topic cookery books, so naturally this week my thoughts turned to those dedicated to cheese. There have been many manuals written over the centuries for the dairyman and dairymaid, but for the cook – I am sad to say, my friends, there is a dearth. There is The Complete Book of Cheese, by Bob Brown (New York, 1955) – but 1955 is hardly historical, is it? Not for those of us born before that date anyway.

The best I can do for you is explore The Woman’s Institute Library of Cookery, Volume 2: Milk, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Vegetables, published in the early 1920’s. The book manages quite a reasonable number of very uninspiring recipes for cheese, which are preceded by some general advice (or is it opinion?)

SERVING CHEESE.Cheese does not lend itself readily to many ways of serving, still it frequently adds zest to many foods. When grated, it may be passed with tomato or vegetable soup and sprinkled in to impart an unusual flavor. In this form it may also be served with macaroni and other Italian pastes, provided cheese has not been included in the preparation of such foods. When sliced, little slices may be served nicely with any kind of pie or pastry and with some puddings, such as steamed fruit puddings. Thin slices or squares of cheese and crackers served with coffee after the dessert add a finishing touch to many meals. It will be well to note that crackers to be served with cheese should always be crisp. Unless they have just been taken from a fresh package, crackers can be improved by placing them in a moderate oven for a few minutes before serving. Also, firm crackers that do not crumble easily are best to serve with cheese, water crackers being especially desirable.
EFFECT OF COOKING ON CHEESE.Because cheese is a highly concentrated food, it is generally considered to be indigestible; but this matter can be remedied by mixing the cheese with other foods and thus separating it into small particles that are more readily digested. The way in which this may be done depends on the nature of the cheese. Any of the dry cheeses or any of the moist cheeses that have become dry may be grated or broken into bits, but as it is difficult to treat the moist ones in this way, they must be brought to a liquid state by means of heat before they can be added to other foods. The cooking of cheese, however, has an effect on this food that should be thoroughly understood.It will be well to note, therefore, that the application of heat to the form of protein found in cheese causes this food substance to coagulate and harden, as in the case of the albumen of eggs. In the process of coagulation, the first effect is the melting of the cheese, and when it has been brought to this semiliquid state it can be easily combined with other foods, such as milk, eggs, soups, and sauces. In forming such combinations, the addition of a small amount of bicarbonate of soda helps to blend the foods. Another characteristic of cheese that influences the cooking of it is that the fat it contains melts only at a low temperature, so that, on the whole, the methods of preparation that require a low temperature are the best for cooking these foods. However, a precaution that should be taken whenever cheese is heated is not to cook it too long, for long cooking makes it hard and leathery in consistency, and cheese in this state is difficult to digest.
Uninspiring they may be, but there is one treasure amongst the recipes for the collector (me) of variations on the theme of Welsh Rabbit (NOT Rarebit!)

ENGLISH MONKEY. - Another cheese dish that is frequently made in a chafing dish and served from it is English monkey, but this may likewise be made with ordinary kitchen utensils and served directly on plates from the kitchen or from a bowl on the table. A dish of this kind is most satisfactory if it is served as soon as the sauce is poured over toast or wafers and before they have had time to become soaked. English monkey may be made according to the following recipe and served for the same purposes as Welsh rarebit.
English Monkey(Sufficient to Serve Six) 1 c. bread crumbs1 c. milk1 Tb. butter1/2 c. soft cheese cut into small pieces1 egg1/2 tsp. salt6 buttered wafersSoak the bread crumbs in the milk. Melt the butter and add to it the cheese, stirring until the cheese is melted. Then add the soaked crumbs, the slightly beaten egg, and the salt. Cook for a few minutes and pour over wafers and serve. If desired, toast may be used in place of the wafers.
P.S You can find Welsh Rabbit HERE and HERE.

Quotation for the Day.

“What a friend we have in cheeses!
For no food more subtly pleases,
Nor plays so grand a gastronomic part;
Cheese imported - not domestic -
For we all get indigestic
From all the pasteurizer's Kraft and sodden art.”
William Cole, 'What a Friend We Have in Cheeses!'

“Everyone has seen me wear the bacon is meat candy T-shirt on my TV show…but it is more than just a T-shirt slogan to me…it’s a way of life. Whenever I am stuck on what to do in a particular recipe, I always think.  WWBD?”

– Chef Rick Bayless

Ingredients (SERVES 4)

4 slices bacon
½ cup hulled, untoasted pumpkinseeds
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Fresh hot green chile to taste
(I like 1 large serrano or small jalapeño), stemmed (optional)
1 tablespoon honey
Salt
1 large head Boston/butter head lettuce
(or an equivalent amount of bibb lettuce), leaves separated
2 large ripe avocados
2 ripe mangos
A generous ½ cup coarsely crumbled Mexican queso fresco
or mild blue cheese (Gorgonzola is great)

Directions

Arrange the bacon slices between a double layer of paper towels on a microwavable plate. Microwave on high for 2 ½ to 3 ½ minutes, until crispy. Pour the pumpkinseeds into a small skillet and set over medium heat. When the first one pops, stir constantly until all have popped from flat to round, about 5 minutes. Scoop about 1/3 of them into a blender jar and add the lime juice. Pour the remainder into a small dish.

Return the skillet to medium heat and measure in the oil. Add the garlic and optional chile. Cook, stirring regularly, until the garlic is soft and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Scrape the oil and garlic into the blender or food processor. Add the honey and ½ teaspoon salt. Process until smooth. Taste and season with more salt if you think necessary. (Remember: it should be highly seasoned.)

Divide the lettuce between 4 dinner plates. Pit and peel the avocado, then cut it into slices. Peel the mango, then cut the flesh from the pit. Slice to match the avocado pieces. Arrange the avocado and mango in the center of the lettuce. Drizzle everything with the dressing, then sprinkle with the cheese and toasted pumpkinseeds.

Crumble the bacon and strew it over the top, and the salad is ready.

Find more bacon recipes at BaconCookbook.com and order your copy today!

Paula Deen’s Cheesy Ham and Banana Casserole

Two layers of buttered white bread, deli ham and bananas topped with cheddar cheese, bacon and crushed potato chips, all covered in a mixture of heavy cream, milk and eggs mixture then baked.

(Submitted by Kara)

Not too long ago, a reader came to us with the idea that we should write a bacon book. You know, a book about bacon. We tossed around a few ideas that all centered around bacon and books and how to combine them into a book about bacon but we haven’t nailed down a bacon book concept just yet.

Today we received an email from Boss Hog over at BaconFreak.com announcing that he’s released the first edition of his Bacon Cookbook. What better book about bacon could there be than a bacon book that helps you cook the meat candy?

According to the web site (with the oh-so-catchy URL of BaconCookbook.com) they’ve got recipes from some renowned chefs that will help you get your bacon fix for breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, and even bacon desserts.

We got a chance to peek at the bacon cookbook ahead of time and were impressed with the quality of the bacon recipes included in the book. Don’t be surprised if you see a couple examples of bacon dishes we test out here at Bacon Today. We’re planning to cook up a few of the meals to give them the official Bacon Today taste test.

The Bacon Freak Bacon Cookbook is available in both downloadable PDF and paperback formats. Head on over to BaconCookbook.com and get your copy today!