Making Margot’s Favorite Breakfast – Eggs Benedict

Margot goes nuts for Eggs Benedict. I have never seen her pass on ordering it when it shows up on a restaurant menu. Me, I had never had it before today. I’ve never been a huge fan of cooked eggs with yolks intact so I could pass this over without thinking about it.

I figured making it for the first time would also be a great opportunity to try it for the first time. I decided to use the regular bacon we had rather than Canadian Bacon, knowing full well that the dish would come out a bit different than the classic. Margot approved so I went ahead.

Hollandaise sauce can be tricky to make primarily because you must be careful not to scramble the eggs during the cooking. Similar to the lemon curd I made recently and the many applications of melted chocolate, the use of a double boiler (or similar apparatus) is required. The recipe I used for the Hollandaise came from Tyler Florence and The Food Network.

I didn’t find the process to make the sauce too much of a challenge and Margot confirmed that it tasted correct and had the desired texture. I’ll say I got lucky the first time out!

The poached eggs were pulled off using a cheat, a microwave egg poacher. Margot bought the little contraption to for her to make poached eggs without any hassle. It worked well and I hope nobody will think less of me for not doing to work to poach the eggs.

The assembly of the final dish included a light English Muffin covered gently with Smart Balance, several pieces of bacon, the poached eggs and a healthy portion of Hollandaise sauce. I used Marjoram for a garnish. I added a little salt and pepper to mine and dug in.

The Hollandaise sauce definitely expressed the lemon flavor and acid, something Margot said she really likes. I can imagine the difference with the Canadian Bacon and Margot suggested it holds up against the sauce a bit better than the traditional bacon. I can’t say I am as enamorate of this dish as Margot, but I can see how it can be just the thing to make for a satisfying breakfast.

Cheers!

Jason

Candied Bacon & Beer Mancakes

Really?

Hey, I’m not really a man’s man. I don’t watch sports, I don’t leave the toilet seat up and I don’t have a man cave in my house. I do know how to eat however, and celebrate manly foods with the best of ‘em. Bacon, BBQ, pizza, grilled meats, sandwiches with as many meats as there are stars, etc. You get the point.

This week I got behind on blog posts because I had to fight issues with roof snow and ice dams. Real manly stuff. I’ve got to do it again today and I need a manly breakfast to get me fired up. SO I bring you Candied Bacon & Beer Mancakes. I even used homebrew!

For the next two days I will be doing marathons of blog posts to both get caught up and to also give the middle finger to this winter that has been trying to permanently get me off track.

Candied Bacon & Beer Mancakes

8 slices of thick-cut maple bacon
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups Bisquick Lite
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 bottle homemade Blueberry/Blackberry beer (you will need between 8-12 oz)
Set oven to 350. Lay the bacon out on a foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with half the brown sugar.

Bake for 10-15 min. Flip and cover with the remaining brown sugar. Cook for another 10 or so minutes, until the bacon is crispy and the sugar has complete melted. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Chop into rough pieces.

Mix the remaining ingredients together using as much of the beer as needed to get the consistency you desire. Fold in the chopped bacon.

Cook the pancakes using 1/3 cup-fulls on a hot griddle until golden on both sides.

Serve with butter and maple syrup. Belch loudly when done. Only to celebrate the meal of course!

Cheers!

Jason

Don’t Know Until You Try

Anyone that is married to a creative Chef has had those moments. The one where said creative Chef throws out a recipe idea and all you can think is: you’re making what, and I have to eat it? But then, every person married to a GOOD creative Chef knows that those moments are often followed with amazing, delicious experiences. This is a story of one of those moments…

My only request for dinner was that it be pizza, most likely due to the Travel Channel show I had just watched devoted to the subject. Jay has come up with some wonderful pizza ideas in the past when issued this challenge. (Pulled Pork Pizza and Hoisin Chicken Pizza being two of my favorites.) As always when faced with a dinner challenge he went to the kitchen and pondered the ingredients we had on hand.

Two items caught his eye: first the home made dill pickles, second the package of bacon. When he came back with the idea of Bacon Pickle Pizza I was a little skeptical. As always I should have known better!

The resulting pizza was better than I ever could have imagined. The crunch and light brine of the pickles mixed with the salty goodness of the bacon was so perfect.

Both the toppings played so well off of the standard red sauce and mozzarella cheese and the flat bread crust was the perfect conveyor. It was like all the best things about a bacon cheeseburger without the burger overpowering the other flavors. (Though you could add beef as an additional topping I think that it would take away from the other flavors).

Never doubt a creative Chef… It pays to just go with the flow and enjoy the delicious ride.

Mangia,

Margot

Red Wine Paired With Bacon

Hopefully that title will generate some interest. This pairing was accidental but was so interesting it warranted a quick write-up.

Last year we went in on half a pig with friends and were overjoyed when the bacon turned out to be juicy and lean, light on salt and had a nice smoky flavor. We have enjoyed it many times, but sadly the supply is dwindling.

Last night Margot cooked up a breakfast plate that featured some of the tasty bacon, scrambled eggs and some pan fried potatoes actually made by our friend who we shared the pig with. The potatoes were on the menu on Sunday and we scurried away some leftovers for last night.

I wanted to finish the bottle of Petit Verdot I opened on the weekend lest it oxidize and have to be poured out. This was one of two bottles that I corked when I was transferring the homemade batch from a larger glass tank to a smaller one earlier in the year. The wine was made from an award winning limited edition kit produced by the WinExpert company. The wine is young, and I wanted to see how the early bottle tasted before I consider what to do with the rest of the batch that is aging in the basement.

We'll I sat down and tore into a piece of bacon and immediately went for my wine glass out of habit. The pairing was amazing. The gamey, smoky taste of the bacon melded perfectly with the earthy, dark fruit flavors in the wine. Margot tried it and agreed. I kept trying it to enjoy the surprise. This pairing wasn't revolutionary for me, we tried deli roast beef with Pinot Noir a few years back for a big wow, but it wasn't planned and REALLY tasted good. I'd recommend trying such a pairing with real country smoked bacon and an earthy wine like Bordeaux or a Rhone blend.

Cheers!

--Jason