Fancy Food Show Real Time Bacon Reports

from the desk of : Dept of Shameless Self-Promotion

Bacon Isn't Just for Breakfast Anymore!

Follow your nose to the Transatlantic Foods booth at the Fancy Food Show, BOOTH 5319. We'll be cooking up our new Aux Delices des Bois Artisanal Bacons, the exciting new twist on this old fashioned breakfast treat.

Sunday mornings will never be the same. Our thick, crispy slices of country bacon balance meat and fat, don't shrivel up like an old apple, and bring to mind 1950s farmhand fare. This smoky, thick-sliced bacon comes from pigs raised and processed by a small, sustainable farm. It naturally invests TLC, healthy food, and personal oversight throughout the pork production process. The smoker has been husbanding thick sliced bacon in the hills of Amish country and western Pennsylvania for 3 generations. Compared to industrial, mass-produced product, the pigs are raised in a dignified, clean, and comfortable environment - think summer camp for piglets!

Above: the first 3 generations of our smokin' smokers

4 styles:

Farmhouse Country * Southwestern-Style Kick * Cracked Pepper & Garlic * Herbes de Provence

• No nitrates or nitrites added, except those naturally occurring in celery (who knew?)

• Minimally processed, no artificial ingredients

• Unlike other brands, the reverse side of the slices are in plain site

• Resealable bag

Want to taste at the Fancy Foods Show? Get a daily Tweet with sizzle tasting times!

More tales of scapes and huitlacoche

Tune into the Leonard Lopate interview with Peter Hoffman of Savoy Restaurant. You can follow him around the greenmarket to buy scapes.

http://blogs.wnyc.org/culture/category/food/

3 Recipes for Scapes

Scapes have such a short season that we loaded up on them and ate them all weekend. Here are a few recipes.

Scapes are a wild summer aromat we look forward to as much as ramps. A long, green, hollow stalk - about the same width as a scallion or long bean - curls around like a joyous spring. Slice it as you would chives or grill it whole.

This weekend we found some scapes, and paired them up with shiitakes bought in Chinatown a week ago. These dry, flavorful shiitakes hold their shape and flavor beautifully, so if you can get downtown, look for them.

Recipe #1 Scape & Shiitake Saute
Slice up the scapes about 1/4 inch. Saute the shiitake in a little duck fat, simmer, covered until slippery. If the pan is dry, add stock or wine. Add the scapes and let it all mellow for 5 minutes. Season and you're good to go.

#2 Scape Garlic Bread
Our family has 2 men who devour baguettes like, well, petits pains. When we have a bread-baking weekend, 1 baguette disappears as I take the other 2 out of the oven. An annoying habit they have of lopping off both heels first leaves us with plenty of dried-out baguette. Before it's too late for anything except croutons, I slit it lengthwise. Melt some butter with chopped scapes, spread on the bread, and broil.

#3 Lazy Lady Grilled Scapes
This is good to add to marinated vegetables you intend to grill. Toss whole, long, twisted scapes with olive oil and lemon, salt and pepper. Toss into the grill basket and turn as needed. Keep a close eye on them.

Bonus recipes: diced scape over tomato salad; scrambled eggs with Aux Delices des Bois Artisanal Bacon, wine-jus pan sauce for steak, cornbread....

Find scapes at farmers markets

Ask the Pro - Barbara Kafka shares her tips

Ever wondered what to do with that pot of gold?

We're talking about morels, of course, which are in full swing.

Here's what Barbara Kafka - veteran restaurant consultant, famous (and delicious!) cookbook author, longtime Vogue columnist and, well, check her out at http://bkafka.blogspot.com/ - suggests:

"For the people with an over suppy of morels--what a pleasure--I suggest
cleaning them sauting in a little olive oil and simmering in some chicken
stock until cooked and freeze in small quantities."

When we have the right weather and stretch of time to supervise, we dry morels. The sun does a nifty job, and takes more than a day to dry them. Lay morels out on a screen with plenty of space in between the pieces. When they feel brittle, turn them and do the other side. At dusk, take the screen inside, to avoid the dewy hours of dusk-to-dawn.

For more details, check out The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer, by Amy Farges, Workman 2001.

Whatscooking@AuxDelices.com

What we threw together for Sunday Supper

WARM WHITE BEAN, HAM AND CHANTERELLE SALAD

http://docs.google.com/Edit?docid=dhswc5g3_8gk62j7g8

Lunch on the Run

Grab 'n Go

Murray's Grand Central