Tonynet Explorer

Regular readers know that I have a special part of my heart (and my waistline) reserved for bacon. I've written about the world's best way to cook bacon, linked to bacon humor, and even had my son aspire to bacon art.

However, I haven't written much about great bacons yet. My friend Chooky describes the best of something as "the bacon of xxx" (like his posts on the "bacon of yogurt" or the "bacon of pens".) This lead me to wonder what the "bacon of bacon" is.

Since I seem to inhale any bacon in front me too quickly for a thoughtful taste test, I turned to Cooks Illustrated, my favorite food magazine ever. They're the Consumer Reports of food. They'll test a hundred variations of a recipe to get it right; they also compare brands of foods and tools and give you the low-down. Their stuff is almost always gold. (They're also known as America's Test Kitchen on TV and in some cookbooks.)

Cooks Illustrated did two taste tests for bacons, one for supermarket brands and another for premium brands. (Note, CI requires a subscription to get to this content; they have a free 14-day trial offer though.) The winner of the supermarket brand is Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon, topping stalwart brands like Boar's Head, Hormel Black Label (which I had yesterday morning and thought was lovely), Armour, and Oscar Mayer. Tasters described it as "meaty", "full-flavored", and "crispy, yet hearty".

On the premium side, Niman Ranch Dry Cured Center Cut Bacon won the day (I mentioned Niman Ranch in my post on cooking bacon.) Here's their description:

Niman Ranch Dry Cured Center Cut Bacon Oakland, California $8 for 12 ounces Tasters found this bacon hearty, rich, balanced, and smoky. One taster said, "Yum . . . what bacon should be."

This is our "house bacon" whenever we can swing by Trader Joes.

One note for the organic, free-range, no-preservative crowd: CI observed in their reviews that nitrate-free bacons did not fare well. Turns out that people are used to the color and taste of nitrate in their bacon, so it doesn't taste right when the nitrates aren't there. This is consistent with a taste test we did between corned beefs a few St. Patricks' Days ago. We ordered a nitrate-free corned beef that was excellent except that everyone liked the regular supermarket one better. The nitrate-free corned beef was grey instead of the familiar red and missing the tang that we've come to associate with corned beef.

CI also noted that there is a visible variation in meat-to-fat ratio between different packages of bacon. This seems obvious since bacon is a natural product (well, it starts off natural anyway and then becomes ethereal). It's worth a few extra seconds in the store to pick your package of bacon carefully, just like you would pick out good apples.

So, go give these brands a whirl and let me know what you think. Of course, as CI notes, "Bad bacon is something of an oxymoron."

Every week when I pick up our share from The Root Connection, I stop by Minea Farms across the street for some the best apple cider I've ever had. Minea uses a 100 year old cider press to make both single variety and blended ciders. Unlike most store-bought cider, Minea's actually taste like apples rather than sugary brown water; what's more, each variety of cider tastes different, as it should. I love them all, but I especially prefer the sweeter ones like Gala and Fuji over the tarter varieties like Granny Smith. Each week they have a few different types and offer tastings so you can decide which to choose from. (Michael (7) likes the cherry-apple cider blend.)

This time of year is especially good since they are pressing recently harvested apples; earlier in the year, they sell cider frozen the previous autumn (still super damn good). In addition to cider, they have apple butter, veggies, apples, fruit leather, and other farm products, but the big draw is the cider.

Their usual hours are Wed-Sun 11am - 5pm. They're located at 13404 Woodinville-Redmond Road. Here's the sign from the road:

If you haven't had fresh apple cider before, you're in for a treat. If you have, well, you know what you're missing. Either way, get off your butt and go get some...

(OK, as usual, I have no idea if this really is the world's best anything, but it's pretty damn good cider.)

I love potato chips. They're like the veggie brother of bacon. I almost went to MIT instead of Stanford because I fell in love with Cape Cod Chips when I visited Boston. Really. (Thank goodness I didn't since by senior year, we could get Cape Cod Chips in Palo Alto. I got to be in shorts in February and eat yummy chips. Top that, MIT!)

I've eaten potato chips around the world and loved almost all of them, but the very best chip (or should I say crisp?) in the world are Cheese and Onion Tatyo Crisps from Ireland. These are the most popular crisps in Ireland (the dark horse is Kings, made by the same company and very good, but just not world class.)

I typically shy away from flavored chips, but these don't hit you over the head. They're thin and crispy like Lays (vs. the heavier crunch of Cape Cod or Tim's). Simply heavenly with a pint of Guinness.

They have a "smokey bacon" flavored chip too which I have not yet tried; those might actually be the best chip in the world...

For years, I've relied on friends traveling to Ireland to feed my need (thanks to Fergal to bringing me back a few bags recently to remind me of the old country). However, I just discovered that you can mail order Taytos from Ireland to the US. Of course, they're not cheap. US$20.59 for twenty snack-sized bags plus $31.88 shipping to Seattle (ten day service).

This is an affordable luxury and a small price to pay for such delight.

Irene, a dear friend of mine from many years ago, recently sent me six pints of ice cream from Graeter's Ice Cream, a famous shop in Cincinnati (and now other locations in the Midwest). Many consider it to be the best ice cream in the world. I'm a believer.

Irene sent us two pints of black raspberry chip (her favorite and their signature flavor) and a pint each of caramel, cookies and creme, chocolate, and coffee. The flavors and texture are amazing; for instance, in the caramel, there's a lovely burned-sugar taste. The taste is very natural, unlike Haagen-Daz, my stand-by, which has a more chemically taste. The ice cream is incredibly rich and has a great mouth feel. Graeter's makes their ice cream by hand using a French pot process in two gallon batches, hand packing them into the pints.

You can order the ice cream over the Internet and have it shipped (which is what Irene did). The pints come packed in a cooler with dry ice and were frozen solid; frankly, they were so hard we had to let them soften in our freezer until we could scoop them. (Dry ice is so cool.)

The Graeter's was a special treat and a wonderful surprise. Thanks, Irene!

(Of course, Wikipedia has more on Graeter's.)

I love bacon. I mean I really love it. Good American bacon - the crunchy kind, not that flabby stuff you get in other countries. At the risk of offending entire religions and regions, I think much of the unrest in the world is because too many people don't know the joy of bacon. Almost no one who has tasted bacon would willingly blow themselves up or start shooting at someone else. Bacon is worth living for.

But, it can be a real challenge to cook bacon well. Frying it is a mess. Microwaving has inconsistent results. Plus, neither scales well to the large amounts of bacon needed for a big brunch (or just me on a Sunday morning.) The secret is to bake the bacon in the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C or gasmark 7)
2. Take a large cookie sheet with a lip and cover it in aluminum foil. I like the wide heavy duty stuff that can cover the tray with a single piece.
3. Arrange the bacon on the sheet without overlapping.
4. Bake for six minutes.
5. Turn the cookie sheet around 180 degrees.
6. Bake for another 4-7 minutes depending on your oven and how crispy you like your bacon.
7. Lift the bacon out with tongs and set on a plate covered in paper towels. I dab the tops with another paper towel too.

Result: piles of perfectly cooked bacon for your dining pleasure.

Here are the cool bits about this recipe:

• All of the bacon grease is in the pan on top of the foil. Once it cools down you can lift out the foil and throw it all away. No mess. Better still, you can spoon out the fat to scramble eggs in (because what goes better with hot bacon than eggs scrambled in bacon fat?) Beet greens or spinach stir fried in bacon fat with crumbled bacon on top is delicious too.


• The turning around part is the magic move. Most ovens don't heat evenly. By turning the tray around, you ensure all the bacon cooks evenly. It's really amazing to me how evident the heat variation is when you see the bacon.


• If you want more bacon (and who doesn't), stick more cookie sheets in the oven at the same time. You can do tons at once this way with no additional time and minimal additional effort.

I've read a variation of this recipe that recommends putting a wire rack in the cookie sheet to keep the bacon out of the fat. I tried it. The results aren't any better, the bacon sticks to the rack, and the rack is a mess to clean up. Stick to the simple solution above.

While I'm at it, I'll put in a plug for Niman Ranch bacon. This is the real deal. Thick cut, smoky, and meaty, this stuff is made from happy, pesticide-free, free range pigs that lead productive, satisfying lives and died in the prime of their tastiness for you and me. Oh man, this stuff is good as is everything from Niman Ranch. Go get some today (Trader Joe's carries the stuff as do other good stores.)

Mmm, salty, rich, crunchy, and meaty. What's not to love?

Regardless of how you feel about guns, I think everyone would agree that if you choose to own a gun, you should be trained in its safe and effective use. I learned to shoot at Insights Training Center and have nothing but good things to say about the school and Greg Hamilton, the founder and chief instructor. The system they teach is very logical and thought through. It truly is a system that integrates the same principles through unarmed, knife, handgun, and long arm self-defense. One bit of evidence of the quality of the program has been two championships and multiple top five finishes for Greg, his instructors, and students at the National Tactical Invitational.

Even if you don't choose to own a gun, it probably isn't a bad idea to learn how to handle them safely. Of course, there are a lot of classes from Insights that aren't firearm related as well including unarmed, folding knife, pepper spray, and others.

One of the things that appealed to me most about Insights is that Greg takes a very pragmatic and unglamorous view of guns and self-defense. For instance, in the first General Defensive Handgun class, when we were all on the firing line, Greg said that if he had this druthers, we'd spend the whole class running away as soon as he blew the whistle because that was the best way to handle a fight; of course, he knew we'd be upset about spending two days and few hundred dollars running sprints. He also warned that a defensive shooting would probably ruin your life emotionally and financially; there is nothing heroic or appealing about shooting someone else. It would simply the be price of protecting yourself and your family.

The classes are also just plain fun. There aren't too many other places you get to move around, yell, and shoot thousands of rounds in a safe environment. I haven't taken the unarmed class yet, but friends who have said it was a hoot to be able to hit someone (in a padded suit) full force.

I already use the learnings from Insights everyday; I am much more aware of my surroundings and take simple precautions like locking my car doors as soon as everyone is in. As a result, I hope I'll never have to use any of the more violent lessons from Insights, but I'm happy to have the option to do so if the time comes.

Insights Training Center

[post edited 4/10/2006 to correct a glaring typo]

There's a small set of things I always have in my pockets. My cellphone. A pen. An LED flashlight. These are all useful to me almost every day. But the thing I've carried most consistently over the past few years is a Spyderco Delica, aka the "Clip It"

The Delica is small, lockback folding knife. There are lots of these kinds of knives, but the Delica stands out in a few ways.

First, it has a clip on the side that allows me to hang it on the corner of my pocket; the clip is reversable so I can carry on either side of my body (and I do). This has a few benefits. First, it's just way more comfortable to carry this way; it's not turning sideways in the bottom of my pocket like the Swiss army knife I used to carry. Second, I always know exactly where it is and in what orientation.

This leads to the next benefit. I can open and close the knife with one hand, quickly if necessary. Invariably, when I need to cut something, I'm already holding it.

Next, the knife is super comfortable to hold and use. It's small and light (and short enough to legally carry virtually everywhere). The bump on the back of the blade is a perfect place to rest my thumb. Together with the slight curve on bottom, I feel secure that I can push a bit on the blade with less risk of sliding forward. This alone makes it preferable to me than most of the straight handled folding knives.

Finally, it's got a good blade. It's sharp and holds an edge. The blade comes in three configurations -- serrated, smooth, and combination (half serrated, half smooth). I prefer the smooth or combination blades. Spyderco also makes a trainer version with a dull blade.

While the knife looks purposeful and a bit scary to some (and I'm sure it would be useful in a fight), I find myself relying on it almost every day for some mundane task -- cutting down a box for recycling, peeling an orange, cutting out a newspaper clipping. I use the knives so often that I am acutely aware now when I don't have one (like on flights after 9/11.) These are useful tools, well-designed and well-made, and relatively affordable. What more could you ask for?

This isn't a new gadget, but it may be new to you, so what the heck.

I'm a huge fan of the flashlights from Surefire. These guys take their flashlights very seriously. They are mostly aimed at military and law enforcement applications, so the stuff is very tough, insanely bright (they have a light that can blind you through your eyelids), and super functionally designed.

The 6P is the granddaddy of their lights and a personal favorite. It's a good size, bright (see above), and happens to be a good fighting light if you find yourself in a shootout in lowlight. (Doesn't everyone?)

They have very slick LED and weapons-mounted lights too. Their website and catalog are glorious and really show off their passion for excellence.

I love companies who really care about what they build, are honest about what they can and can't build (e.g. they don't claim their LED flashlight is visible at 20 miles and can last a lifetime on a single battery), and build great products.

Great, great stuff.

I'm not usually a big rum fan unless it's mixed with Coke or something, but I just had a glass of Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum. Damn, it's good. Very, very smooth. It is reminscent of good scotch without the peat or smoke. It's a more clean, sugar cane taste.

This is the world's best rum. I think so. So did the 2000 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Anyway, it's delicious.

It will also kick your ass. I've been sipping an albeit generous pour this evening and can already feel it go to my head. How good.