Part 1:
I've been married for over 50 years and I don't recall ever buying regular smoked bacon. I grew up in a house where smoked hog jowls were the order of the day. My mother was born in Hungary and every family reunion featured a bacon roast. I usually buy my smoked jowl bacon by the 45 pound box when I can find it. Once you try this you will be hooked for life.
Take a chunk of smoked jowl [usually a rough looking slab of 2 to 4 pounds] and cut out 1 or 2 4x4 squares. Score the top of the bacon about 1/2 inch deep, about 3/8 inches apart both vertically and horizontally in a checkerboard fashion. Put 2 slices of bread on a paper plate [any kind of bread will do but good Italian bread is the best]. Next, put a nice pile of thinly sliced sweet onions on the plate. Next, stick the 4x4 piece of bacon on a metal spit. If you don't have a metal spit, a 3-4 foot green pointed tree branch will do, but you need to be careful it doesn't burn in two dropping your meat into the fire.
Start roasting the bacon on a wood fire, turning it slowly to cook it on all sides. As the bacon starts to drip onto the fire, press the bacon into the slices of bread. When the bread is thoroughly saturated with the grease, place a nice pile of onions on the bread and do the same thing to the onions. The hot bacon will wilt the onions down just a bit. By the time the onions are soaked, the bacon is ready and all the little scored squares are now crispy little morsels that you will slice off and put on top of the onions as the finishing touch for your sandwich.
And there you have it--the best tasting sandwich you will ever lay your lips on. Oops! I almost forgot. Nothing enhances the flavor of this one better than an ice cold bottle of beer.
Good news. Since only part of the bacon has been consumed, you then take your knife and re-score the chunk of bacon and do it all over again for your second or even 3rd sandwich. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Part 2:
When you cut out the 4x4 squares for roasting there is quite a bit of odd sized and shaped scrap pieces left. Most of this is de-skinned and sliced up, put in freezer bags and frozen for future frying. I usually reserved 15 to 20 chunks for making paprika bacon. De-skin the chunks and place in a pot of water. Add 4 or 5 cloves of pressed garlic and a teaspoon of black pepper. Boil the whole thing for an hour. Pour off the water and let cool. Completely coat the chunks with sweet Hungarian paprika and then coat it again with Hungarian hot paprika. I freeze most of it for later use. Take a piece and slice it up for a sandwich [or on crackers] with sliced sweet onions on it.
Next time: mouth watering baked beans with jowl bacon.
I've been married for over 50 years and I don't recall ever buying regular smoked bacon. I grew up in a house where smoked hog jowls were the order of the day. My mother was born in Hungary and every family reunion featured a bacon roast. I usually buy my smoked jowl bacon by the 45 pound box when I can find it. Once you try this you will be hooked for life.
Take a chunk of smoked jowl [usually a rough looking slab of 2 to 4 pounds] and cut out 1 or 2 4x4 squares. Score the top of the bacon about 1/2 inch deep, about 3/8 inches apart both vertically and horizontally in a checkerboard fashion. Put 2 slices of bread on a paper plate [any kind of bread will do but good Italian bread is the best]. Next, put a nice pile of thinly sliced sweet onions on the plate. Next, stick the 4x4 piece of bacon on a metal spit. If you don't have a metal spit, a 3-4 foot green pointed tree branch will do, but you need to be careful it doesn't burn in two dropping your meat into the fire.
Start roasting the bacon on a wood fire, turning it slowly to cook it on all sides. As the bacon starts to drip onto the fire, press the bacon into the slices of bread. When the bread is thoroughly saturated with the grease, place a nice pile of onions on the bread and do the same thing to the onions. The hot bacon will wilt the onions down just a bit. By the time the onions are soaked, the bacon is ready and all the little scored squares are now crispy little morsels that you will slice off and put on top of the onions as the finishing touch for your sandwich.
And there you have it--the best tasting sandwich you will ever lay your lips on. Oops! I almost forgot. Nothing enhances the flavor of this one better than an ice cold bottle of beer.
Good news. Since only part of the bacon has been consumed, you then take your knife and re-score the chunk of bacon and do it all over again for your second or even 3rd sandwich. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Part 2:
When you cut out the 4x4 squares for roasting there is quite a bit of odd sized and shaped scrap pieces left. Most of this is de-skinned and sliced up, put in freezer bags and frozen for future frying. I usually reserved 15 to 20 chunks for making paprika bacon. De-skin the chunks and place in a pot of water. Add 4 or 5 cloves of pressed garlic and a teaspoon of black pepper. Boil the whole thing for an hour. Pour off the water and let cool. Completely coat the chunks with sweet Hungarian paprika and then coat it again with Hungarian hot paprika. I freeze most of it for later use. Take a piece and slice it up for a sandwich [or on crackers] with sliced sweet onions on it.
Next time: mouth watering baked beans with jowl bacon.
