Product Description

Bacon. It’s crispy, salty, smoky, sweet . . . and totally irresistible. Renowned food writer James Villas offers 168 intriguing ways to savor the flavor of everyone’s favorite meat, ranging across America and around the globe. You’ll find familiar favorites like Spaghetti alla Carbonara and Cobb Salad as well as more exotic but equally delectable fare, such as California Hangtown Fry and Portuguese Egg and Bacon pudding. Illustrated with beautiful color photographs throughout and featuring sources for today’s best artisanal and international bacon, The Bacon Cookbook is your guide to a world of bacon possibilities and pleasures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80756 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470042823
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:

From Publishers Weekly
In this exuberant parade of pork fat, there is no doubting the flap copy when it states that Villas, former food editor for Town & Country, has been beguiled by bacon since he was a boy. However, Villas's statement in his preface that staunch vegetarians and non-pork-eating religious traditionalists are haunted instinctively by the sensuous, irresistible enticement is about as nutty as his Bacon-Almond Cheese Spread (made with cottage cheese and chives). Nonetheless, there's plenty good to be had in these pages. An introductory chapter explains the difference between Salt Pork and Pancetta, Paprikaspeck and Bauchspeck, and provides a thorough list of mail-order sources. Breakfast choices range from a nifty ole Bacon Scrapple to a rich French Cheese and Bacon soufflé. There's a BLT, of course, but most of his other sandwiches go to extremes with ingredients like Jamaican smoked fish. For those who sometimes eat vegetables, there is Lima Bean and Bacon Casserole, and several amalgams mix a menagerie of meats, as in the Spanish Chicken, Bacon, Meatball and Chickpea Stew. Of the six dessert recipes, bacon-wrapped figs work, but Bacon and Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles would be hard-pressed to create irresistible enticement in even the heartiest of carnivores. (Oct.)
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Review
"In this exuberant parade of pork fat, there is no doubting the flap copy when it states that Villas, former food Editor for Town & Country, has been 'beguiled by bacon since he was a boy'." (Publishers Weekly, September 3, 2007) " "there is nothing standard about Villas book...shows the versatility of bacon...Vegetarians beware; these dishes could prove too tempting." (Independent, September 13, 2008)

With his typical evocative prose, Villas, author of a dozen other cookbooks (including The Glory of Southern Cooking), asks, "Who, under any circumstances, is not rendered almost helpless by the tantalizing sound of bacon sizzling slowly in a skillet, by the taunting backwoods aroma that permeates the air...?" He opens with a guide to "the international world of bacon" (including pancetta, lard fumé, and other relatives), which is followed by mouthwatering recipes for all courses of a meal, from Lacquered Japanese Bacon to Portuguese Egg and Bacon Pudding. There are, in fact, several other cookbooks devoted to bacon, including Sara Perry's Everything Tastes Better with Bacon, but with its irresistible recipes and wealth of information and lore, Villas's new title is recommended for most collections. (Library Journal, October 15, 2007) 

“there is nothing standard about Villas book…shows the versatility of bacon…Vegetarians beware; these dishes could prove too tempting.” (Independent, September 13, 2008)

From the Inside Flap
Crispy, salty, smoky, sweet—who can resist the allure of bacon? Certainly not food writer extraordinaire James Villas, who's been beguiled by bacon since he was a boy. Now, in this paean to pork bellies, Villas offers 168 ways to savor the flavor of bacon—and proves once and for all that bacon makes every meal better.

Ranging across America and around the globe, Villas gives you scores of intriguing and delicious ways to enjoy bacon that will take you well beyond familiar favorites such as Cobb salad, quiche Lorraine, and spaghetti alla carbonara (though you'll find delectable versions of all of these dishes in the book). You can sample enticing American regional specialties like California Hangtown Fry and Iowa Bacon and Onion Casserole Bread, or feast on a wide range of toothsome international dishes, including Swiss Potato and Bacon Cake, Irish Hot Pot, Philippine Adobo, Chinese Lion's Head, Equadorian Pumpkin Soup, and Portuguese Egg and Bacon Pudding. With recipes for appetizers, breakfasts, soups, salads, sandwiches, casseroles, stews, main courses, vegetables, pasta and rice, and even desserts, you'll discover just how versatile—and forever satisfying—bacon can be.

In recent years, the variety and quality of most supermarket bacon have improved immensely, and many premium American artisanal bacons, as well as delicious fo-reign ones, are now available at finer out-lets and online. Villas provides a complete taxonomy of today's bacon, explaining varieties such as French ventrèche and German Speck and explicating the differences between American, Canadian, Irish, and Chinese lop yuk bacon. Best of all, he offers a complete list of sources to help you discover this world of bacon delights.

If health concerns sometimes make you feel guilty about loving bacon, Villas urges you to relax. Yes, it's high in sodium and fat, but if eaten in moderation or used as a flavoring agent, as it is in many recipes in the book, bacon is a guilt-free indulgence. Illustrated with more than forty sizzling color photographs and featuring Villas's inimitable recipe notes and incisive cooking tips, The Bacon Cookbook will be an indispensable kitchen companion as you explore bacon's many possibilities and pleasures.

Customer Reviews

Who doesn't love bacon?
In response to the prior review, there's definitely much more here than just instructions on how to cook bacon -- the book includes recipes using bacon in all different kinds of dishes, even dessert, believe it or not! I always find James Villas's books to be thorough and well-written, and this one is no exception -- definitely a great gift for a bacon-lover!

the greatest cookbook of all time?
First of all: who WOULDN'T like a cookbook dedicated to bacon? Every recipe in here uses bacon. Or pancetta. Or lard fumé. Or salt pork... And the recipes are a good variety, too: appetizers, soups and stews, entrees -- even bacon-wrapped desserts.

A couple quick notes:
(1) Keep in mind that because this cookbook is about bacon, is dedicated to bacon, and is gourmet, it's going to all for some specialty varieties of bacon. Granted the introduction tells you a bit about how to work around this but the recipes will also say that it won't be the same without some specialized type of salt-smoked bacon only made in Western Canada.
(2) While most of the recipes are ones that are sure to please, quite a few of them also call for organs -- liver and kidneys. Be warned.

Not just a novelty, but a genuinely great cookbook for bacon lovers
The Bacon Cookbook is a bacon lover's delight. At first glance it looks like it could just be a novelty cookbook that one might not actually cook from day to day, but after spending time with this cookbook it is clear that this is not the case at all. It's full of interesting, unique, and classic recipes that will allow you to use bacon in all kinds of diverse ways.

The book begins with a comprehensive introduction on bacon that tells you almost everything you would want to know. It discusses what bacon is, the history of it, international styles of bacon, how to buy and store bacon, etc. It also has a pretty extensive list of mail order sources for premium bacon if you want to go beyond what can be purchased in your area. It was pretty exhaustive and enlightening. The only thing I wish it had covered was recipes to make your own bacon. This is what would have taken the cookbook from 4 to 5 stars for me. It would have been especially great to have recipes for some of the artisan and more unique bacons called for in the recipes incase you cannot find them in your area.

The rest of the cookbook covers recipes for appetizers, breakfast, soups and chowders, salads and sandwiches, casseroles and stews, main courses, vegetables and fruit, pasta and rice, breads, and desserts. I was really impressed with the breadth of recipes offered in this book. You'll find some great classic American recipes in here, but there are also dishes that draw from international cuisine as well as fusion dishes. I really appreciated that there were a lot of recipes here that I hadn't seen in any other cookbook (and I have a pretty extensive collection) so even if you have a lot of cookbooks you won't feel like you've seen everything in here before. Some of the recipes that most excited me were the Venezuelan Squash, Potato, and Bacon Pancakes, Hot Bacon-Blue Cheese Dip, Bacon-Cheddar Popcorn and especially the Bacon Truffles. The variety of recipes also means that this book is great for people with different palates. Those who like more traditional dishes will find plenty in here to like as will people who enjoy more adventurous or international cuisine.

The recipes are also very clearly written so they are easy to follow. The one thing worth mentioning is that most of this recipes do take a little prep time so many fall outside the 30 minute window. If you're looking for quick and easy meals many of the recipes won't qualify. However, my feeling is they are worth the time.

Overall this is a great book. I highly recommend it for any bacon fan who wants to learn more about this pork product and find more creative ways to cook with it.