Bacon, It’s Cold Outside

At least here in New York it is. I think it was about 10° out yesterday so I decided to break out my Bacon Cookbook to find a hearty winter recipe. Maytag beef and bacon stew? Perfect. Except... I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese or peppered bacon. I am however a big fan of traditional beef stews with potatoes & carrots which this recipe doesn’t call for. Here’s my take on beef & bacon stew:

Ingredients

6 slices Berkshire thick-cut bacon

3 large onions

2-3 carrots

2 potatoes

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 1/2 lbs. beef shoulder cut into chunks

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup ale/full bodied beer

pinch of dried thyme, crumbled

pinch of dried rosemary, crumbled

2 bay leaves

salt & pepper to taste

2 cans beef broth

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Directions

1. Chop onions, carrots & potatoes into large pieces.

2. In a large pot fry the bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels & crumble. Set aside.

3. Add the onions to the bacon fat & cook slowly over very low heat for about 10 minutes.

4. Add the carrots and cook another 10 minutes or until onions are nicely caramelized. Transfer to a plate.

5. Dust the beef in flour, tapping off any excess.

6. Add vegetable oil to the pot over high heat & brown beef on all sides. Transfer to a plate.

7. Add ale to the pot & deglaze.

8. Put the meat, onions, and crumbled bacon back in the pot. Add in the rest of the ingredients & bring to a boil.

9. Reduce heat & simmer covered for about 3 hours or until beef is very tender & vegetables are soft.

10. To thicken: take about 1-2 cups of liquid from the pot. Place into a mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk until smooth. Add back to the pot & mix well.

Purple Yam

I am unbelievably excited for Purple Yam (or ube as Filipinos know it) to finally open. I had my first taste last night and was not disappointed. It may be the only Filipino restaurant in all of Brooklyn with the exception of Umi Nom which I have yet to try and seems to be more Thai-leaning. Purple Yam, like Cendrillon before it, is also Pan-Asian but they use traditional Filipino flavors in most dishes and use them quite well. Everything was familiar yet very new to me. Rather than organize their menu by the typical salad, entree, etc., they have categories such as “the pig.” My kind of place.

We started with the tocino sliders above (photo by flatbushnelson) and Korean meatballs. The sliders were served in a homemade ube pandesal—that takes 2 days to make—with pickled persimmon. And the Korean meatballs came in a canoe-like ube pocket with pickled carrots, cucumber and kimchi on the side. It was what my dining companion described as a “deconstructed banh mi.”

To drink we had kalamansi soju (another example of mixing Filipino & Korean flavors) and classic San Miguel. I haven't seen that beer since I last went to the Philippines. The coolest thing my dad has ever owned was an old San Miguel t-shirt from maybe the 70s that he wore until it was threadbare.

Next was the beef tapa salad—probably my favorite dish of the night. A salad?! Yes... It was a simply dressed salad, light on greens and heavy on the meat—intense, flavorful, amazing, meat. We also had the pancit which came in a deep bowl with a bit of broth and topped with slices of some kind of sausage. It was pretty tasty but I prefer a more traditional, broth-less pancit. Although I must say that it was better than most of the pancit I’ve had in a restaurants which always fall short compared to my mom’s.

Another reason to be grateful that PY has opened 4 blocks away (besides the fact that there are no decent Asian restaurants Ditmas Park) is the dessert. I have gone to far ends of Queens with a little cooler to find my favorite ube ice cream & bring it back home. The purple yam ice cream I had last night was better than any store bought version I’ve had. And it’s no wonder, as chef Romy later informed me that they make their own ice cream there. We also had the macapuno ice cream on top of buko pie—coconut heaven. I’m told that they also serve one of my favorites, bibinka—a coconut rice cake with a texture similar to mochi—during brunch.

I can’t believe that this wonderful restaurant used to be just another 99¢ store. PY is a great addition to the neighborhood and I’m sure I’ll be there quite often.

Candle / Condiment

Most of you know that I am anti-condiment. However, should there be a bacon fat votive adorning my table, I would certainly be inclined to drizzle the melting fat onto whatever I’m eating. Rick Gresh of David Burke’s Primehouse created this dual-purpose candle which is also available in a beef suet variety. If you can put one thing on your table to make your meal both prettier and tastier—this is the thing.

Thanks to Gavin for posting the article!

“If We Cant Smoke It, We Grill It.”

From highway 321 in North Carolina, one might think this big pink building is some sort of sex shop (even the parking lot lines were pink). But no, pink is for pig at the BBQ Man Rib Hut where you are invited to “come and get your butt rubbed.” Hmm... a bit pervy after all, Mr. BBQ Man?

I decided to pig in.

A good sign for a baconista to follow...

Barbecued pork, beef & chicken, ribs, hush puppies, sausage, sliced pork and a leg of chicken. A bit of everything which I probably managed to get through maybe a quarter of. The best thing on the plate (besides the addictive hush puppies) was the pulled pork—perfectly smokey and not sauced. At the table you have your choice of the two styles of NC sauces: tomato-based or vinegar-based. Also at the table are a bunch of piggies staring down at you as you happily devour one their own.