Sandwiches, for 'education and delight'

Thanks to a tweet this afternoon, I just discovered this site, which features sandwiches as art projects: Scanwiches.

Old School Bourbon

On our recent trip to Kentucky we visited a bourbon distillery that makes a hand-crafted, small batch product. Labrot and Graham makes Woodford Reserve, which is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. Set in horse country, the distillery was built in the 1800s and those buildings are still in use today.

They use a triple-distilling process in specially-made copper stills that come from Rothes, Scotland, which produces a smooth finished product.

Shan's Bacon Explosion

By now you've probably heard of the Bacon Explosion, the biggest food phenomenon of the year that causes minor heart palpitations just to look at it.

I've come face-to-face with a B.E. once, when a colleague brought one in to the office. It smelled smoky and tempting and looked harmless enough -- like a meatloaf, really -- but having just finished lunch I couldn't bring myself to try it.

Not so my fearless brother, who recently smoked up his own. Below, his description and a slideshow of the results!

I know you've seen this and I know you've been dying to make one yourself!

I made mine with onions, cilantro and cooked bacon, wrapped in one pound of pork country sausage and covered in a one-pound bacon weave, dusted lightly with Tony Chacere's creole seasoning. Smoked at 250* for 2 hours (maybe a bit overcooked, but fugit) Served it up with Caesar salad and parmesan risotto (out of a box, but not entirely awful) and a jug of cheap Pinot Grigio.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with different fillers next time. Maybe spinach and feta?

It's amazing how far one of these goes. Four of us ate, and there's easily leftovers for four more!

The guys behind this burly behemoth, it was reported this week, have just been offered a barbecue book deal.

Great Balls of Bourbon!

I spent this past weekend in Kentucky, on my first visit to the state most famous for horses, bluegrass and Jack Daniels.

(Interesting fact #1: Kentucky's state bird is the cardinal, but you already knew that if you're a basketball fan. The U of L mascot is a very angry looking red bird!)

I didn't know what to expect of Louisville, and to be honest I was a bit surprised. The architecture in the old part of town looked so Northeastern to me... like something out of Boston in the late 1800s. Then, of course, there were the shotgun shacks, many of which had been added on to through the years but which still showed their original, narrow bones. There were a number of really cool looking Arts & Crafts style bungalows in the west end of town that I also really loved. They'd make a great rehab project, I'm sure.

(Interesting fact #2: The state gemstone is a freshwater pearl.)

We had gone there eager to taste a Kentucky Hot Brown and eat some good, down-home barbecue. On the first count we had middling success. We didn't get a chance to eat a Hot Brown in the hotel that originated the sandwich, but instead we tried the version of it at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. I'll be honest when I say I thought I was going to love this place... It's kitschy, colorful and has a personality all its own.

I ordered a fried green tomato BLT and my hubby had the hot brown so we could share them both. My BLT was pretty darn good. The peppered bacon was perfectly crisped, but was overpowered by the overly-garlicky aioli. The fried green tomatos were a nice touch, although a bit heavy on the cornmeal. And as for that hot brown, it came in a soup bowl brimming with cheese sauce. At first we thought we had ordered the wrong thing, since we expected something that at least resembled a sandwich. The flavors were all right, but overall the dish just failed to impress. The bread was impossible to find, the cheese sauce was bland and heart-stopping and the turkey just sort of sat there.

As for barbecue, we read about some places that sounded amazing but we didn't get to try them. We even drove past a guy with a makeshift stand on Broadway that looked fantastic, but unfortunately we were too full to stop. If anyone has some suggestions, we'd be happy to hear them, in case we find ourselves back in the River City someday.

(Interesting fact #3: Kentucky's state drink is NOT, bourbon, funnily enough. It's MILK!)

I did find one foodstuff to love, however: bourbon balls. I had two versions of this sweet treat, both of which were excellent. I even came home with a box of my very own! Here's a recipe:

Bourbon Balls
1 small package vanilla wafers, crushed (1 ½ to 2 cups)
1 cup minced walnuts
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons white corn syrup
½ cup bourbon
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

1. Mix all ingredients except the cinnamon and one-half cup sugar, and drop scant teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Chill well.
2. Form into marble-sized balls; roll each in mixture of cinnamon and the remaining sugar and chill well.
3. Roll again in cinnamon-sugar. Serve with ice cream.

Yield: About 50 balls.

Waking Up From Hibernation

The scout has been AWOL lately, but the vacation is over... Time to revive the blog, featuring thoughts, musings, experiences and -- most importantly -- good eats!

As I sit here in the middle of my work day, busily digesting my lunchtime salad from the cafeteria and trying to resist the samples of Valrhona chocolate that recently arrived in the office, my mind goes back to last night's dinner.

We met friends at an osteria in midtown that we've frequently been to for lunch. The sandwiches, pizzas and salads at midday are impeccable -- tasty and reasonably priced -- and the restaurant's service is always excellent. But this was the first time we've been for dinner, and the results were disappointing.

I ordered a pizza topped with tomato sauce and tiny polpette -- an amusing take on 'spaghetti with meatballs.' On paper it sounded irresistible... how can you pass up bread, tomato sauce and meatballs? But in reality it was bland. I had to ask for (and load up on) crushed red pepper flakes just to give my palate something to think about. A dessert of warm apple tart with cinnamon ice cream was a similar let-down.

That's not to say that I won't go back to this place for lunch, but clearly the nighttime staff are not held to the same high standards, which is a shame.

Why I Love The Guardian

Because of writing like this:

Watching [Marco Pierre White] microwave bacon is like catching your dad cheating at scrabble - the disappointment makes respect impossible.

Tim Hayward writes that he watched last night's edition of Marco's Great British Feast, with "hot, salty tears in my eyes" as Marco Pierre White ordered his bacon microwaved. His disappointment is palpable and beautifully expressed.

If you don't already have the Word of Mouth linked in your Google reader, do it now. It's a must for a food lovers and fans of well-crafted writing.