Bacon Fat Spice Cookies

For as long as I can remember, I've kept bacon fat in my refrigerator. I'm talking before it was hip again. The talk of the town. I remember my grandma saving her bacon grease when I was little she'd fry up the best thin-cut pork chops in it. Her pork chops are a thing of legend amongst my siblings and I. As hard as I've tried, I've never been able to make them quite the way she does. I have my trusty cast iron skillet—just like she did. I have my rendered bacon fat—just like she did. It could have been the spice she used, but I'm pretty sure it was simply seasoned salt.

Of course, it could have been the pork itself. Or maybe it was just the fact that grandma made them.

So, a lot of people like to shovel blame back and forth about what is causing the obesity epidemic in the US (and world?) today. Some people blame cooking with fat. I find it hard to believe that cooking with fat (alone) is the culprit. Our great grandparents (and their great grandparents) have been cooking with fat for generations. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with processed food and immobility. Don't blame the beautiful bacon fat. Or lard (pure stuff, not the hydrogenated stuff made to last forever on the grocery store shelf). Or beef tallow. Or duck fat (liquid gold). Or even my friend butter.

Bacon Fat Spice Loaf (variation on a Lardy Cake)

This bread has been four years in the making. I swear, I feel like that's always something I'm saying. I collect recipes and ideas the way some people collect stamps. Tucked away in every imaginable place, filed away, sticking out of every nook and cranny, in books or folders—you name it and there's probably at least one recipe idea sticking out of it. Fortunately, I know I'm not the only one with this affliction.

Four years ago, I bought The River Cottage Bread Handbook. It's a great book—portable, inspiring, useable. It helped me start my very first sourdough starter. The first half of the books is an introduction, of sorts. It talks about why to bake bread yourself, and then moves into ingredients and step-by-step guides for every part of the process. The second half is all about the recipes, and putting the techniques you learned in the first half to use. There's even a tutorial on how to build your own clay oven tucked into the back of the book. I haven't used it yet, but oh, how I'd love to one day!

There are several pages that have had bookmarks marking their spot since day one. I've worked my way through a good amount of them, but one has been hanging out, patiently waiting its turn ever since. It's the recipe for Lardy Cake. Which is actually bread, not cake. You know how that goes sometimes.

Cornbread with Bacon, Onions, Corn, and Maple Syrup

Cheerful and sunny enough to warm your bones on even the coldest of days.  Although I usually prefer a simple, sweet loaf baked up in comforting cast-iron...there's just something so primal about a simple, unsweetened disk.  With eyes closed, it transports me to the campfires of my ancestors with one earthy bite.  I love a good muffin studded with smoky bites of bacon.  Gooey, sharp cheese is always a delight.  Perhaps a hint of green from blades of chives or even scallions.  How about the heat from fire-roasted chiles that marries so well with each bite of corn?  While I will be making a yeasted bread with corn later on this month, I also wanted to show the glory of a good ol' baking powder leavened cornbread.  This one is about as basic as it gets.  If you're not an unadorned cornbread kinda diner...then think hard before you make this one.  No sugar.  No heat.  No smoke.  No sharp.  No green.  Just naked corn...in all its glory.

Cornbread
Plain and Simple

from the River Cottage Bread Handbook by Daniel Stevens

makes 1 small "loaf"

2 c. (8.8oz/250g) cornmeal

2½ tsp. (.35 oz/10g) baking powder

1 tsp. (.18 oz/5g) fine salt

2 Tbs. bacon fat

½ c. milk

½ c. yogurt

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Place a medium heavy-bottomed, ovenproof frying pan over medium heat to warm up.

Meanwhile, mix the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Melt 1 Tbs. bacon fat in a small saucepan.  Gently whisk milk and yogurt together, then stir into same pan.  Warm through, then pour onto dry ingredients and stir it all together.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of fat in the warmed frying pan, then immediately pour in the cornmeal mixture.  Let cook for one minute, then transfer to oven and bake ~20 minutes, until firm and golden.  Eat right away or let cool.

I followed Stevens' suggestion and fried the cornbread, cut first into strips, in some bacon fat (from bacon just cooked in same pan), then added a knob of butter and a handful of chopped onion to the pan to get soft and golden.  Then I threw in some blanched corn kernels and warmed the whole thing through.  Serve it all together with warm maple syrup drizzled over everything and a good cracking of fresh black pepper.  Down home goodness.  Next time I will make sure I have bourbon for sipping alongside.  If only I had a swing and a big country porch.

This post is linked to:
Bread Baking Day #36: "CORN"y Breads which I am hosting this month.