''Seduced by Bacon: Recipes & Lore about America's Favorite Indulgence'' is a
cookbook
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food.
Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
about
bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sa ...
written by
Joanna Pruess with her husband
Bob Lape. It was first published by
The Lyons Press in 2006 and contains 90 recipes using bacon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even desserts.
Pruess is a food writer and consultant to the
food industry
The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...
, and her husband is a
food critic who has written articles for
Crain's business.
Description
''Seduced by Bacon'' contains recipes covering a wide range of bacon-related snacks and meals. It also includes facts, ideas, and instructions for preparing the meat, as well as a brief history of bacon, a discussion of the folklore surrounding the meat, and a glossary of bacon-related items.
The book also provides information on the use of bacon, listing curing techniques, tips on buying and storing bacon and the best ways to cook it.
''Seduced by Bacon'' includes bacon-related writings from notables such as
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
and
Fran Lebowitz
Frances Ann Lebowitz (; born October 27, 1950) is an American author, public speaker, and occasional actor. She is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities and her associati ...
.
It also contains photographs and bacon-related poems:
:For us the pig's the means, while bacon is the end
:Providing gustatory heights to which we can ascend
The book claims that 71 percent of bacon is still consumed at breakfast or brunch.
It includes 10 recipes for the early in the day meals and then covers appetizers, sandwiches, entrees and a few desserts, such as a savory bread pudding with Canadian bacon,
multigrain bread, feta cheese, tarragon and wild mushrooms "for a sophisticated combination that would be welcome at any meal."
In the section on how to cook bacon, Pruess wrote that she prefers to oven-fry large batches in jellyroll pan, in a 400-degree oven for 11 to 16 minutes.
Reception
First printed on October 1, 2006, ''Seduced by Bacon'' was reprinted 3 times by March 9, 2007.
It was featured on a Saturday edition of
CBS's ''
The Early Show
''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday fro ...
'' in a segment called "Chef on a Shoestring", where a three-course meal consisting of recipes from the book was created for four people for $40.
The menu featured a warm baby spinach salad with oranges, red onion and bacon as a starter; Chinese glazed salmon for the main course and pecan, brown sugar and bacon ice cream for dessert.
One reviewer described the book as capturing a big food trend: the use of bacon to flavor everything from pasta dishes to sweets.
The book has also been mentioned
in more recent newspaper stories reporting on bacon's popularity in the United States, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as
bacon mania
Bacon mania refers to passionate bacon enthusiasm in the United States and Canada. Novelty bacon dishes and other bacon-related items have been popularized rapidly via the internet.
The movement has been traced to the late 1990s when high-prot ...
.
See also
*
Heather Lauer
References
External links
Video of CBS show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seduced By Bacon
2006 non-fiction books
Cookbooks
Books about bacon
Lyons Press books