Posts Tagged ‘lamb’

Notes

Oct 5, 2008 St. Louis, books, farmers' markets, groceries, offal watch, restaurants

1. I spotted hardback copies of one of my favorite foodie books, The Apprentice by Jacques Pepin, on the discount racks of the Creve Coeur Borders.  I can’t possibly recommend it enough.  It’s incredibly interesting as a whole but, with Pepin’s insane skill, the really interesting bits are his years at Howard Johnson’s.

It’s hard to imagine a time when people were attempting to make chain food that actually stood up to some level of high standards.

2. Guanciale.  Salume Beddu was slinging some made with Fararr Out Farm Berkshire jaws at Tower Grove recently and it is delicious.

Toast some good bread, render some up like lardons, and top it with arugula and a fried egg cooked in the rendered fat for the ultimate (and fast) after-work snack.

3. Grits.  I’d been unimpressed by Revival’s in the past, but this week, cheesy grits baked in a dish and topped with a slice of ham and a sunny-side up egg were absolutely perfect.  It doesn’t get much better than egg yolk running over anything.

4. Getting much better…the Fat of stlbites.com has made an appearance at Niche.  Lamb belly is now the final savory course of the tasting menu and it’s ridiculously good–everything a solitary slice of tender lamb gut was meant to be.

Lamb – mushroom, cauliflower, tapenade (& Brussels Sprouts when I had it)

5. A guilty pleasure: Chicken Modega and a side of white cavatelli at the Town & Country Rich & Charlie’s.  Bonus: it was $28 for two of us to eat.  Bonus 2: That Rich & Charlie’s is BYOB. Bonus 3: It was enough for lunch the next day too.

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Lamb Bacon, The Official Fat of stlbites.com

Sep 16, 2008 general food

Array

“If you want to make people happy, give them bacon.”

-Anthony Bourdain

This morning, in the bacon section of my deep freeze, I found the remaining chunk of my Local Harvest Grocery lamb bacon.  To be honest, I’d forgotten about it until Ellie suggested last week that we should do a bacon tasting for a Slow Food event someday.  Discussions about the best local bacon briefly ensued, and I gave a nod to Local Harvest as having produced what are possibly my favorite, and the lamb bacon specifically.

Now I’d wager people love traditional bacon because people love minuscule chunks of crisp pork attached to much larger chunks of juicy, glistening pork fat. It is delicious, and some would argue it’s the best of fat followed by perhaps duck fat.  I, however, have a tender place in my heart for lamb fat.

And so, when I saw lamb bacon with rosemary at Local Harvest a few months ago, it was a must have.

It doesn’t crisp up particularly and instead has a kind of chewy ham-like texture after rendering which I find strangely appealing.  Take a bite and you’ll be greeted with the saltiness you’d expect of any bacon, followed by the richness of the succulent lamb fat, a dash of smoke and the permeating scent of rosemary that will linger in your kitchen for days.  Put it in scrambled eggs and breakfast will reach new highs.  Or hell, it’s cured so just slice it up and eat it straight.

It lived up to all expectations.

I’ve no idea if they still have it which makes this an utterly useless and outdated post, but be on the look out anyway, it’s not to be missed if it returns.

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