Red Velvet Wisdom

For some odd reason, it seems that here lately we have had an abundance of posts related to bacon.  Well this one is no different.  You may remember a few weeks ago Dena did a post on eating chicken fried bacon at the Rockin Rooster in Avery, Texas.  Well as  soon as my accomplice saw that post, he looked me in the eye with the most serious face he possibly can muster, and said, “you have one week to figure out how to make this.”   Now I realize in previous posts I have complained of people making overly simplistic food requests, and I was actually kind of excited to be trying something that I had never done before.

Now, I did a little research on chicken fried bacon, and as best I can tell, it originated (along with any number of other fried sins) at the Texas State Fair a few years back.  There were quite a few ways to make it, and it seems that some people bread it, some people batter dip it, and there were recipes using flour, bread crumbs, and any number of things.  So I decided to go out on my own and do a simple double dredge.  I took some thick cut bacon, and cut it in half because I was afraid these big long strips might be hard to manage, and I am glad I did, because I do think they were easier to handle since I was pan frying.

I used a couple cups of flour that I flavored with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cajun spices.  You can just do it to your taste.  Then in a bowl I had about 4 or 5 eggs that I beat thoroughly.  Then one strip at a time I lightly dredged them in the flour, dipped them in the egg wash, and then gave them another coating in the flour.  I put them in a pan of canola oil to fry.  I would give you a temperature, but I don’t have a thermometer so I just did the good old-fashioned flick a little flour in there and see if it boils thing to see if it was ready.  I put 3 or 4 pieces in at a time, and just let them hang out in there until they were golden brown on both sides.

I drained them on paper towel, and they were ready to go.  I have to admit that I had low expectations of the flavor, but it was GOOD.  Very good.  Served it with biscuits and gravy, and it was something that I would make again, but only after a few months of doing a good detox cleanse!  The accomplice even came up with the bacon and gravy sandwich on a biscuit.

A few weeks ago, I had to go out of town for a convention, and I told my accomplice that when I returned, I would cook him anything he wanted.  His request?  Hot dogs.  Really?  I write for a food blog and will cook anything (at least once) in order to stretch my skills and get a story, and all he wants is a hot dog.  I get points for finding a man that is easy to please for sure, but at the same time, a hot dog doesn’t really push the culinary envelope.

So I set out to make one that does.  I decided early on that this little project would have to include bacon, because let’s be serious, I use it in everything but dessert (stay tuned for me to figure that out one day).  Then I decided I was also going to stuff this dog.  This involved me actually putting some thought into this project, because how on earth was I going to stuff anything into a little hot dog weenie?  Well, I decided to use a beef sausage link because they are much bigger, but still pretty much taste like a hot dog.  Then I cut a little pocket into it.

After that I used some smoked provolone that I tore into little strips to stuff the hot dog with.  I used provolone #1 for the smokey flavor and #2 because it’s a firmer cheese that won’t melt super fast.  This would be a disaster with something like Velveeta.  Then I wrapped the hot dogs in bacon and used toothpicks to hold it in place.  I put them in the pan along with some chopped onions, and let the bacon do its thing.  And by do it’s thing, I mean make everything taste amazing!

The bacon didn’t get super crispy all the way around, and towards the end of the cooking process I took the toothpicks out so I could get it a little more brown all over.  Then when they were ready I put them on a whole wheat bun, covered them in hot dog chili, and then topped them with those onions that had been sweating it out in bacon fat.  Celebrate National Hot Dog Night on July 17th with your own delicious variation of this classic summer food!