Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

 This soup really is a heavily bastardized version of caldo verde.  I'm very familiar with this fact, as I started out a few years ago making caldo verde, and it has finally evolved into this slightly different version that you see below.  I like the play of the bacon to the potatoes more so than any sausage that I have tried, and a good quality raw cheddar cheese seemed like a natural topping for a soup that already tasted like a bacon stuffed baked potato.

To start, get yourself a big sack of potatoes.  I would highly recommend going with a gold potato or even a red potato, as baking or russet potatoes don't really lend themselves well to this recipe.  Below you'll see that I went with some beautiful yukon golds.

Yukon Gold, baby.

Due to the fact that I happened to be in the midst of making a chicken stock while preparing this soup, I scrubbed the potatoes very well so that I could save the skins to add to the stock.  I then set up a peeling station, because 5 pounds of #1 potatoes takes a while to peel.  Once peeled, I put the potatoes into a large bowl filled with cold water and some ascorbic acid.  I did this to prevent them from oxidizing while I was working on the rest of the ingredients (of which there really aren't many).  Some lemon juice in the water, or even just the plain cold water by itself would work fine if you don't have any ascorbic acid or vitamin C laying around.  I did.

My dad used to tell me how much fun he had peeling potatoes in the navy.

Once the potatoes were peeled, I then cut them in half lengthwise and then into 1/4" thick slices.  I returned the slices of potato to the large bowl of cold water.  After that, I chopped this marvelous 18 ounce pack of thick, apple-wood smoked bacon into a small dice.

Bacon has magical properties on the internet, right?

I then tossed the diced bacon into a very large pan and let it brown.

Looking Good

Looking Better.  We can just stop here, right?

After the bacon got crispy, I removed it and placed it in a small bowl to just hang out for a while.  I also drained most of the bacon grease out of the pan.  This bacon grease went into the fridge, where it is still performing feats of awesomeness, such as frying eggs or being slathered all over whole chickens before roasting.  I did leave a few tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pan, and to this I added the drained potato slices.

While the potatoes were frying in the bacon fat...hang on, let me just savor the thought...I poured the liquid that I had used to soak the potatoes into a small saucepan and reduced it in volume to roughly one quart.  I was going to need some extra liquid, and rather than just add water I thought that it would be much more sensible to use the water that was already full of potato starch and any other enrichment that may have leached out of the potatoes while they were soaking.  Once the potatoes had browned just slightly, I poured this reduced liquid into the potato pan.

I also added a quart of rich beef stock for a heavy dose of nutrients and some excellent background flavor notes.  Chicken stock would work very well, too. 

If I can put bone stock into something, I will put bone stock into something.

Once the potatoes were well established in copious amounts of liquid, I turned the heat down and let them simmer while I ate all of the bacon.  Just kidding.  I simmered the potatoes until they were very soft, and then blended them along with the cooking liquid until velvety smooth.  I incorporated the bacon pieces back into the creamed potatoes and poured the whole mess into my slow cooker in order to let the flavors meld together for a few hours at a low temperature.  You don't need to use a slow cooker, but I did so that I could just walk away from the whole operation without fear of having anything burn.

Just hanging out and getting friendly

At some point in time I think that I took a nap.  I undoubtedly wasted some time on the internet.  However, I'm sure that I took a large bunch of lacinato kale that I had washed and sliced the rubs out of the leaves before cutting leaves into fairly fine slices.  I used lacinato kale because it sounds much more pretentious than regular kale.  Regular kale is for chumps, right?  This is a blog about food, so I felt obligated to opt for the fancier version of this robust leafy green.  Feel free to use regular kale when you make your own version, but be sure to tell your friends and loved ones that you used regular old kale because you truly don't give a damn about them.  Meanwhile I will continue to use my fancy kale.

OK, the lacinato is also a darker color and is not as crinkly, so it does look a lot better in soups like this.  That's actually what drew me to it in the first place.  Anyway, shortly before it's time to serve, stir the sliced kale into the soup and just cook it for about 10-15 minutes at most.  It will turn a very mice shade of green and be soft without totally falling apart.  The soup is very rich and savory, and the sturdy green of the kale (lacinato or otherwise) juxtaposes this in a wonderful way.  I elected to top the soup with some freshly shredded raw cheddar cheese, which was very good, or you can omit the cheese and just enjoy it how it is.  I put it into a hot thermos and sent it off with Christa for lunch.

So, in summary:

Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs of yellow potatoes
• 16-18 ounces of good thick cut bacon
• 1 quart of beef stock
• 1 head of lacinato kale (or regular kale)
• cheddar cheese to taste (optional)

1)  Peel potatoes and place in bowl of cool water with some vitamin C (to prevent oxidation)
2)  Cut potatoes into 1/4" thick slices and return to water to continue soaking.
3)  Dice the bacon and fry until crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pan, and reserve all but 2-3 tablespoons of the bacon grease for other projects.  In this 2-3 tablespoons of grease, toss the sliced potatoes to brown.  Meanwhile, reduce the soaking water to roughly one quart in volume.
4)  Once potatoes are brown, add reduced water and beef stock.  Simmer until the potatoes are soft.
5)  Blend the potatoes in their cooking liquid until smooth.  Add the bacon to this and simmer for a few hours to meld the flavors together.  I used a slow cooker for this part of the process because it was just much easier than manning a pot.
6)  Shortly before serving, stir the sliced kale into the soup to cook.  It won't take long for the kale to turn emerald green.  Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

BBQ Ribs

BBQ Ribs

When we go out to eat, there are typically two types of restaurants that we frequent:  sushi and BBQ.  Good BBQ is something that goes a bit beyond the means that we have to cook at home, as a smoker is not something that we have access to.  Sushi is fun to make (and we have), but the amount of extremely fresh ingredients required to put together a good sushi spread mean that it is often easier and even more economical to dine out when seeking that kind of experience.  Also, 'going out' to eat is a fun activity to engage in from time to time, no matter how much one enjoys home cooking.  It's an excellent way to get exposure to new ideas to try at home.


When we do go out for BBQ, Christa usually likes to sample a different dish each time we go, slowly working her way through the variety of cuts and presentations while accumulating more knowledge of the cuisine and (one day) trying everything that good smoky slow cooking can accomplish.  I, on the other hand, do not consider any trip out for BBQ complete without a rack of ribs.  I love ribs - it's an easy decision to make for me.  There's something wonderful about eating perfectly cooked meat right off of the bones that appeals in ways that brisket and pulled pork never will.

I'm getting hungry just looking at this

The idea of making ribs at home, though, seemed daunting.  As I mentioned before, I cannot smoke meats without a smoker.  However, the desire to make ribs something that we could enjoy on a more regular basis led me to try out a variety of methods involving braising them for long periods in the oven and judiciously applying some extreme heat just before eating.

The results, while not exactly the same as good BBQ, certainly fill that void and provide really tasty ribs anytime we would like them at home.  The method described below works for any cut of ribs, though baby-back are preferential for us.

Ingredients:

• two racks of pork ribs
• dry seasonings (either a rub or just good salt and pepper)
• three Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• BBQ sauce (make your own or find a commercial variety that suits the bill)

Raw Materials

 See the layer of connective tissue there on the back of the racks?  You can either try to remove it entirely, or simply score it with a criss-cross pattern using a sharp knife.  I opt for the latter.  Once the racks are cleaned and dried and prepped as aforementioned, lay them out on a large sheet of aluminum foil and season with the dry seasonings of your choice.  Pour the vinegar over the racks (to provide some initial moisture for the braising process), and then tightly seal the foil into a package around the ribs.  Pop this into the oven for 4 hours at 250F.  Don't open it up, just let it do its thing in there.  What we're doing is cooking them low and slow with lots of moisture in order to soften up the connective tissues and render them quite tender.  Once the ribs have cooked entirely through, open the foil packet and drain off the excess liquid that will have accumulated during cooking.  Turn the broiler of your oven on and brush the back of the racks with BBQ sauce; just a thin layer.  Run the racks under the broiler for no more than 10 minutes, or just long enough to sear the sauce onto the meat without burning it.  Pull the ribs out and brush another coat of sauce on and then broil again.  Flip the racks and repeat this process again on the 'front' of the ribs.  I recommend doing several application of the broiler with thin layers of sauce to really bake it in, as opposed to trying to glop the sauce on too thickly.  You can apply as many layers as you like depending on personal preference.

ribs, Ribs, RIBS!

Once the ribs are broiled to your own personal level of perfection, simply let them cool down enough to serve and enjoy.  The cleanup couldn't be easier as well, as you've cooked them in the aluminum foil (no dishes to do).

This recipe along with a side might easily serve 5-6 people, unless once of those people is me.