BS: gizmo for bacon

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Nov 20 - 09:40 AM

The mw is a lot neater and in my case makes better bacon faster.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: leeneia
Date: 19 Nov 20 - 11:09 AM

Steve, you don't have a spouse who refuses to turn the heat up and produces a slow-cooked, bitter, charred batch of bacon every time.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 20 - 12:11 PM

Leenia, kolaches are found all through Central Texas (I lived in Temple for a while, about 60 miles north of Austin) and for starters you'll find good bakeries anywhere you find a Czech fraternal organization call SPJST that has halls like you'll find for Elks or Eagles in other American cities. Interesting - I looked them up and there is one in Fort Worth. Dallas and Fort Worth and most of the area up to the border but not in the panhandle are "North Texas." The Panhandle is the Panhandle. Central Texas to the south of us is where you find Hill Country that is actually areas where batches of fossilized coral (harder than limestone) kept their level while the surrounding limestone was eroded by creeks and rivers so any those flat-topped hills (not quite mesas) with all of the lovely valleys around them are a popular tourist destination.

The Valley (the Rio Grande Valley) isn't really a valley so much as a large region with an agricultural focus that called for the naming of the area for business purposes. And then there are West Texas (huge, and as Leenia said, not to be confused with West, Texas, that is on the edge of North and Central Texas and is most importantly at the I-35 split where it heads north as I-35W to Fort Worth and I-35E to Dallas) and East Texas (where all of the pines in the Texas Piney Woods and the Bayous and swamps and real lakes and such can be found.)

When Texas joined the union in 1845 they stopped being a sovereign nation and reserved the right to break into five states. Every now and then someone threatens, but as you can see it has never happened.

When friends come to visit I drive them around the region; last visitor I had for that kind of road trip was Joe Offer, and we went through Cleburne where I was hoping to find the little kolache bakery on the courthouse square that I've taken people to before. It was gone, but we did find kolaches in the monster-sized HEB grocery store. (And if you want to use a business as an excellent example of a community partner, look no farther than HEB, who has trucks ready to stage the moment a hurricane happens down here and has been huge in helping area food banks.)

The place has grown on me, though I wasn't born here and don't consider myself a real Texan like a lot of immigrants to the state. When you start a thread about barbecue, get my attention and I'll point you to a gazillion great little hole-in-the-wall grill joints. :)

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Nov 20 - 12:10 PM

I think I'm getting it:

North Texas
Central Texas - including the Hill Country
South Texas
East Texas
Panhandle
the Valley

I'm surprised the Gulf Coast isn't a special region.

I go to Texas most years for a week of early music, the Texas Toot.

That's interesting about the coral limestones.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Nov 20 - 12:39 PM

My ploy in these circumstances is simply to go into the kitchen. Mrs Steve dare not enter said room if I get in there first.

"Steve, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Sure. Get out of here and go and watch the telly!"

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Nov 20 - 04:42 PM

That South Texas part (San Antonio and area) can be confusing because it isn't as far south as you can go. Just like North Texas isn't as far north as you can go.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: leeneia
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:26 PM

We ate the first batch of bacon cooked on the gizmo yesterday. It was pretty good, and the gizmo was easier to clean than the skillet. Too bad it didn't rotate well; the diagonal of the device was as long as the short dimension of the microwave, and when they coincided, rotation stopped. The bacon came out okay, though.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:39 PM

Wouldn't the bacon spatter all over the inside of the microwave and stink the thing out, or am I missing something?

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:48 PM

You use a cover on it or put a paper towel over the top. Otherwise, yes, the microwave would be a colossal mess.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 12:15 PM

We thought the same, and that's what we did.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 08:59 PM

It is a more contained mess than a stovetop.

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 06:55 AM

I have a very large frying pan (with a lid I seldom use) which I can use outdoors with my little ten-quid one-ring camping stove for anything smelly or spattery. The pan is big enough to hide the stove, which doesn't thereby get dirty. I can cook a fair amount of bacon in that, or enough fish for three or four people, or brown several pork chops or a pound of mince for a chili. I can't imagine being able to fit enough bacon in a microwave for even just me, and I must have brown, crispy edges. Cooking is all about doing it best, not about saving on the washing-up. I'll cook my streaky under a hot grill most times. Mine is quite capacious with a big grill pan and it does a good job. I can easily do enough for butties for two or three, and I'm not known for parsimony when it comes to sandwich fillings. And no back bacon for me, please!

What's one dirty grill pan!

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: BobL
Date: 26 Nov 20 - 02:26 AM

Steve, does your missus do the washing-up?

Subject: RE: BS: gizmo for bacon
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Nov 20 - 05:27 AM

Nope. I'm in sole charge. The grill pan and rack fit in the dishwasher once I've wiped most of the grease off.