31 January 12
How to Make Bacon
Making Bacon is so very, very much easier than you could possibly imagine. It takes a long time, this is true. This is not immediate gratification food, however good things are often very worth the wait. However, while you will be waiting anxiously, you won’t have to actually do that much work.
This is not a recipe, that can be gotten by reading a book or a website, but this is a breakdown of the necessary steps to show how easy it is to encourage you to do this yourself.
1. But a good quality pork belly. We purchased ours from Butcher & Larder. The pig came from Slagel Farms. This is more expensive than going to Jewel and buying pre-packaged bacon wrapped in plastic. But you’re doing this because the cost is worth the better taste payoff. Trust me!
2. Purchase pink curing Salt. We purchased ours from The Spice House. One ounce will be enough for 25 pounds of meat, so you don’t need much at all.
3. Mix your pink curing salt, sugar, and regular kosher or sea salt together. Measure this by weight. Add in flavorings. We used 1/4 cup maple syrup for 3 pounds of pork belly. Rosemary, thyme, citrus, anything could taste good.
4. Rub this seasoning/curing mix all over your pork. Put it in a very large plastic bag. Place this plastic bag in a cake pan or other item that will let it lie flat and catch any drips if you spring a leak.
5. Flip the bag over every 12 hours for 6-9 days. As the cure does its magic, it will make the meat firmer and firmer. Once it is firm, you’re ready to smoke.
6. Set up a smallish amount of coals in a tray with some hard wood chips, shavings, chunks, etc. We used apple from our very own backyard apple tree that we pruned and let season for a year. The were about 1” in diameter and 12” long. It doesn’t take much to create smoke. Light your coals, get the smoke going and set this to one side of your grill.
7. Place your meat over an area where it is not in direct heat. Stick a thermometer in it that is safe for leaving in the meat. Watch your meat and pull it when its internal temperature is 150˚F. You want to keep the temperature in your grill at 180˚F and 200˚F. This means you’ll have to peek in frequently and adjust the flue, and/or occasionally raise the lid to reduce the heat. It may even be a good idea to wait until the heat lowers to the desired range before you put your meat in.
8. Check your meat every 15-30 minutes to check for temperature fluctuations and add coals as needed.
9. If after 3 hours of smoking you don’t have the correct internal temperature, take it off the grill and put it in your oven at 200˚F until it is done.
10. Let it cool to touch. Remove the skin. Slice off a piece. Fry it gently over medium heat.
11. Eat. Shed tears of joy because it is the best bacon you’ve ever had.
So this isn’t easy. Bacon is a sometimes food and a sometimes project. But it is well worth the wait, the patience, and the time involved to get what you get.
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18 January 12
Paula Deen, Classism, Sizeism, and Diabetes
Paula Deen is diabetic. The occasionally rumored story has since come out as fact and she’s teemed up with a major pharmaceutical company who creates medication to help patients with diabetes manage their condition. There are many points I’ve seen expressed online in regard to this news.
One thing I’ve heard many times and by several people I didn’t expect to hear it from is, “Paula Deen got diabetes because she cooks horribly and is fat.”
We don’t know her medical history. As far as I know, we’ve not seen her medical report, and unless you’re a doctor with a specialization in diabetes, I probably wouldn’t listen to what you have to say about it anyway. But here is what I know about size and diabetes. Being overweight can make it harder to manage your condition, but becoming overweight will not make you get Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a medical condition that has some times to genetic markers. It is incredibly possible that there are environmental factors that increase your chances of getting diabetes, but I don’t know what they all are and I can be sure the folks saying Paula got diabetes because she cooks with butter aren’t either. I can also be sure that while many of Paula’s recipes are not those a dietician would tell a patient with diabetes to eat on a regular basis. I suspect that most doctors would tell their patient they could eat Piggy Pudding in moderation as part of an otherwise balanced diet.
However, while cruising through Twitter tonight I came across two tweets side-by-side each other which solidified and explained the discomfort I felt. One was from an acquaintance I’ll keep anonymous who said “Paula deserves diabetes for giving every one of her fans diabetes.” [WHOA! Really? Someone deserves diabetes?]
The next tweet was from a local foodie acquaintance who said “The Joe Beef Double Down can’t be a real thing. Bacon, mayo, cheese btwn 2 battered & deep fried foie gras slices, drizzled with maple syrup.”
Now it is possible that because Joe Beef is not battling a public outing as a diabetes patient, he wasn’t criticized for even suggesting such a thing, let alone serving it as his restaurant and possibly publicizing it in his new cookbook that lotsa foodies are all agog over online. Or is something else at stake?
I mean, many of the famous foodie folks and they’re a touch on the overweight side. Emeril Lagasse? fat. Mario Batali? fat. Ina Garten? fat. Alton Brown isn’t fat, but he’s lost weight and he’s had heart trouble. Emeril Lagasse damned near creating Food Network single-handedly with his Bam! and his “more can’t hurt” philosophy. Each one of Mario Batali’s sausages are 30% fat, same as Paula’s. Ina Garten doesn’t shy away from butter use.
But none of them sound Southern. None of them were on welfare as single parents with children. The other guys are a bit snobby for most of the folks living in the diabetes belt. Paula’s not. She’s comforting. She sounds like yer mom, or somebody’s mom. She laughs, she has fun, she uses a lot of butter. But she also creates recipes like this one for White Bean Chili which sound pretty danged tasty and healthy. (And it has been online for more than 2 years, if you’re going to go all “of course she put up healthy recipes now!”)
Every cook on Food Network Television has made a ton of unhealthy dishes and made them look great and appetizing. But Paula’s son joked about how she ate “deep-fried butter” so a fan created a recipe for it and came on the show to help her make it for a special episode. And foodies freaked out. Since then, Paula has become the queen of food that is really, really bad for you, the Queen of Deep-Fried Butter.
But is it her food we dislike so much? Is it her tendency to take tons of “bad for you food” and make it on our TV? If so, then why aren’t we up in arms about Mario Batali’s Mozzarela Carozza? Is it because we know what “deep fried butter” is, but Mario’s recipe sounds fancy. Know what it is? 1/2 pound of fresh cheese put between 2 slices of Wonder bread and pan-fried in butter. Or is it because Mario didn’t have to get famous by becoming a joke of himself? Is it because we couldn’t dare to take Paula seriously as a cook, so she took the road to success that let her raise her kids and pay her bills, and turned herself into a joke at her own expense?
I find it hard to believe that if Mario Batali told the world he was diabetic that the reaction would be the same. No one would say he was a fat cow who deserved diabetes because he gave others diabetes. But Paula, being female, Southern, and of a different “class” (even though she’s rich now, she’s still no Ina Garten, right?) she’s treated differently. I think all of these factors weigh into the public approach to her diagnosis.
I’m glad she’s talking about it publicly 3 years after she found out. I am glad she had time to deal privately with this. I’m glad that she is finally talking about. Because I’m hopeful that others will hear her symptoms, they’ll see themselves in her, and they’ll get treatment of their own illness. They may even end up taking the same medicine she does to regulate their illness, just like she does. And in the end, more people are likely to get treatment, to begin getting well (or at least better, because no one gets over diabetes), to begin understanding their bodies better. If this public announcement had happened right after she found out, I’m not sure she’d have the ability to be the voice of her people now. I think we should be proud of her now. Reading her brief letter to her fans about facing diabetes head-on is nice. But I disobeyed my general rule of not reading comments and read some of hers on this post. The commiseration of people who see themselves reflected in her is uplifting and fulfilling. And that is what Paula’s message has always been for those who watched her show and saw their mother in her smile.
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12 January 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Women in Media & News
One of the 7 nonprofit organizations that I’ll be donating a portion of the sales of each bag to is Women In Media & News: WIMN.
This organization was founded by Jenn Pozner, who I’m fortunate to call a friend (for full disclosure-sake). And it has 2 main focuses that I support whole-heartedly.
First, it serves as a resource to connect journalists and other media outlets with women who are experts in their given field. If you are writing an article about Engineering Curricula you could contact WIMN and ask for women sources to contact for your piece.
Second, it critiques coverage of women by the media, while providing training opportunities and educational (and hilarious) seminars to encourage people to engage in their own critique of media coverage.
Jenn also wrote Reality Bites Back a book that focuses on how reality television portrays gender, race, class and more. I joke that Jenn watches The Bachelor so I don’t have to, but it’s true. I have a few reality shows that I like (Project Runway and Project Accessory), which I like because it focuses on the quality of what is created instead of the weight of the people creating it. However, even I had to admit that there have been many instances of some pretty intolerant comments, the challenges are focused on selling things, and my gawd y’all the product placements are getting cray-zay!
In general, I feel like Jenn, and the other people she has writing for the website and who help with the overall message of the organization, holds media accountable. It also provides a place where people who are interested in understanding the dynamics and the behind-the-scenes decisions of journalists and media outlets can turn.
And did I mention she’s funny? Cause feminism isn’t about sapping the enjoyment out of life, but making it a better place for more enjoyment to happen. And WIMN is helping to do that.
08 January 12
The Well-Appointed Pouch
Photo taken by Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk
I’m very, very grateful to the The Letter Writers Alliance for teaming up with me last year to create a series of bags to truly fit their members’ needs. And I’m also grateful to Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk for taking a photograph and writing a description of everything she manages to jam in her pouch. I’m pretty great at fitting 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag, but I’m impressed by all this. Thanks, Ana!
05 January 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Chicago's Read/Write Library
One of the 7 nonprofit organizations that I’ll be donating a portion of the sales of each bag to is Chicago’s Read/Write Library. You can listen to or read this great piece on WBEZ about it.
Most libraries have a librarian or series of librarians who determine what is of high-enough quality to be represented in the library. And there is value in that curation. There is value in librarians. I love them and their skills and the work they do.
But there is something to be said for a place that collects every printed material of an area. They don’t just collect them and record who wrote it, but they record who created illustrations, who designed the cover, who edits it, who typesets it and more. The more is the crux of this place and why it resonates with me so strongly. They’re not just a room with a gorgeous turquoise wall and a lot of shelves. They’re a repository for culture and an attempt at mapping influence, gauging the direction a community is heading, and seeing where it started. It is the focus on community that hits my heart.
Chicagoans generally have a lot of pride in their city, in what they create, in who they know, what they did, where they did it, how they did it, and how the city played a role in that creation. And I feel that the Read/Write Library gets that this Chicago pride can be measured, quantified, mapped. It’s overwhelming and intimidating and scary as hell, but it can be done. And Executive Director Nell Taylor isn’t afraid of the task, even though it seems insurmountably huge. I’m grateful to have crossed paths with her at a number of events and places and I find her to be cheerily brilliant and so very approachable and enlightening. I just can’t help but feel a little bit inspired and encouraged after talking to her and thinking about this huge project she is leading. And for that, I’d love the opportunity to write her a few checks to cover Sharpies, and tape, and the electric bill so she can be this force for others for a long time to come.
04 January 12
This Year's Non-Profit Selection
Creating a business has always had a non-profit fund-raising element as part of it for me. If it weren’t for wanting to donate more money to organizations I supported and believed in, I never would have started making bags. Over the 8 years I’ve run Poise.cc as a legal business, I’ve devised a variety of ways to raise money.
I’ve linked specific bags with a non-profit so that every time I sold a bag money was donated to a specific organization.
I’ve donated hundreds of bags over the last 8 years to various non-profit organizations to use as raffle or silent-auction items.
I’ve picked a different non-profit each month and donated a percentage of total sales to that organization.
I’ve done special sales where every bag sold during a given time raised money for a specific organization.
I’m still going to be making and donating bags for non-profit organizations to use as raffle or silent auction or even donor promos. If you run a non-profit and need an item, just send me an email. I’ve yet to be asked by an organization for a donation that I won’t support.
However, I decided that I would pick six of the various organizations I wanted to support this year and would set aside a portion of the purchase price from each bag and then on a quarterly basis I would figure out my donations, divide by six, and send a check off to each organization. (If I have a quarter where donations are less than $25 per org, I will wait till the next quarter to send a check. It often costs organizations more to process small donations than they get back.)
And I do mean each bag I sell. Every bag I sell online, at a craft show, via a consignment, a custom order, or even wholesale. Each bag results in a donation to an organization I feel strongly about.
So, because I’m an over-achiever, I actually have seven organizations I want to support this year. Another one came to mind as I was creating the list and I just couldn’t take it off.
They are:
Chicago’s Read/Write Library
Women In Media & News: WIMN
Chicago Abortion Fund: CAF
CARE
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation: CAASE
Apna Ghar
Dachsund Rescue of North America
I will be writing more about each organization over the course of this month and explaining why I like each of these groups and why I think they deserve my money.
04 December 11
Proof of Carry
I began making custom bags for the Letter Writers Alliance earlier this year. The bags have been far more successful than I imagined, and probably more successful than Kathy and Donovan expected. I’ve made three bags for the group of 2000+ members to purchase and am delighted to be talking about how to revise, adjust, tweak for future makings.
But I was even more delighted recently when Donovan posted sketches of the bags I’ve made and included a list of everything she carries in each one. To see a bag I’ve made in use is a great thrill, but to get such an intimate peek at every item that goes into it is a delight.
There were three bags I have made for them. The first bag I created was a large messenger bag that is able to carry quite a lot. The bag as Kathy photographed it is:
The contents of what Donovan carries are here.
The second bag was the pencil pouch:
Which Donovan is able to fit quite a bit more into.
And the most recent bag is a document pouch:
That can safely and securely carry quite a bit as well.
Collaborating with these women has been great in so many ways. They’ve been inspiring, encouraging, patient, and kind. I can’t thank them enough for the chance to work with them and get to meet some of their members. And while I love getting a friendly and flattering thank-you email, getting a friendly and flattering thank you letter is a true to delight to hold.
22 October 11
Every New Bag Starts the Same Way
Every time I get an idea for a new bag, it starts this way. I get an idea, I make a quick sketch at the top of a piece of paper. I mull it over and think about how it will have to be created and I ponder the pieces required and the order I’ll assemble them.
Once I feel like I have a pretty good mental picture of how the construction will happen, I decide how large I want the overall bag to be. Then I sit down for a few hours and determine how many pieces I’ll need and how large they’ll need to be. I need piece dimensions for the exterior fabric items, the lining fabric items, and interfacing. I need to figure out any hardware I need (snaps, loops for attaching the strap, zippers, etc.) and I spell that out.
Then I cut out all the items I need for 1 bag and I assemble it to get an idea of how much time and how much frustration it will actually take. If I have a bag that takes a lot of time but has very little frustration I’ll make it. If I have a bag with a lot of frustration but only takes a short amount of time I’ll make it.
For this smallish but utilitarian bag, I was amazed at how many pieces go into making it. Which means that the construction for this bag that is about 10” x 5” x 2” takes just as long to make as a large messenger bag. There was one fiddly bit that caused a lot of frustration. A LOT of frustration. But after reconsidering the construction elements, I realized I could get the back with less hassle by changing my method which means that this bag is bad on the “maybe” list. I’ll make another before DIY and see it can be a potential seller and then I’ll set about making more.
I’m tired of making totes. I still like making messenger bags, but I want something smaller. I think this may be a winner. I’ll find out soon.
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