In this installment
Bacon bits
About Vande Rose
Bacon Fat Mayonnaise Recipe
Bacon bits
Made in Delano, Iowa
Cure: Dry Cured in salt for a secret length of time
Smoke: Applewood
Taste: Lightly smoky, a little sweet, a bit savory. Very well balanced.
About Vande Rose
Three families arrived in the area around Des Moines, Iowa back in the 1850s. These Dutch settlers the Van Gilst, De Bruin and Rozenboom familes were Quakers and the natural beauty of their surroundings were fitting for the approach they took to hog-rearing: their animals were raised in a peaceful setting, roaming free in the pastures. That philosophy still holds true for the folks running Vande Rose Farms today, and while I can’t attest to how their bacon tasted back then, today it’s one of the most balanced, best tasting bacons around.
Vande Rose bacon is a country cure. It’s done dry, not with brine, so the bacon doesn’t take on any new moisture while it cures. You see, the Vande Rose farms had been producing high quality pork for many years, but they hadn’t done much with bacon until a couple decades back. That’s when they enlisted the help of famed sausage maker, writer, chef, and endocrinologist: Bruce Aidells. Bruce traveled from his home in San Francisco to Iowa and shared his philosophy on bacon making. “From my way of thinking you can’t really beat the old way, what they call the ‘box cure,’ or the ‘dry cure.’” Bruce said back then. “A lot of bacons I think are too smoky,” he continued. “Really good bacon is all about balance. Salt, sugar and smoke. They should all be in balance as well as a nice fat to lean ratio.”
The folks at Vande Rose belief in balance is evident when you taste this bacon. It’s lightly smoked over applewood and the mellower nature of the smoke enables it to accent the bacon (and thus any dish featuring the bacon) without overwhelming the other flavors.
Bacon Fat Mayonnaise Recipe
From Jim Reische, who helped edit Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon
5 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
7 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cups rendered bacon fat
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper to taste
Chill all the ingredients and utensils (including your mixing bowl) down to about 40 degrees. Don’t skip this step or the mayonnaise may break.
Put the egg yolks, mustard and 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice into a blender or mixing bowl. Beat on high for two minutes, until well blended.
Add the bacon fat (no need to add gradually if everything’s properly chilled), continuing to beat until the mixture is thick. Depending on how thick and rich you like your mayonnaise you may or may not need the entire amount of fat.
Slowly blend in the remaining lemon juice, sea salt and pepper, whipping it pretty much continuously throughout. Adjust seasoning to taste.
The mayonnaise keeps for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
Yields about two cups.