Hogs Improve their Lard with Cold Temps

Now that's a deeply Midwestern title, isn't it?
In the alternative, I could say "Nueske's heads the heap!"

Today's Times gives nice credit to that wonderful slab of bacon, coming right from our back yard (Wittenberg, WI) and enjoyed the world over (New York = the world) in such posh places as Balthazar, Pastis, Le Bernardin, and the Harvard Club. As they say in the article, it's our cold weather that creates the best darn lard in the world (well, second best, but that's just the coastal anti-Wisconsin bias kicking in).

I'm not a great bacon eater, but I love cooking the stuff -- the aromas create a bacon high that makes for a life-time of happy morning memories. Others agree. Linda Lee writes in the NYT piece:

…if you are reading nutritional labels, perhaps bacon is not right for you. Bacon belongs to the hedonist, the throw-caution-to-the-winds sort who would eat a bacon sandwich with a side of bacon.
When people arrived for my party, they said, "I could smell the bacon all the way down to the front door." And they meant it in a good way.
Rob Hurlbut, the president of Niman Ranch, said it best: "Bacon should be listed as an aphrodisiac."

BTW, if you're in Madison, you can pick up Nueske's at Steve's Liquor (for non-Madisonians I know that sounds odd, but our liquor store has undergone several mutations and it now does sell bacon and smoked salmon and who knows what other little surprise). Or at l'Etoile, wrapped around a scallop. Or from Nueske's web site. They say that every batch is individually tasted (employees are all Atkins freaks?), so look for the teeth marks when purchasing your pack.