Bacon, Underground Dining

For almost a year, I’ve been toying with the idea of organizing an ‘underground dining’ club among my friends and meeting monthly to do wonderful/terrible things to food at somebody’s house.  Of course, since we’re not smuggling contraband truffles from France or cooking things that would violate Health Department standards, it’s not especially underground.  This is mostly born out of a desire to spend more time with my friends without going to a casino or bar or restaurant every night of the week, a longing to start cooking semi-seriously again, and to do something fun and awesome in a pocket of otherwise dreary Northeast Pennsylvanian life.  In my vision, the shopping and menu selection are all done on the day of the event in that order – the menu is planned based on what is on hand at the host’s house and what the shoppers (who do not cook/pick the menu) choose to buy.  We cook, eat, drink, play Rock Band, etc. until the wee hours and then do it all again the following month/week/whatever time frame the event will bear.

Because I am always accompanied by an entourage of beautiful women, I was out with Nikki and Donna last night when the topic reared its head again, attendant to a discussion about bacon.  Yes, I know that bacon is played out already among the nerd set, but there are two very important things to remember, here:

1. Northeastern PA is about six months behind the civilized world, and

2. Although bacon will not always be hip, bacon will always be delicious.

As a result, I’m at work planning the inaugural meeting of a soon-to-be-assembled gaggle of gourmands (they’re like geese, you see) under the auspice of a Bacon Party (#baconparty to the Twitter-aware).  The meal is potluck, with every participant bringing an appetizer, side, entree or dessert that features bacon as an ingredient.  I have already declared as bringing a bacon cheesecake; I am not sure how that’s going to work, but I have ideas.  They need to be tested, but I feel very positive about the results.

Doing a quick Google of ‘bacon cheesecake’ leads to a few interesting recipes that I want to soak in before figuring out my own approach.  Several of them seem to be of the ‘let’s just throw in a bunch of shit’ variety, and I want something a little more…singular.  Not that I’m opposed to throwing a bunch of shit into a springform pan and baking it; anybody who knows the secrets of my chili recipe knows that I give into that kind of culinary ADHD from time to time.  In my defense, it almost always works.

If you’re local, you’ll likely hear more about the Bacon Party soon.

Tagged as: Cooking, Food