Book of the month. Fruit of the month. Well, why not bacon of the month?
The Grateful Palate, at www.gratefulpalate.com, offers limited-production bacons from around the country, a different one every month for a year.
It’s pricey stuff, $140 for a one-pound package each month, plus a one-time shipping charge of $115.
But Grateful Palate says each one of the bacons is distinctive.
“We use small producers. Most of our bacon you cannot find in grocery stores,” said Norma Ortiz, retail manager for the company, in Oxnard, Calif.
The artisan bacons are cured meats, with differing flavors, and they do not shrink as much.
Included with the bacon of the month club are notes on the bacon selections, recipes, a pig ballpoint pen, a pig nose that you can wear, a bacon T-shirt, a comic strip about bacon and discounts on other products.
Here’s a recipe using one of the bacon-of-the-month bacons:
6slices of Oscar’s applewood bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
8ounces kielbasa sausage, peeled if skin is tough, and cut into four pieces.
1/2teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1teaspoon herbes de Provence
11/2 cups bread crumbs
216-ounce cans cannelloni beans
2cloves garlic
5scallions, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 3/4 cup)
1onion, peeled and sliced thin (about 1 cup.)
4sweet Italian sausages (about 12 ounces)
3tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4cup water
Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the water in large saucepan with Italian sausages, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, rolling sausages so they cook on all sides.
Add Oscar’s applewood bacon and continue cooking. When sausages are browned, add onion, scallions and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds. Then add the beans with their liquid, herbes de Provence, Tabasco and kielbasa. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 15 minutes and then set aside.
Toss bread crumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Spoon Italian sausages, kielbasa and Oscar’s applewood bacon into four large ovenproof soup bowls, and cover with beans and liquid, filling bowls to within 3/4 inch of the top or so.
Sprinkle bread crumbs over the beans, and arrange bowls on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. If you want the crumbs a little more browned, place bowls under broiler.
The cassoulet can be made ahead, assembled and refrigerated in the bowls. Bake it for about 40 minutes, and then finish under the broiler.
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