Friday October 30, 2009, 2:20 pm
Around the same time, the following events transpired:

_ The usually beef-and-beany Taco Bell erected signs at the mouth of its drive-thru lanes, exhorting motorists around the republic: "TOP IT OFF WITH BACON."

_ Uncle Jack's, one of New York City's signature steakhouses, put out its sidewalk chalkboard of dinner specials. Getting top billing at the beef emporium, for $24,95, was not sirloin, not rib-eye, not filet mignon, but slow-roasted Berkshire pork shank.

_ The brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, using an intricate process, crafted 25 experimental cases of — wait for it — bacon ale.

In this season of approaching winter holidays and abrupt spikes in ham consumption, this much is worth noting: In the land of the cowboy, the country where beef is held up as the meat that defines the American character, the pig in all its succulent, edible incarnations seems to be everywhere.

"As an interest in food, its origins and its preparation spreads around America, it makes sense that the American palate is widening past just burgers and steaks," says Sasha Wizansky, the co-editor of Meatpaper, a magazine about meat culture in America.

"Practically every scrap of a pig can be transformed into something tasty," she says, "and you can find a treasure trove of pork-centric dishes and cured products from around the world." (Meatpaper's first themed issue, earlier this year, focused on the hog.)

It's not as if the pig suddenly arrived on the American scene. From the earliest settlements in Virginia, it's one of the oldest domesticated creatures to make its way down American gullets. But somewhere along the line, pork was cast as an also-ran, below burgers and chicken in the culinary taxonomy.

Sure, ham and ribs and Southern barbecue were continuous staples for the American stomach. But for years, many Americans rarely ventured beyond the Shake 'N Bake pork chop and its workaday suburban brethren. Even pork's longtime slogan, "The Other White Meat," suggested a status akin to how Avis approaches Hertz.

Is that changing? Ask Michael LaScola, chef and owner of American Seasons, a Nantucket, Mass., restaurant where you'll find every part of the pig harvested into unusual recipes. Crispy pig ears, served up like French fries with a side of smoky ketchup? Check. Pig's head bacon served with eggs sunny side up? Check. Pork-belly fritters with foie gras? Check. And check your cholesterol while you're at it.

"Pork is definitely my favorite thing to play with and to cook with," says LaScola, who recently co-hosted an event called, yes, Hogtoberfest.

"You can go sweet and you can go savory. And either way it works," he says. "It has a lot of flavor but it's not gamey like lamb would be. Or it doesn't have that super blood iron kind of thing like some beef."

And, as meats go, most cuts of pork remain quite affordable — no small matter when you're trying to feed a family during a recession that's pushing into its second year.

Then, of course, there's bacon.

From Wendy's Baconator sandwich to bacon-scented air fresheners and even bacon-flavored mints, the cured and smoked Porkbellicus Americanus has become something of a fetish object for carnivores and lipid lovers. It has reached the point where the words "chocolate-covered bacon" have become, for many, something appetizing.

You can buy "Baconnaise," a condiment that has earned the good-natured scorn of Jon Stewart, and its companion product, Bacon Salt, which has been shipped to bacon-craving American troops serving in pork-free regions. You can even join the "Bacon of the Month Club," perhaps the only subscription-based pork products service in the land. Or perhaps not.

"There are instances in which innovative bacon dishes work ... and then there are times when you don't really want bacon foam on your dessert or bacon fat in your latte," Wizansky says. "In certain food circles, bacon saturation has become so extreme that chefs have completely abandoned it."

Bacon seems to turn otherwise rational Americans into drooling, carnivorous maniacs. Consider food writer Joanna Pruess, rhapsodizing in the introduction of her book, "Seduced by Bacon": "Bacon is far more than a food. It is a happy state of mind. It excites people to the point where some aficionados liken it to illicit pleasures. Can it be a religion?".... more

Friday October 30, 2009, 2:47 pm
In the land of Cowboys....LOL I live in the land of cowboys...LOL But we call them pig farmers and they hate it...LOL

EAT MORE VEGGIES.....

Big goirlly Hugs

Friday October 30, 2009, 3:45 pm
This has to be a joke, right. The reason there is so much pork out there is because it is cheap, cheap, cheap. So, it is buyer beware. Farmers can't sustainably and ethically raise pork at those prices. They have to overpopulate and medicate to cut costs. The animals lose, the farmers lose and consumers lose.!

Sunday November 1, 2009, 6:45 am
Thannxxx Cowboss... you still rule...

Sunday November 1, 2009, 1:47 pm
I used to love shake n bake pork chops when I ate meat. it really was tasty as long as there was not much fat.
Thanks Cowboss
PS bacon is not good for you!!!!Ok I will go now LOL

Monday November 2, 2009, 12:15 am
i likes some pork,as i like some beef! but ya know as i gets older my taste for meats be in decline! not quite sure why but fruits and veggies seem to be taking up more space on me plate.not that i'd decline a good plate of ribsor a nice rare prime rib just not quite as often!! thanks cowboss.