Okay, I’m going to come right out here at the beginning and fess up: I’m a vegetarian. I don’t eat meat, which means I don’t tend to get to take part in the bacon shenanigans here on Al Dente (the porky fun had by AndreaLeigh, Spanno, and other bacon-loving Al Dente bloggers on a regular basis). Until now, that is. Because even though I’m not a meat-eater, I have loads of meat-loving friends, and many of them are hotshot cooks of the pro and home variety. One of the best is my pal Rich Yarges (who at one point fronted the renowned Kansas band, Truck Stop Love), who is the king of what I’d call comfort food, but what some might call Midwestern delicacies. I’m talking everything from homemade pickles (he cans the finest), baked beans, and potatoes of many varieties to all kinds of large slabs of meat cooked, grilled, smoked, and done up every which way. But I think that with the Bacon Explosion, Rich reached another level (and apparently I’m not the only one, as someone already offered him 1,000,000 for it), and gave me a chance to post about bacon. Here’s the skinny (hah) according to Rich: he took two pounds of homemade Italian sausage, wrapped it in two pounds of thick cut bacon, and then smoked it all for three hours. The end result, straight from the maker’s mouth, is “pure bliss.” Meat-a-holics, start salivating now.

–A.J. Rathbun
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