Thursday, December 17, 2009

Pancetta Will Do

Dreaming of mushroom-bacon burgers but no bacon in the house? I can hear you gasp with dismay but that was my dilemma. I had a pound of nice, grass-raised burger from Prather Ranch and some big, meaty mushrooms but no bacon, not even in the freezer.

I did have a very small amount of pancetta that I bought to try with raclette - inspiration! I lightly fried the wafer-thin pancetta in a wide frying pan, sautéed the mushrooms in the same pan, pushed all that to one side and added the burger patties to the slurry of flavors in the pan until the top and bottom were richly caramelized and delicious. Pancetta isn't smoked, so you get the porkiness and the saltiness without the smokiness. I guess I still prefer bacon, but pancetta will do.

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8 Comments:

Blogger Greg said...

I gotta stop reading your blog before mealtime. It makes me so hungry! They say never go to the market hungry. Maybe I should not look at food blogs while hungry.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger meathenge said...

Oh, we suffer so!

xo

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger Kailyn said...

Now I really want a burger.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

THERE'S your meat, mo fo. :D
Yums.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger Nancy Ewart said...

I am not going to read this blog in the evening. I get the munchies and go looking for something half as good as the pieces on your blog. Even if I'm not hungry to begin with, all these fabulous descriptions and great photos awaken my hunger and make me want to eat.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger peter said...

That picture belongs in the dictionary next to "hot mess."

I want one. Cured meat of any kind makes a better burger.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger Chilebrown said...

Pancetta is like the black sheep of the family.

Thursday, December 17, 2009  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Greg, no, no, don't stop!

Rev, yeah, it's a tough life.

Kailyn, go get one!

Cookiecrumb, he got it at last!

Nancy, sorry 'bout that! Not!

Peter, I'm discovering what you already knew.

Chilebrown, well, maybe not black sheep, maybe just light gray. It's good!

Friday, December 18, 2009  

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