Kids Make Bacon Cheese Bread

Is there anything bacon can't make better?

By Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

One of the adults at our school asked if we were using turkey bacon to make bacon cheese bread in our food appreciation classes.

"Heck, no!" I replied. "We do not use fake bacon in our classes!"

We teach kids to make traditional foods using traditional tools and techniques. Modern "healthy" alternatives, such as substituting a processed turkey product for real pork bacon, is an entirely different lesson But you could certainly opt for the ersatz bacon when making this bread at home.

And believe me, you will want to make this bread.

We love to torture the rest of the school with our cooking aromas. The smell of bacon sizzling on the stove top--followed by sauteed onions--started mouths watering all over campus. Add to the bread heaps of Parmesan and Gruyere cheese and you practically have a stand-alone meal that any southern chef would be proud to put on the menu. In fact, this bread would be even more perfect slathered with pimento cheese, another southern specialty.

And it's not at all difficult--or time consuming--to make. This is a quick bread, after all, where baking powder is the principle rising agent.

Start by grating 3 ounces Parmesan cheese over the large holes of a box grater. Set aside. Then grate 4 ounces Gruyere cheese and reserve separately.

Next, cut five slices of thick bacon into 1/4-inch pieces. Sautee these until almost crispy in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat, then drain the bacon onto paper towels, reserving 3 tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan. Next, sautee 1/2 medium onion, chopped fine, until lightly browned. Set aside.

For the wet ingredients used in this bread beat 1 large egg in a medium mixing bowl, then whisk in 1 1/4 cups milk, 3/4 cup sour cream and 3 tablespoons melted butter.

For the dry ingredients, whisk together in a large mixing bowl 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper and 1 pinch cayenne pepper. Using a spatula, mix in the 4 ounces grated Grueyer cheese, tossing and stirring until the cheese is completely coated with the flour mix, breaking up any clumps of cheese as you go.

Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. We had some issues with the bread sticking to our pan, especially on the bottom. You might want to line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper and spray it well. Dust the bottom of the pan with 1/2 the reserved grated Parmesan cheese.

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mix and mix well with a rubber spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared load pan, smooth out the top and dust it with the remaining grated Parmesan cheese.

Place in a 350-degree oven for 50 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then invert and place the loaf on a wire rack to cool further.

Make sure to get a slice for yourself. This bread does not last long!

Kids Make Ham & Cheese Crepes

Good things come in small packages

By Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

You could probably get kids to eat almost anything if it were wrapped in a crepe. Kids love making these, and they love eating them even more.

In fact, the kids in my food appreciation classes for years have been begging to make crepes. I think they had the sweet variety in mind. This week, since we are visiting France on our virtual world culinary tour, I showed them how delicious savory crepes can be. I have fond memories of my own travels to Brittany, where crepes sarrasin--or buckwheat crepes--are a specialty. Once you learn to make the crepes, there's no trick to stuffing them with thinly sliced ham--or turkey, if you prefer--and Swiss cheese. To make them even more delectable, they're folded into square packages, topped with a pat of butter and Parmesan cheese, then heated through in the oven.

Crepes are essentially very thin pancakes. The batter is swirled around a moderately hot pan and cooks quickly before being lifted and flipped with an off-set spatula to cook briefly on the other side. They can be made ahead and refrigerated, or even frozen for several months. It's all in the technique, so don't be afraid to practice a little. You don't need a French crepe pan. But a non-stick pan is essential. This works best if you allow the pan to come up to temperature for a few minutes before making your first crepe.

Stirring our crepe batter

To make enough crepes for a large family or a dinner party, first melt 2 tablespoons butter and set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together until smooth 2 large eggs, 1 cup milk and 1/3 cup water. In a separate bowl, mix together 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup buckwheat flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour the egg mix into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, adding the melted butter.

Allow the batter to rest, refrigerated, at least 2 hours or even overnight. Over moderately high heat, heat a non-stick pan--the kind you would use to make omelets, or a crepe pan if you happen to have one--and grease with butter. Pour in enough batter to coat the bottom, tilting the pan this way and that until the batter covers the bottom surface. Allow the crepe to cook until the top is dry, then lift one of the edges using a spatula and your fingers and work the spatula under the crepe. Gently flip it to the other side to cook another 15 seconds or so. Remove the crepe to a sheet pan and continue making crepes until you've used your batter.

To stuff the crepes, lay them on a flat surface and place ham I (or turkey) slices in the middle along with a small handful or grated Swiss cheese. Fold the crepes into squares and flip them over onto a baking sheet. Top each crepe with a small pat of butter and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Heat in a 325 oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

What's for Breakfast: Turkey Cheese Melt & Unbiscuit

Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

Some things sound a lot better on a menu than they actually turn out to be on the plate. This "turkey ham and cheddar cheese melt" advertised on Chartwell's menu site is a perfect case in point. This is what it looked like on the kids' trays for breakfast yesterday.


As you can see, the "turkey ham," meaning turkey processed with chemicals to taste like ham, is sprinkled with grated cheese, then placed in the oven to melt the cheese. Mostly what I saw the kids doing was picking off the bits of cheese to get to the turkey. They ate the meat with their fingers.

The thing on the left that looks a little too much like it was found out in the woods is supposed to be a "whole wheat biscuit." I suppose you could conjure up a lovely mental pickture of ham and melted cheese sandwiched inside a fluffy biscuit. But I think we can conclude from this that the push for whole grains is definitely in conflict with our biscuit tradition.

I happen to love traditional southern food, and back when I was eating starchy carbs I loved nothing better than a good, homemade buttermilk biscuit. A biscuit made with whole wheat, as you can plainly see, comes nowhere close. In fact, I would call this inedible--and I think the kids agree. I didn't see any of them eating it.

We should just serve whole grains as whole grains and leave the biscuit tradition alone. But you know what? The USDA's proposed nutrition guidelines would eventually have all of the baked goods in schools made as "whole grain."

In my book, that spells the end of biscuits.