Chefs, companies promise to use sustainable seafood; 'Super Green' list issued

Alton Brown is voting with his taste buds.

He is among more than two dozen chefs -- who also include Suzanne Goin of Lucques, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill and Rick Moonen of rm seafood in Las Vegas --  from around the country who are pledging today to serve only sustainable seafood and to recruit their colleagues and customers to join them.

Their effort is organized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is releasing a report today on the state of the oceans as well as a "Super Green" list of seafood that is healthy for people and the planet. On the list are some albacore tuna caught in the U.S. or British Columbia, wild-caught salmon from Alaska and pink shrimp from Oregon, among others.

"Every bite you take is like a vote ... a statement of values," says Brown, of Food Network fame. "I value healthy oceans, oceans that have cared well for mankind through the ages. It's high time we took better care of our seas and the bounty they produce."

The chefs are committing not to serve fish from the aquarium's "avoid" list -- rated by scientists as destructive to the oceans.

Other chefs include Rick Bayless of Topolobampo in Chicago, Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans, and Michel Nischan of the Dressing Room in Westport, Conn. In addition to the chefs, the aquarium noted that food companies are also making changes. Compass Group and Aramark, the two largest food services companies in North America, have partnered with the aquarium to shift to sustainable seafood sources. The report cites the efforts of other companies, including a commitment Wal-Mart made in 2006 to, within five years, source all its wild-caught seafood from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, which was established by the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever.

The aquarium's report says that prospects for the oceans are improving with a growing consensus to manage wild and farm fishing. But it also sets out significant problems that remain for the oceans and cites the human demand for seafood as the primary factor in the oceans' decline.

The report says that the world seafood supply was 110 million tons in 2006 -- eight times what it was in 1950, with Asia accounting for more than half the global catch. And in the next year, it says, people will eat more farmed seafood than wild for the first time.

The "Super Green" list was developed in conjunction with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Environmental Defense Fund.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the aquarium and the 10th anniversary of its Seafood Watch program, which advised people on what fish to buy and to avoid for their health and that of the oceans. The aquarium says it has distributed 32 million Seafood Watch pocket brochures.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Monterey Bay Aquarium

The bacon potato salad at Cole's in downtown L.A.

Do we really need to say anything else? If you tried it, you no doubt loved it, so let's cut to the chase: Here's the recipe. And here are more reader recipe requests we've answered in recent months.

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Bacon makes everything better. Even bundt cake.

You know we love our bacon around here. Just today, The Times' test kitchen staff was selflessly researching a maple bacon bundt cake -- yes, you read that right, a maple bacon bundt cake -- from Kiss My Bundt* in West Hollwood.

Of course, we are not alone in our bacon obsession. Check out this Time magazine story on this food trend that just won’t go away. (Thank goodness.)

* And check back next week at the Daily Dish for more on this little gem of a bakery.

-- Rene Lynch

Photo credit: Noelle Carter

Bellying up to Kentucky Fried Chicken's double down

We were dubious when we first read that Kentucky Fried Chicken was coming out with a new sandwich that does away with the bread in favor of two fried fillets. And that the "sandwich" part of the sandwich involved was made of cheese, something called Colonel's sauce .. and bacon?

Could that possibly be true?

After all, this was the fast-food chain that seemed to be going all healthy on us, setting off stampedes for its new grilled chicken offerings.

We lobbed a call to a media representative. And the rest is a good news-bad news story. First, the good news. The sandwich does indeed exist, and it is called the double down. It is made of two Original Recipe fillets, bacon, Swiss and pepper jack cheese and something called the Colonel's sauce.

The bad news? The sandwich is only being tested in Providence, R.I., and Omaha, Neb. But if it does well  -- and really, why wouldn't this sandwich do well? -- it could head out West. 

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: Kentucky Fried Chicken

Bacon: Well fry me up an iPhone app

Finally, an iPhone app that fries bacon! 

Virtually, that is. 

IPhone lovers, meet Pocket Bacon.

Click on the Pocket Bacon icon, and you'll hear the sound of sizzling bacon as your screen transforms into a virtual skillet, strips of bacon frying away.

Click once on the screen and voila: More bacon appears. Use your fingers to move the bacon around to make room for more strips. Then double-click on a strip and it disappears, those sizzling sounds momentarily replaced by the sounds of someone munching away.

Thoroughly enthralled, I just about drained half the phone battery before I realized the app did more....

An "oh-so-indispensible" toolbar pops up if you click the skillet surface on the bottom right of the screen. The options? Click on a newspaper icon to get some of the latest Internet bacon news. Or click on the locater icon to have your phone search for nearby bacon-serving establishments. 

Yet another icon allows you to shop for bacon-related products online. And you can find bacon recipes using the file icon. Finally, select the settings icon to change the "frying" surface as you cook up your bacon. (Griddle not your thing? Find your favorite skillet -- choose from old, giant or scratched -- or go for the micro cooker to shake things up a little.)

About the only major drawback was that it made me crave the real thing....  Otherwise, way to go, PocketBacon! You've made my list of "1,001 things to do with bacon."

-- Noelle Carter

Pictures courtesy of PocketBacon.com.

BA-K-47: America's No. 1 bacon-based assault rifle

After feasting my eyes on the vicious beauty of the BA-K-47, an AK-47 replica made of bacon (and wire), I'm not sure whether to call the NRA, the National Pork Board or Ted Nugent. Made with two full cases of bacon by the geniuses at This Is Freaking Ridiculous, I'm thinking this crispy, greasy a-salt rifle could inspire a whole line of meat-based weaponry. A Bakalashnikov? A Bacolt .45? A TEC-Porcine? The possibilities are endless.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Courtesy of This Is Freaking Ridiculous

The car that runs on bacon

Bacon, it’s not just for breakfast, lunch and dinner anymore.

It's the biofuel of choice for a pair of entrepreneurs building their business on pig fat. Founded in 2005 by married couple Dan and Tracy Kaderabek, Bio-Blend Fuels has a three-acre processing plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. "The pork gets run through microwaves to make precooked bacon, the grease falls off and that's what we use," Dan tells the Manitowoc Herald Reporter. "Americans' bad eating habits ensure our supply."

It doesn’t send consumer dollars offshore, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, offers better fuel efficiency than traditional diesel… blah blah blah. Here's the real bonus: When you're driving in or behind one of those bio-diesel cars, instead of inhaling the scent of rancid popcorn, you'll be bathed in a sweet bacon wind. We'll add it to our list of 1,001 things to do with bacon.

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: Kristopher Moller, who owns Conserv Fuel, holds onto one of the ethanol pumps at his gas station.

Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Bacon bits: Bacon wins 'Meat Madness' challenge, and more recipes

 

It's official! Bacon wins So Good's "Meat Madness" tournament, earning enough votes to warrant the blog's distinction as the "greatest meat in the land."

So Good author/owner Jon Eick decided to hold the challenge during March so it would coincide with NCAA basketball's "March Madness" tournament, and bacon faced 31 other challengers from four meat "regions" ("Red" Meat, Pork, Chicken and Seafood). The championship round pitted bacon, the No. 1 Pork seed, against steak, the No. 1 "Red" Meat seed. Bacon was declared the winner Friday with 57% of the vote.

"While there are other meats that may or may not be as popular as bacon, no other meat has online supporters who are as fervent, motivated and organized as lovers of bacon," Eick says. In all, more than 10,000 votes were submitted during the tournament.

If you're looking for more ways to showcase the "Meat Madness" champion, here are a few new recipes from around the Internet:

• Saucy chicken and bacon casserolefrom Weekly Times Now, Southbank, Victoria, Australia
• Steamed asparagus with Gorgonzola and bacon from the Detroit Free Press
• Homemade bacon from the Melbourne, Australia-based blog "Tomato." 
• Bourbon and pecan brie and bourbon bacon toasts from Woodford Reserve from the blog "Amy's Table."

I'm adding these to my list of 1,001 things to do with bacon. Follow the jump to see the list as it stands now.

-- Noelle Carter

Image courtesy of Jon Eick at sogoodblog.com. 

Bacon bits: Bacon lance, BLT Night at Dakota, comfort food from CBS

Bacon abounds -- I'm slapping these four on my list of 1,001 things to do with bacon:

• Bacon thermal lance: Maybe you've seen it: Boing Boing Video recently did a video of Popular Science columnist Theodore Gray turning bacon (OK, well, prosciutto, which he calls "Italian for 'expensive bacon' ") into an edible thermal lance he uses to cut metal. The video, "Bacon: The Other White Heat," is pretty amazing and gives me a whole new respect for my favorite food. Gray also includes a vegetarian version of the lance toward the end of the video ... kinda gives me a whole new respect for cucumbers too.
• BLT Night at Dakota: Starting next Tuesday, Dakota will hold a weekly BLT Night. They'll feature special artisinal bacon, and you can choose from house creations including a classic BLT, BLT salad, sliders, burgers, a lardon pizza and pasta carbonara. Or go bacon crazy and build your own BLT with your choice of bacon and toppings. Menu selections start at $11.00. Mmm...
• Bacon and beef meatloaf: Former ballerina and current executive chef at NIOS Restaurant in New York, Patricia Williams did a recent segment for CBS' "The Early Show" on spring comfort food as part of the Saturday "Chef on a Shoestring" series. She includes a recipe for bacon and beef meatloaf. It doesn't scream "spring" for me, but it sure sounds comforting....
• Reality star piglets tout bacon festival: Yahoo News reports that Piggy, Lilli, Pauli and Fredi are having their private lives followed as part of a marketing ploy by the town of Helfenbert, Austria, to promote its third Speck (German for bacon) Spectacle. Follow their adventures -- and read their intimate Web diaries (?) on pigbrother.at. 

For more bacon-inspired bliss, go to the rest of my list after the jump -- and please leave a comment if you have suggestions!

-- Noelle Carter

Bacon: Add it to risotto

 

Reader Lisa Henderson sent us a request for the Apple-wood smoked bacon and farm-fresh egg risotto from the Ojai Valley Inn:

"Dear SOS: Four of us recently went to the Ojai Valley Inn and had the best risotto! It was a bacon and egg risotto and had an egg yolk on top, which you broke open over the risotto before digging in. It was so good we all wanted more and could have licked the plate clean! If chef Jamie West wold give us the recipe, we would be very grateful."

Of course, I couldn't wait to get the recipe and test it. It was a hit, and we're running it as this week's Culinary SOS. Oh, and I've decided to make it No. 31 on my list of 1,001 things to do with bacon. Check below for the rest of the list so far.

-- Noelle Carter

Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times