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I love bacon - in almost all its forms - and sprinkling some fresh bits on top of a twice baked potato or into a garden salad is an effective way to spruce up an otherwise banal dish. There is no question that fresh bacon bits are significantly better than the shelf stable junk that comes out of the can/bag. As making homemade bacon bits can be tedious and messy, people generally avoid it. All that breaking up the bacon by hand and getting grease everywhere, or dirtying up a food processor for 10 seconds of work is an annoying hassle that usually offsets any gain in the taste department. If you follow a few simple rules and the procedure below it is possible to get all the benefit of homemade bits without the hassle.

As with any other dish, the key to getting great bacon bits is to start with the best ingredients possible. Here you see two rashers of our homemade bacon (post coming soon). While everyone *CAN* make bacon at home, I realize that most rely on store bought. If you are going to buy bacon from a grocer look for thick, freshly cut (meat counter - not Styrofoam package) and neutral bacon. I try to stay away from heavily flavored bacons for two reasons: first, they are often flavored artificially, second stronger flavored bacon will limit the applications of the bacon to dishes that compliment it. For example, a strong maple, smoked bacon would probably not go over too well in a salad with a light citronette and fresh fruits - it would just be too overpowering

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A few days ago, I found myself preparing to do some research for an upcoming post featuring a recipe for egg pasta. As a true American I headed forthwith to the most convenient source possible to perform some "research" without all the hassle of going to a library, opening up a book, using reading comprehension skills or exercising any critical thinking of any kind, Wikipedia. A quick search brought up the main page on pasta. Upon glossing over the post I discovered immediately that I was already aware of most of the "facts" therein contained, but my attention was caught by an interesting word in the print - funistrada - a pasta dish I've never tasted, seen or even heard of before? Astounding. Luckily, in preservation of my intended purpose of doing little-to-no actual research, there was a link to a Wikipedia entry on funistrada. I followed the link henceforth, without even checking its context within the paragraph, and was greeted with rather unexpected, if not amusing information:

"Funistrada is a fictitious food item."

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