Monday, December 10, 2007

Musings: Things to wrap in bacon

Have you noticed the variation of foods that taste great when wrapped in bacon?

Wieners in bacon are an old standby cocktail snack, but a lot of other foodstuffs can be treated in this way. Here are some samples. A couple are from previous posts on this blog, others from other cooking websites, and down at the bottom are some suggestions from me:

Devils on Horseback

Banana wraps; Cocktail sausage, mussel and sardine wraps

Parmesan-stuffed dates

Chicken livers

Scallops

Wieners with a difference

Jalapeno peppers

Shrimp

Asparagus

More shrimp

Water chestnuts

Cherry tomatoes

Any kind of firm white fish

Figs

Dates again, this time stuffed with almonds

Meatballs

Salmon

Smoked oysters

Over the weekend I tried several variations on this theme. The banana is something I would not try again, not because it was bad, but because it was so mushy that it squirted out of the bacon wrapping when I bit into it. I suppose it would be ok if made in bite-sized pieces. The mozarella cheese was a bit too chewy for this kind of food, and the dried apple was... interesting. The two best were dates filled with herbed cream cheese, which were very nice, but it was the dates filled with peanut butter that won the contest. They were excellent.

I think I’ll stop here – this is making me hungry.

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Of course, you can make the merely delicious into something heavenly by using proscuitto di Parma or Jamón serrano. The classic filling is melon (cantaloupe or honeydew), but olives, asparagus, strong cheese or freshly baked bread are delicious too. And there is no need to cook anything.

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