FOR
AND HER FATHER,
A bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich began this book, early in June 2009. I’d posted a short essay on my website with a recipe illustrating how easy it is to make salted and dried pork belly. Ten years ago, curing your own pork at home was still a fairly novel idea, even among avid home cooks. After explaining how to make pancetta, I suggested any number of uses, one of which would be to put that pancetta on a BLT.
My blog had a legion of readers who shared my love of opinionated food writing and cooking great food and were quick to respond. The very first comment on this post was by a culinary enthusiast (former line cook and pastry chef by his own blog’s account), Gareth Mark, who wrote: “Okay, fine. I’m already growing tomatoes and lettuce and baking bread. Mayo isn’t hard to make. I guess it’s only right to make my own bacon. Bet it’ll be a really fine BLT.”