Now on to my favorite portion of the book: Bacon! Part Two of the book comprises five chapters as well: The Wonder Meat, Party Starters, Bacon Sides, Bacon Mains, and Pig Candy. Dessert recipes include Sticky Bourbon Toffee Pudding, Bourbon-Cream Cheese Brownies, Bourbon-Banana Pudding Panna Cotta, and Turtle Bourbon Pecan Tart. In these sections of the book, Murphy created recipes for Bacon, Onion, and Bourbon Marmalade Bourbon Pecan Butter Bourbon Vinaigrette and Fig and Bourbon Compote. I was particularly intrigued by some of his non-cocktail bourbon recipes. For each cocktail, Murphy suggests his favorite bourbon for the recipe. His amusing cocktail names range from The Uncle Bubba and The Southern Peach to Lots of Ins, Lots of Outs and Br’er Rabbit. I’ve never been a big bourbon drinker, but after reading this book, I feel challenged to give this liquor another shot.
Subsequent chapters present recipes for individual cocktails larger quantity cocktails butters, jams, dressings, and sauces and desserts respectively. In the first chapter, Murphy describes everything you’d want to know about this brown liquor, from ingredients, distillation, and aging to the craft of mixing and which glass you should use for each cocktail. The bourbon section of the book contains five chapters: In the Barrel, By the Glass, By the Pitcher, In the Jar, and For Dessert. Most recipes feature one or the other ingredient, but he has created a few recipes that combine both ingredients.
Murphy divided the book into two sections: one for bourbon and the other for bacon. In Morgan’s words, “The total fat and alcohol content of Bourbon & Bacon is the caloric equivalent of a nuclear weapon.” This cookbook is not for the faint of heart. Bourbon & Bacon: The Ultimate Guide to the South’s Favorite Food Groups reflects his love of “the smokiest and most American flavors known to man”. Fellow southerner and best-selling cookbook author, Morgan Murphy, recently sent me a copy of his latest cookbook for Southern Living.