Bacon

I’ve encountered many people who are shocked that I eat real pork bacon, being that I’ve kept off fifty-five pounds for close to twenty years. Others are shocked that I include it in my cookbooks. The interesting thing to realize is that center-cut bacon—real pork bacon that’s 35 to 40 percent leaner than other pork bacon—is often as lean as most turkey bacon, yet it tastes like real bacon because it is. The flavor is much stronger than turkey bacon and doesn’t have that turkey aftertaste many brands of turkey bacon do. When buying fish, I often opt for frozen individually wrapped fillets. They’re usually fresher than those I find at the fish counter, and I buy them when they go on sale so I can always have some handy in my freezer.

Yes, a bacon cheeseburger. If you buy 96% lean beef and reduced-fat bacon pieces, you’re good to go! Do note, if you’re a fan of BBQ bacon cheeseburgers, just swap out the ketchup in this recipe for your favorite barbecue sauce. It will add about 10 calories but save you around 15 mg sodium. Look for the bacon pieces near the croutons and other salad ingredients in your favorite grocery store. Or, if you love them as much as I do, head to Costco and buy them in a big bag. Just store them in your refrigerator and you’ll have them on hand to curb a bacon craving with less guilt.

Instead of slaving over a stove in the morning, buy packaged 50% reduced-fat bacon pieces. You’ll save tons of time, and you’ll be less likely to overindulge because you won’t have the smell of bacon wafting through the house for hours. Look for the bacon pieces near the croutons and other salad ingredients in your favorite grocery store. Or, if you love them as much as I do, head to Costco and buy them in a big bag. They keep fresh in the refrigerator for a long time.

Gina: This is Pat’s “feel like a king” dish, and if you are married to a meat-and-potatoes man like I am, this dish will make him feel—you guessed it, girl—like a king. The secret to this sauce is two ingredients: bacon and beer. There isn’t a man anywhere in Memphis who would turn up his nose at a steak lacquered with both of those. We like to serve this steak sliced on the diagonal, with plenty of extra sauce on the side. When Pat takes a bite of this and gives me one of his sly winks, honey, I know it’s a slam dunk!

Pat: My kitchen sinker—also known as the omelet with everything—includes bacon, ham, two kinds of cheese, and anything else I find lying around in the fridge. When my girls get involved, I need to change it up a bit by adding vegetables to the mix, so I sauté up a mixture of onion, tomato, pepper, and scallion. But if you ask me, they just get in the way of the meat and cheese, and since I’m always the first one up, I make it my way! With my omelets, there is no flipping or flapping—I just bake them in the oven.

Pat: A breakfast sandwich should be a thing of beauty, a stackable, delectable, calorie-laden gut-buster of a meal. This one is all those things. I usually have this sandwich on a warm buttermilk biscuit, but you can also split a glazed doughnut in half and use it as the “bread” (you’re already down the rabbit hole with the bacon, sausage, and cheese, so you might as well go whole hog with the biscuit or doughnut). Butter and hot sauce are the only condiments that I need, but feel free to add a slather of mayo, mustard, or ketchup, if you like. Have a fresh pot of coffee ready when you prepare this one.

Gina: This recipe calls for four Momma Daisy’s Buttermilk Biscuits, but a batch makes ten, so you’re going to have a few left over. This is never a bad thing. You can have them for breakfast the next day, and the next, and then when you run out you can make another batch!

Pat: Black-eyed peas, simmered with fatty pork (such as ham hocks or bacon), have been a staple in the South for hundreds of years. Inexpensive, easy to grow, and easy to store, they provide protein and nourishment and, many believe, good fortune (which is why eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is a Southern tradition). Some even eat greens, meant to symbolize money, alongside of them. Don’t worry if at the end of the cooking process these beans seem a little watery. To cream them up, mash the beans against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon, or purée a cup of them in the blender and add them back in. These black-eyed peas are great poured over warm cornbread, and are a perfect side with grilled or fried pork chops.

Pat: When I was growing up in Memphis, everyone had their own special mac-and-cheese recipe. Traditionally, the matriarchs used elbow noodles, but my girls love experimenting with different pasta, and we fell in love with cavatappi, because its tubular spiral shape holds plenty of cheese sauce, making every forkful a delight (of course, old-fashioned elbows will also work just fine). A piquant, cheesy white sauce and a crispy topping made from potato chips and bacon creates the best—and most indulgent—version of mac and cheese that we have ever tasted. Served alongside roast chicken, or with a simple green salad and a glass of great red wine, this is the ultimate comfort food.

Gina: This simple, satisfying braise is another Neely staple. After a bit of knife work in the beginning, most of the cooking is unattended, and I love the aroma of bacon and cabbage while I set the table or simply hang with a glass of wine and my girls. Baby carrots add a contemporary twist to this otherwise old-fashioned dish, and they’re a nice color accent for the cabbage. Homemade Smash Seasoning and fresh parsley have the effect of punching up the flavors.

Gina: Some Southern greens benefit from long, slow cooking, but kale is best prepared as a speedy sauté. Shredding the kale allows it to cook even faster, keeping its bright color and abundant nutrients (calcium, vitamins A and C) intact. Adding bacon, onion, and the unexpected flavor of smoked Spanish paprika creates a spectacular side dish that just might steal the show from the main course. For a quick, satisfying dinner, you could also toss this sauté with whole-wheat pasta, and finish the dish with toasted pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese.

Gina: You gotta love an enormous chopped salad made with just about everything in the vegetable drawer. Our version includes the traditional ingredients of bacon, egg, and blue cheese, along with an array of colorful vegetables for fresh flavor and crunch, and our creamy Barbecue Ranch Dressing (imagine the tart, spicy creaminess of ranch with the sweetness and smoke of the barbecue sauce; it’s a match made in heaven). Your vegetables will be “grooving” in the bowl! This is a hearty salad worthy of being a meal all on its own.

Gina: Ours is a spinach salad with some serious attitude. In addition to the bacon and creamy blue cheese dressing, we add sweetened pecans and tart dried cranberries, and the overall effect is to give this salad a festive feel. It’s a great dinner party starter, and it’s especially good partnered with a fat grilled steak. The spiced pecans are good enough to eat on their own as a snack, but try to save them for the salad! And even though we call for dried cranberries, you can substitute a variety of dried fruit, including dried cherries or golden raisins.

Pat: Creamy, smoky white beans, simmered with some kind of pork fat, are a Southern staple, especially when served with a wedge of warm cornbread. This white-bean soup is finished with kale, a nourishing green that’s packed with vitamins A and C (the leaves are so pretty that Gina uses the green and purple varieties to decorate her party trays). Smoked sausage makes a great addition to this soup, and what we do then is leave out the bacon and add 1/2 pound of sliced smoked sausage instead. (You’ve heard the expression “an eye for an eye” in Memphis we say “a pig for a pig.”)