For Love of Bacon…

Attention Bacon Fans!

This Wednesday, July 29th, the Grange Restaurant will host a bacon tasting and book signing featuring best-selling food author Ari Weinzweig.

This event celebrates the release of Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon: Stories of Pork Bellies, Hush Puppies, Rock ‘n’ Roll Music and Bacon Fat Mayonnaise

Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of the famed Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, Mich., will be on hand to sign his latest book. During the book signing, hors d’oeuvres will be served that feature recipes and bacons highlighted in the book. The event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.



Opened in December 2008, Grange has quickly established a reputation as one of the area’s top destinations for fresh and seasonal cooking, which is a great fit with Zingerman’s. “The book features my favorite artisanal curers that follow traditional methods and put taste first. Given Chef Michael Tuohy’s work to promote the farm-to-table movement, Grange is a great place to launch the book,” notes Weinzweig.

As the subtitle suggests, the author digs deep into the history of bacon and also profiles some of the best artisan bacon makers in the United States including Kentucky’s Allan Benton, Virginia’s Sam Edwards, and Wisconsin’s Tanya Nueske. “Bacon is so integral to the culinary history of this country,” notes Weinzweig. “The roots are so deep in our cooking, I think of it as the olive oil of North America.” Mr. Weinzweig takes readers on a trip from medieval England, where bacon was used to promote matrimonial harmony, to the 19th-century drovers who were crucial to the hog trade of the early American nation, to modern blues singer and big bacon lover, Andre Williams.

The book also details how bacon moved from a farm staple to a huge-selling but flavorless commodity and how dedicated craftspeople are bringing back traditional curing methods today. In detailed tasting notes of his favorite bacons, Mr. Weinzweig carefully lays out what makes one bacon different from the next, and, in the recipes section, shows readers how to take advantage of the different flavors in everyday cooking.

And, if you like the book, you can also get a t-shirt. Very nice.

For more information about this event, contact Sarah Essary at (916) 492-4446.