A lot of important life questions have surfaced in 2015. Is the entire region of the American Northeast going to perish in a giant biodome of endless snowfall? (Probably not.) How do we defeat ISIS? (Not sure yet.) Was Kanye West correct in his assertion that Beyoncé would have been more deserving of the Album of the Year Grammy than Beck? (Jury's out.)But most importantly: Is bacon over?True, we've allowed it to reach maximum cultural saturation. It has found its way into lip balms and scented candles, onto countless novelty T-shirts, band aid strips, and even motivational posters. It has been latticed around entire turkeys and draped on the fillings of googolplex sandwich varieties and breakfast items.But it's important to remember that bacon's essence remains even through the hysteria. Bacon may recede from the limelight, but bacon can never truly be over, because bacon is sweet, smoky, salty bacon.With that in mind, we encourage you to revisit bacon in this delicious dish from the third episode of our Guide To The Basque Country.
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This isn't the cheap, shrink-wrapped stuff you can even find at the corner store, next to the string cheese (though that variety certainly has its own merits, especially late at night or the morning after a very late night). We're talking Spain. This is jamón, kids.If you can salt and rub the bacon yourself, we tip our hats to you. But if you can find a big piece of thick, high-quality bacon or pork belly that's already cured and marinated, that's just as well. Throw that thing in this dish and don't sweat the 15-day curing process. Roast, skin, and core your apples into a sweet, tangy, beautiful mash.Fall in love with bacon again. Or should we say, amor.