(Roughly) Daily

Your correspondent is no chef (his oven is used to store books); but he knows a killer recipe when he sees one…  from Food Network:

English Peas
Paula Deen
Show: Paula’s Home Cooking   Episode: “Hail to the Chief”

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
* 2 cans (14 1/2-ounces) English peas, drained

Directions

Melt the butter in small pot and add the peas. Cook over medium heat until peas are warm.

But as compelling as the recipe is, the comments that follow on the Network’s web site are the really tasty bit; e.g.:

I substituted bacon for the peas, and omitted the butter. Delicious recipe, would make again.

My husband loves canned peas. Every time I open up a can of them I have to hold my breath, because they smell like a urine-soaked subway car. Can I substitute bacon for peas? I’d appreciate a revised recipe explaining to me how to combine butter and bacon in a pot. And please keep it simple, Paula. None of these 3 ingredient recipes that a home cook can’t possibly tackle.

This was outstanding! I did make a couple modifications. I eliminated the butter, and in place of the peas I substituted one can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs.

And many, many more…  (Readers interested in pursuing the bacon theme that emerges in the comments might consider the ideas in earlier posts, e.g. here, here, or here.)

As we endeavor to reduce the degrees of separation between ourselves and bacon, we might wish a lightly sauteed Happy Birthday to David Wesson, the chemist who created Wesson Oil; he was born on this date in 1861.  Wesson’s achievement was the process that allowed the deodorization of cottonseed oil (which had before been used as shortening, of olfactory necessity, only when combined with twice the amount of less fragrant lard).  Wesson’s cottonseed oil was the first vegetable oil used for cooking in the U.S.

source: Lipid Library