Forgive My Tardiness, Msr. Bravo

After watching ESPN's 30 for 30 on Ric Flair this week I felt nostalgic for the pro-wrasslin I adored in my youth. I was dumb-founded when I stumbled upon news regarding the death of Canadian strongman Dino Bravo back in 1993.  The passing of an ex-wrestler sadly, is commonplace however the circumstances regarding Bravo's death are as shocking as they are tragic.

And it happened almost 25 years ago and I had no idea.

I found the following posted on grunge.com ~

After years of employment throughout the '80s, Dino found himself on the outs with the WWF by 1992. According to fellow wrestler and friend Rick Martel, he simply didn't fit into Vince McMahon's plans anymore, so he was released. Bravo, with no savings and no knowledge of anything other than wrestling, got into organized crime through his uncle and joined a cigarette smuggling ring based in Quebec. Less than a year later, on March 10, 1993, he was dead, 17 gunshots riddled all over his body. Martel believes a cocaine smuggler blamed him for cops showing up during a would-be deal between the two markets, and Bravo suffered the consequences of running afoul with the mob.

We Lost a Great One Today

This one hurts, A LOT.
I can't imagine what Red State would have been like without him, or all those Tarantino flicks he did, for that matter.

Pennies Really Grind My Gears

[Author's note: I ripped this from kiplinger.com. So please, hold your plagiarism accusations.]

I like Abraham Lincoln as much as anybody but sweet-FRIGGING-jesus-

A penny for your thoughts isn’t much of a bargain these days. Not only is a penny worth less than ever thanks to inflation, but the cost of minting each Lincoln has been more than its face value for almost a decade.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries have deep-sixed their smallest coin, but the U.S. penny endures, as the U.S. Mint continues to churn out millions per year to replace the coins vanishing into change jars, vacuum cleaner bags and your car's floorboards.

Noted economists and the editorial pages of major national newspapers and journals continue to call for the penny’s retirement. But it has been years since anyone in Congress made a bid to kill the penny. One reason: While penny opponents are a diverse bunch, one group that’s deeply interested in its continuance is the zinc industry (a penny is actually 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper). And yes, Washington has a penny lobby, in the form of Americans for Common Cents (which is largely funded by zinc manufacturers).

But it's not just lobbyists. As an article in the Harvard Political Review put it, Americans' "general apathy and resistance to change" is also keeping the penny around.

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{As a smoker I find it offensive that tobacco lobbyists can't keep cigarette prices below larcenous levels but the all too powerful Zinc Lobby can keep this worthless coin afloat. It costs more to mint a penny than they're actually worth. Its obscurity is long overdue.}

The Bacon Experiment

Mmmmm, bac- wait. Is that water?

My friend Eddie posted this link on Facebook and it seemed an interesting and simple experiment to try. It's an unusual way to cook bacon, essentially boiling it rather than frying it in the pan. This process renders the fat without over-cooking the meat.

Personally I can't stand crispy bacon where one bite breaks the strip into many little pieces, and the flavor has a slight hint of charcoal. Reduced cooking time always left a floppy, chewy piece that while preferable to crispy, still left something to be desired. I've ever been able to find that elusive happy medium until now.

Place the bacon as you normally would in a regular frying pan. The best part is you won't need to melt butter or add cooking spray because the bacon won't stick to the pan afterwards. Add just enough water to the cold pan to where the strips are barely submerged. Set the flame to high and wait for the water to come to a rolling boil. You will see the fat begin to render before the water boils.

At this point reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer until all the water evaporates. It was here that I made my lone mistake..

It seemed to me that there was too much water in the pan so I dumped some of it before reducing the heat. To my surprise the water evaporated much quicker than I thought it would at medium heat so the bacon was a bit undercooked by the time the water was gone. So don't make the same mistake I did and I'll tell you why in a minute...

Once the water is completely evaporated reduce the heat again, this time to medium-low and cook it to taste. You will be able to find any meat consistency you prefer because you don't need to worry about rendering any more fat.

Due to my error in water management, I had to leave the heat on higher than necessary to cook the bacon and what happened was a lack of consistency in my strips. The middles were just a bit too crispy for my liking whereas the ends were fatty and floppy. Otherwise I think this would be the best way to cook bacon save for one, very important factor; the bacon flavor was in a word, weak.

I guess there's something to be said about cooking bacon in its own fat and this morning's experiment proved that theory. Rendering fat in water dilutes the grease to a point where there is not as much grease to drain and what grease there is has a distinctly lighter color than normal bacon drippings. Since the flavor is the whole point of eating bacon in the first place I cannot recommend this process unless you are closely watching your fatty intake.

In all candor I will try this again and more closely adhere to the recommended process but I don't see that affecting the flavor all that much.

If you have cooked bacon in this manner, or plan to try, please share in discussion over at The Mike Tursi Facebook page. 

Before signing off, I must address a concern brought up by my friend and semi-regular contributor, Pornocat who felt I wasn't posting enough pictures of sexy women. So here is a gallery featuring two of my favorite things; girls and guitars. Enjoy...

Internet addict Pornocat says, "Meow-WOW! I was worried you maybe lost interest in girls, Turz. Meow."