Books for Cooks: Bacon book offers recipes that sizzle

Just the word “bacon” is enough to make some people weak in the knees.

Cookbook author James Villas is one of them. “I don’t hesitate for a moment to proclaim bacon to be the greatest and most beloved food on earth,” he says in the opening line of his new cookbook. Villas waxes on about his love for cured and smoked pork throughout, offering recipes for everything from breakfast (of course) to dessert. Bacon and Peanut-Butter Chocolate Truffles, anyone?

Bacon for dessert is strange, but many of the other recipes sound positively inviting, including Bacon-Stuffed Cremini Mushrooms, New England Apple and Bacon Griddlecakes, Austrian Lentil and Bacon Soup and German Beef and (yes) Bacon Rolls. The book includes more than 150 recipes.

Villas briefly explores the history of bacon and details the ways bacons are made and prepared worldwide, touching on British gammon, Italian pancetta, French lard salé, German speck and Chinese lop yuk.

He even pooh-poohs the “conscience-ridden fanatics” who eschew bacon because of its nutritional profile, saying the calories and fat are actually lower in two slices of bacon than an average hot dog, hamburger or glazed doughnut.

Here’s a recipe from the book:

Chicken, Corn and Bacon Chowder

The recipe calls for corncob-smoked bacon, a specialty item from producers in Vermont and New Hampshire, but wood-smoked bacon can be substituted.

2 thick slices corncob-smoked bacon or wood-smoked bacon, cut into small pieces

1 small onion, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 to 5 cups whole milk

2 cups shredded leftover cooked chicken

1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes

1 (10-ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

In a large, heavy saucepan, fry the bacon over moderate heat until crisp, and drain on paper towels. Add the onion and celery to the fat in the pan and stir until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir steadily 1 minute longer. Add the milk and bring almost to a boil, stirring. Add the chicken, potatoes, corn, bacon, salt and pepper, and cayenne, reduce the heat to moderate, and simmer till the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Serve the chowder hot in soup plates.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 465 calories, 20 grams fat (9 grams saturated, 39 percent fat calories) 33 grams protein, 39 grams carbohydrate, 103 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 420 milligrams sodium.