Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: bacon

  • Laughably-Easy Lard (or Bacon Fat) Pastry Crust

    The perfect pastry crust eludes most of us…seemingly thousands of infinitely-thin layers that are tender, but shatter in your mouth while still remaining moist and succulent.  It usually involves massive amounts of butter cut into the flour at just the right temperature to just the right texture…then a chill in the fridge…then the addition of…

  • FRANK: The first MasterChef love child

    During the filming of MasterChef season 2, Jennie Kelley and I had become very close.  During one pressure test challenge, our team was safe and we were watching the opposing team battle it out from the safety of the balcony above.  Jennie and I were distraught, watching our friends cooking at the very limit of…

  • Mind-Boggling Life-Altering Earth-Shattering Mac and Cheese

    It’s everyone’s favorite food.  And I confess, I even get excited about eating a fake-orange bowl of the artificial stuff from the box or at a restaurant.  Who doesn’t like macaroni and cheese? The problem is that we get accustomed to this impossibly-creamy texture that we get served at chain restaurants, which contain processed cheese…

  • MasterChef recap: Prawns and Sweet Corn

    Please note that my blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef and they would prefer you didn’t read it.  This blog contains opinion only.  I have no inside information about the judging process, only assumptions and uneducated guesses… Thanks to the very bizarre (and potently unfair) get-your-apron-back challenge, Josh is back, so we’ve got…

  • Bacon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Yes, yes…  I know.  “Bacon in a dessert?  GROSS!” I used to say the same thing, until my good friend Ross Strickland said on New Year’s Eve, “What we need tonight are some bacon white chocolate cookies.”  And for the past couple of years, all I hear about when I’m on the coasts is bacon…