June 1, 2009

[Queen]

Hi Everyone! Nuria has picked her ingredients for this month's Joust and they are:

"RICE because it's the most consumed cereal in the world and because everybody should have bowl of rice at least twice a day. TOMATO because it's a basic ingredient in the Mediterranean diet; cheap and healthy. And BACON because... who doesn't love bacon?"

So let the games begin!

(If you are a vegetarian, vegan or cannot eat pork, please feel free to use a bacon substitute!

Also, the polls for the Joust will be up this month from June 3 - 8. I am moving on June 1 and 2!!!

[Anniepooh]

Oooh ... The possibilities are endless! Good pick, Nuria - and CONGRATS to you!

[elle]

Congratulations, Nuria!  Great ingredients!  I'm hungry just thinking about them.

Thanks to everyone who voted for my ice cream, too!

[Núria]

Let the games begin then! I'm rolling up my sleeves on this one too, but of course my dish will not enter in the contest.

Thanks so much again guys

[Forum Team]

Congrats Nuria and great ingredients!!!

[appoggiatura]

Sounds delicious - three of my favorite things!  Out of curiosity, is pancetta OK to use as "bacon," or do we need to go strictly traditional with it?  Thanks!

[Núria]

If Jenn doesn't dissagree I would say Yes, pancetta is ok too. Both pancetta and bacon are very similar cuts of pork: basically pork belly.

See what Wikipedia says ofr pancetta:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancetta
And for bacon:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon

Hope this helps Appoggiatura

[Kimi]

Would prosciutto qualify or is that stretching it? I don't really use much bacon. Congrats to all the winners!

[recipesbysam]

Congrats Nuria. Good choice of ingredients, however, a bacon substitute is not available in India. Can any other natural vegetarian ingredient be used instead of bacon?

[arimou0]

Congratulations Nuria and Elle! Your entries were just amazing And the ingredients for this month are great. My mind is spinning with ideas. Just a question, can I use turkey bacon? I love pork bacon, but la dieta, la dieta! lol

[Núria]

Ai, Jenn... help! I thought the ingredients could be found anywhere in the world... that's one of the reasons I chose them... Will you please show up and say what do you think about it?

I would say that Bacon or Pancetta should be the ingredient to use unless you live in a country (like seems to be India) where is not available.

Jenn?

Thank you all so much for your kind words and wishes

[Queen]

I did address this when I wrote up the challenge for this month:

"(If you are a vegetarian, vegan or cannot eat pork, please feel free to use a bacon substitute!)"

I would like for people to interpret this for themselves. However proscuitto is the Italian word literally for ham, which is already cooked. Bacon, although it is smoked, still needs to be cooked, like pancetta, and turkey bacon.

Here is an easy way to sum it up - if you have to cook it, you can use it as a substitute for bacon in the Joust, but if you can buy it at the store and eat it without further preparation, it is not a bacon substitute.

[Núria]

Thanks Jenn

[mamakd]

I am new this month...I have three kids, 4 and under, so these ingredients are right up their ally!  Congrats Nuria on the last challenge!

[christey]

This should be interesting. I really do not like tomatoes so Peter is going to have to be really creative in this however bacon makes everything better, so there's that
and Congrats!!!