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Sky Full of Bacon: Networking the Land
I visit an organic farm in Michigan to see how they’ve made connections through Chicago’s Good Food Festival— and why farming matters, to them and to us. (13:44)
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Sky Full of Bacon 21: Woodsmoke Nation
I embed with Praise the Lard, a barbecue competition in downstate Illinois to experience the world of championship BBQ teams. (26:58)
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Real Chicago: The Song of Johnny O
Talking with the owner of a classic South Side hot dog stand about the old neighborhood. (10:29)
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Sky Full of Bacon 20: Little Green Island
I visit St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and find a tropical twist on many of the same things we have in the midwest, from local eating to barbecue. (33:25)
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Finding Grace 5: Dinner
Opening night at Chef Curtis Duffy’s restaurant Grace, as we see a dish come together for the first time. (6:42)
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Real Chicago: Cutting Cheese at J.P. Graziano Grocer Co.
Watch 4th-generation Italian grocer Jim Graziano wrestle with an 85-lb. parmigiano-reggiano cheese as he tells his family business’s story. (7:26)
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Finding Grace 4: Service
See how Chef Curtis Duffy’s restaurant Grace was literally designed around making service as efficient and graceful as possible. (9:00)
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Iliana Regan on Elizabeth
Former underground dinner chef Iliana Regan talks about foraging for her new restaurant, Elizabeth. (5:32)
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Last Night at Charlie’s
Behind the scenes at the $2500-a-plate farewell for one of the legendary American restaurants: Charlie Trotter’s. With Nathan Myhrvold, Sean Brock. (8:57)
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Finding Grace 3: Plates
Chef Curtis Duffy and manager Michael Muser of the upcoming restaurant Grace talk about choosing plates, silverware and glassware that’s artistic… yet actually works. (7:29)
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Sky Full of Bacon 19: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Gary Zimmer says everything we know about how organic can’t rival conventional farming is wrong. (21:45)
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Finding Grace 2: Wine
General Manager and Wine Director Michael Muser and Chef Curtis Duffy of the upcoming restaurant Grace talk about how you pair food and wine… for a restaurant that doesn’t exist yet. (8:52)
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Finding Grace 1: Space
Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy and architect Christopher Lawton discuss the ideas behind the design of Duffy’s upcoming restaurant Grace. (7:09)
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Sky Full of Bacon 18: The Butcher’s Karma
Three butchers explain how selling meat reconnects customers and farmers. (28:46)
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Nellcôte Makes a Pizza
Chef Jared Van Camp makes the first pizza in Nellcôte’s word-burning oven. (6:20)
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Nellcôte Grinds Flour
Chef Jared Van Camp shows off the in-house pasta mill at his new restaurant Nellcôte. (5:04)
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Sky Full of Bacon: Farm To Barstool
Pleasant House Bakery embodies the entire farm-to-table ethos… within a few, very urban, square blocks of Chicago. (8:40)
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Sky Full of Bacon 17: A Barbecue History of Chicago
There’s more than food at Chicago’s South Side barbecue joints— there’s the whole history of African-Americans in Chicago. (30:57)
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Sky Full of Bacon 16: Night of the Sfingi
Look inside an Italian-American street festival that brings back the old days of nuns, the Rat Pack and red sauce. (19:22)
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Sky Full of Bacon 15: Big Chef Small Farmer
I look at the question of whether quality, sustainable agriculture can scale up to meet the needs of our modern food system by talking to a bigtime Chicago chef and one of the local, organic farmers he buys from. (23:15)
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Sky Full of Bacon 14: The Last Days of Kugelis
Chicago’s Healthy Food was the oldest Lithuanian restaurant in the world when it closed in late 2009. I was on hand for the last days of this legendary South Side restaurant. (15:14)
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Sky Full of Bacon multimedia event: Making Illegal Cheese
Audio documentarian David Hammond and I visit a home cheesemaker making raw milk camembert, for WBEZ’s Worldview. (8:36)
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Sky Full of Bacon 13: Pie As a Lifestyle
Pie is more than just dessert— it conjures up a whole range of emotions and imagery. In this podcast, I explore the iconic American food with a popular Chicago piemaker, Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie Co. (16:12)
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Sky Full of Bacon short: Edzo’s Burger Shop
Eddie Lakin, a former fine dining chef turned burger guy, talks about how he aims to make the perfect old school burger and fries at his Edzo’s Burger Shop in Evanston. (7:32)
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Sky Full of Bacon 12: In the Land of Whitefish
It may not be the deadliest catch, but come with me as I go on a whitefish boat to catch one of the classic fishes of Great Lakes dining, and learn the history of this very local and sustainable fish. (19:50)
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Sky Full of Bacon 11: A Better Fish
Dive into the confusing world of fish with a high-end fishmonger, and see for yourself how fish gets to your table— and how chefs are exploring new and more sustainable choices. (22:26)
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Sky Full of Bacon 10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Can food as good as Europe’s best come from the midwest? Go inside the Italian-style prosciuttificio of La Quercia in Norwalk, Iowa, and see for yourself. (20:23)
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Sky Full of Bacon 09: Raccoon Stories
Here’s a slice of small-town America… served next to a heaping plate of an unusual meat. Sky Full of Bacon takes you to the 82nd Annual Coon Feed at the American Legion post in Delafield, Wisconsin. (18:35)
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Sky Full of Bacon 08: Pear Shaped World
Ever wonder about the farmers who grow and sell the produce at your local farmer’s market? Meet Oriana, the Asian pear lady at Chicago’s Green City Market, and travel to her orchard in western Illinois. (15:46)
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Sky Full of Bacon 07: Eat This City
Urban foragers are people who eat what grows naturally from a very unnatural place— a city. In this all-vegetarian Sky Full of Bacon podcast, urban foragers show us how they find food all around them, and we nibble our way through a remarkable wilderness literally in the shadow of Chicago’s skyscrapers. (17:45)
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Sky Full of Bacon 06: There Will Be Pork (Pt. 2)
The phrase “farm to table” is used a lot in foodie circles. In the second half of this Sky Full of Bacon two-part podcast, I’ll complete the picture of what that really means with visits to restaurant kitchens… and to a slaughterhouse. (19:56)
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Sky Full of Bacon 05: There Will Be Pork (Pt. 1)
The phrase “farm to table” is used a lot in foodie circles. In this Sky Full of Bacon two-part podcast, I’ll show you what it really means— from the farm to the slaughterhouse to the kitchens of five of Chicago’s top restaurants. (19:58)
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Sky Full of Bacon 04: A Head’s Tale
Could eating head cheese be a moral act? In “A Head’s Tale,” I follow a piece of meat most of us would avoid, a whole pig’s head, from organic farm to restaurant table. (19:19)
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Sky Full of Bacon 03: The Last Brisket Show
Go deep into the smoke-stained barbecue country of central Texas as I talk to two legendary pitmasters in a town that almost has more great BBQ joints than people— Taylor, Texas. (13:06)
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Sky Full of Bacon 02: Duck School
Go inside a Chinese restaurant to learn not only how Peking duck is made but how traditions are passed from immigrant father to Americanized daughter. (15:18)
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Sky Full of Bacon 01: How Local Can You Go?
Explore the localness of local eating with a shop devoted to local food and a Chicagoan who grows his own food on his garage. (19:39)
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