I have not one but TWO bacon-related oddities to share today!


First up, this obscure pamphlet by Otto F. Fleiss from 1944 entitled "White Art in the Meat Food Business: A Practical Handbook for Butcher, Pork Stores, Restaurants, Hotels, and Delicatessens on How To Make Lasting and Transferable White Art Decorations out of Bacon Fat Back for Window Displays, Ornaments on Meat Food Cold Buffets and for Exhibits and Advertising Purposes."
     
Instructions include how to "make a vase of roses out of strips of fat, or produce the reverse (?!) portrait of Santa Claus in slabs of fat, or marvel at the photos of Mr. Fleiss' "first prize" (?) 200-pound fat sculpture of a cathedral done entirely in slips and chunks and strips of fat... We are told of  Fleiss' "Master Piece" that  "the church is still in existence, having become petrified"." Am I the only person in the world who thinks this is a horrible misuse of delicious fatback? Why carve it into roses when you could fry it and eat it? Still, nifty to know that Señor Fleiss took the time and energy to share his fat-carving gifts with the world in a book form.



Secondly, this odd little book called "Pictures of Bacon for Karen". I did a double-take when I saw this because I thought it was for me, since I'm Karen and I love bacon, but it's for some other Karen. What are the odds of that? Apparently this guy doodles bacons and then gives them to someone named Karen. Yep, it goes no deeper than that.

It's pretty funny though. In this picture, bacon is used as a comma. You can read the whole book here and I highly recommend it. And not just because I was pretending someone drew them for me and only me. This guy does seem like a catch, Karen, so don't let him go.


[bacon fat book via Ptak Science Books]
[pictures of bacon for Karen via Serious Eats]