What's Your Signature Dish?

Most of us have a signature recipe. You know, that one thing we know we're good at making, which we can bring to a party and rest assured will be gobbled up in seconds. I'm thinking of my Aunt Barb's southwestern dip, my friend Eve's roast beef & yorkshire pudding, my mom's "Death By Chocolate" concoction.

I have more of a signature ingredient: bacon. My friends tease me for incorporating the heart-clogging ingredient into nearly everything I make. I've stated here before that I firmly believe bacon makes everything better, and I've yet to be proven wrong (though a friend once led me to an article mentioning the bacon martini, which could be the lone exception to the rule). One day, my all-bacon cookbook will fly off the shelves at Barnes & Noble.

The easiest (and probably most popular) bacon dish I can always throw together at the last minute is rumaki, one of the few dishes my mother passed down to me that I haven't tinkered with aggressively. It's ridiculously simple, and despite water chestnuts not being an ingredient the general populace is usually clamoring for, I bet 10-to-1 you'll have party guests complaining you didn't make enough of these one-bite treats.

Rumaki

Toothpicks
*1 can whole water chestnuts
1 package bacon
soy sauce
honey
brown sugar

Soak toothpicks in water for ½ hour. Set oven to broil,

Drain can in water chestnuts (if you want, you can slice them in half if you like a less chestnut-heavy taste). Soak in soy sauce while working. Slice bacon pieces into thirds. Brush honey onto bacon, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Wrap chestnuts in bacon. Add a bit more soy. Stick a toothpick through each wrapped chestbut. Broil until bacon is crisp. Sprinkle with a bit more brown sugar and serve.

*I've seen recipes which substitute chicken livers for the water chestnuts, but I can't see that being an improvement.