Bourdain's Potato Salad

 Bourdain's potato salad recipe called for thick-cut bacon, and it made all the difference.

I cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces before boiling. Kaila Yu for Insider

I started by boiling diced potatoes for 10 minutes and frying the bacon until it was crispy. 

Even though store-bought mayonnaise would work, I decided to make Bourdain's homemade recipe, which was the most time-consuming and difficult part of this dish. 

First I combined egg yolks, white wine vinegar, salt, dry mustard, grapeseed oil, and lemon juice.

The trick is to slowly add the oil while whisking constantly. I was paranoid about breaking the emulsion, so I took my time with this step, spending about 30 minutes beating in the oil. Then I seasoned it to taste with salt and vinegar. 

I added red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, red onion, celery, and cornichons to the mayo along with the cooked potatoes, and it was ready to serve.

Bacon for Bloody Marys

 Heat Real Maple Syrup in a pan until almost boiling (about 7-8 min.) Set aside and cut a jalapeno pepper in half and drop it in the syrup. Let sit for another 8 min. Then you have jalapeno syrup!  Better yet, take bacon strips and wrap them around paper straws and bake at 350 for 30min. After 20 min, glaze the bacon with said syrup and cook for the last 10 min. pull the paper straws and drop in your fav Bloody mary mix... YUMMM!

Smothered Green Beans

 Smothered Green Beans

Ingredients:

• 2 pkg Frozen or 2 lbs fresh green beans

• 1/2 lb bacon

• 1/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/8 cup butter melted

• 1/8 cup low-sodium soy sauce

• 3/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.

• Thaw green beans in an ungreased 9×13-inch pan.

• In a large skillet, cook bacon until almost done but not too crispy. Remove from skillet, drain on paper towel, and chop or crumble. Sprinkle cooked bacon on top of green beans.

• Whisk together brown sugar, melted butter, soy sauce, and garlic powder. Pour over green beans.

• Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.