Bacon Roll Ups — The Taste of Cast Iron and Everything Betty Left Behind

Six years of this blog. Week 313, which means I've been writing about food and life and the distance between Evarts and Lexington for six full years, and the distance hasn't gotten any shorter but the writing has gotten easier, or maybe not easier — just more necessary. I started this because Betty's recipes were going to die if someone didn't write them down, and now I'm writing them down and also writing everything else — the disability, the back, the fire pit, the soup beans, the way Connie says 'that'll do' like it's a complete sentence, which it is.

Amber came Saturday like she promised. She drove up from her apartment looking like she hadn't slept in thirty hours, which she probably hadn't, and she ate two plates of the ribs I smoked — spare ribs, rubbed with brown sugar and paprika and garlic and smoked over hickory for five hours at 225, mopped with a vinegar sauce every hour. She ate and then she fell asleep on the couch and I put a blanket over her and watched her sleep the way I did when she was a baby, which was twenty-five years ago and yesterday, depending on which clock you're reading.

Travis called Sunday to say he and Jolene found a house. A little ranch in Nicholasville, three bedrooms, fenced yard, the kind of house you buy when you're twenty-eight and planning a future. I told him I was proud, which I was, and I told him to have the roof inspected, which is the kind of advice a construction man gives whether asked or not. He said Dad, I know about roofs. I said you know about landscaping. He said they're both outside. He's got a point.

Made cornbread three times this week because I'm working on it. Betty's cornbread — white cornmeal, buttermilk, egg, salt, a little baking soda, bacon grease in the cast iron heated smoking hot. The first batch was too thick. The second was better. The third was right — thin, crispy on the bottom, tender in the middle, the bacon grease giving it that golden edge that tastes like the cast iron itself has been seasoning this cornbread for generations, which it has, because this is Betty's skillet, the one I took from the Evarts kitchen when she said take what you want, Craig Allen, meaning take what you need, meaning take everything.

After a week of tending the smoker, testing cornbread three times, and watching Amber sleep off thirty hours of hard living on my couch, I wanted something small and satisfying to close things out — something that honors the bacon grease I’ve been heating in Betty’s skillet all week without asking anything complicated in return. These Bacon Roll Ups are exactly that: humble, porky, crisped up hot, the kind of thing you set out without ceremony and they disappear the same way. Betty would’ve had a plate of these on the counter before anyone thought to ask.

Bacon Roll Ups

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 12 slices thin-cut bacon
• 12 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Toothpicks, for securing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack on top if you have one.
2. Mix the filling. In a small bowl, combine softened cream cheese, green onions, garlic powder, and black pepper. Stir until smooth and evenly mixed.
3. Flatten the bread. Use a rolling pin or the flat of your hand to press each slice of bread thin — this helps it roll without cracking and lets it crisp up properly in the oven.
4. Spread and roll. Spread a thin, even layer of the cream cheese mixture across one side of each bread slice. Roll each slice up tightly from one end to the other.
5. Wrap with bacon. Wrap one slice of bacon in a spiral around each bread roll, stretching it slightly as you go. Secure with a toothpick through the center.
6. Bake until crisp. Arrange roll ups seam-side down on the prepared rack or baking sheet. Bake for 18–22 minutes, turning once halfway through, until the bacon is crisp and golden and the bread is toasted through.
7. Rest and serve. Remove toothpicks before serving. Let rest for 2–3 minutes — they hold together better and the filling sets up just enough to stay put.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 138 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 11g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 310mg