Sites We Love: Spoon Fork Bacon
Gorgeous photos? Check. Engaging writing? Check. Seriously inspiring recipes, tips, and culinary curiosity? Check, check, and check. The best food blogs all seem to have a lot in common — but what separates them out are the strong personalities behind them. In our Sites We Love series, we sit down with some of our favorite bloggers to find out how they do it — and why it’s as much fun for them as it is for us.
Today's site we love is Spoon Fork Bacon, where Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park deliver clever original recipes in a contemporary, bold aesthetic. Their stylized design incorporates the occasional mesmerizing GIF, giving unique character to their inventive, globally-inspired dishes. Here's what Teri and Jenny have to say about their site:
Live since: August 2011
Posting rate: On average, 3 times a week
Geographic location: Los Angeles, California
Why is the site called Spoon Fork Bacon? We knew we wanted a name that suited us…something a little out of the ordinary. My (Jenny's) boyfriend is really creative and thought of a list of blog names for us such as, forbaconsake.com, spoonandfork.com, spoonmeforkme.com and Teri sort of picked them apart and formed spoonforkbacon.com, which we decided was just weird enough for us to love!
**What's been your most popular post? **Our Baked Egg Boats! It's a demi baguette that has been hollowed out and filled with an egg mixture and then baked. Think delicious quiche or frittata, stuffed into a crusty baguette…those are egg boats. Perfect for Sunday morning breakfasts!
**What's your favorite post? **It's really difficult to choose just one, but a lot of our international recipes (i.e. Bo Ssam, Paella, and Arepas) have been some of our top favorites. We both love to travel and love trying new and different cuisine, to us, so naturally we get really excited about some of our international recipe posts!
Credit: Teri Lyn Fisher
We've also just started doing a new "series" on our blog called 1 Recipe, 3 Ways, which we really love! We take one basic recipe and provide three fun and interesting variations using that one recipe. We've only done this twice so far (with pizza dough and banana bread), but it's so much fun and our readers can expect many more fun ideas in the near future.
What's something great that you've learned or that's happened to you since starting your blog? Probably staying organized. We really try hard to maintain posting 3 times a week, and when our professional work (photography, food styling, recipe development) gets really busy, it can be a challenge. We've found ourselves shooting blog recipes an hour before and after a photo shoot for a client due to time crunches, and that's never fun. We're totally still working on this.
We also have our first cookbook coming out this fall, Tiny Food Party! will be on sale Oct 9, 2012! Our blog has been an amazing platform for us in helping to achieve and maintain consistent readers and help spread the word of our upcoming book!
What's the usual process for developing one of your posts? Usually we brainstorm a number of ideas for the blog, whether it's trying to recreate our own versions of a favorite restaurant dish, just experimenting in the kitchen or cooking up whatever we feel like eating at the time (and by "brainstorm" I really mean harass one another via phone, text, email at any hour of the day when an idea pops into our head). I then begin developing and testing the recipe ideas at home, while Teri begins brainstorming propping and design ideas for our recipes/posts. We usually get together for a day of shooting every two weeks or so, to photograph and taste test a myriad of recipes, then split up the posting schedule based on the recipes and little stories we have, to share with our readers.
Credit: Teri Lyn Fisher
What are your favorite ingredients and tools? This is another really tough one to answer. I would have to say pork belly is something I love to cook with. I love trying to find new ways to utilize it in unsuspecting dishes like our Watermelon, Feta and Crispy Pork Belly Salad. As for more everyday ingredients, SALT! It sort of makes the food world go around. My knives are probably my most prized kitchen possession…that and my peeler. I'm always slicing and dicing….and peeling in the kitchen.
**What are your favorite food and cooking resources? **Pulling inspiration from some of our favorite food magazines and cookbooks is HUGE for both of us. Some of our absolute favorites: Donna Hay, Saveur, Jamie, VOLT ink., Momofuku, Plenty, Ad Hoc at Home.
Farmers markets are also a biggie for us. There's nothing better than exploring a farmers market, whether it's your first time there or it's your weekly neighborhood stop by. There's something about actually being able to touch and smell and fresh produce, etc. that really gets our minds going.
**What photography equipment do you use? **A Canon 5D Mark II and usually a 100mmL lens.
Credit: Teri Lyn Fisher
**Where else can we find your work? **In our new book, out October 9th, Tiny Food Party! We have also been shooting many other amazing cookbooks this year for some of our clients, and once we are allowed to share those books on our blog, we definitely will. You can also find our work in the Summer 2012 issue of Anthology, Daily Candy LA, HGTV.com, CookingChanneltv.com, just to name a few.
**What food blogs do you follow? **A Cozy Kitchen, Matt Bites, My Last Bite, and A Thought For Food are some of our favorites.
Do you know a blog or blogger who deserves to be featured in this space? Email a nomination — including a link to the site and a few sentences on why they're worthy of love — to__siteswelove@saveur.com.
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