Inspired by the bacon ice cream presented on last night's Top Chef, we're bumping this older post back to the top.

Deliciously demented maestro of molecular gastronomy Heston Blumenthal (chef & owner of the massively Michelin-starred UK restaurant The Fat Duck) shares his signature Bacon & Egg Ice Cream technique and recipe.

Nab our Pecan-Brown Sugar & Bacon Ice Cream recipe (from Joanna Pruess's Seduced By Bacon)

AOL Food's Top 11 Bacon Fantasies

• Last year a local urban farm added an flock of hens to their land and started a co-op of neighborhood folks in order to have help taking care of the layers. The first year is almost up and it has been a huge success. (As I started reading this article, I realized with a small shock that the featured folks are long-time family friends. I love the smallness of the world some days).
  
• Local restaurants give a gourmet twist to the standard breakfast of bacon and eggs, serving them for dinner, and pairing them frisee or grilled bread for a gorgeous bruschetta.
  
• If you are feeling up for bacon and eggs, why not try your hand at biscuits and gravy? The FoodDay staff offers what they believe to be the best rendition of that class.
  
• We've all heard that nitrates aren't good for us, but we often don't know much more than that. Here's the well-researched story.
  
• In this meat-heavy section, they're offering some ways to shift the balance to lighter, vegetarian fare without losing the classic, comfort food qualities.
  
• Looking for a way to make chicken, that dinnertime standby, a little more interesting? J.M. Hirsch reviews Cook's Illustrated new cookbook devoted to the humble bird.

Some foods are meant to go together. In fact, many of them pair so well that they have become the most classic comfort foods. In an effort to bypass the well-known, I first set out to collect the 8 worst food pairings, but was so disgusted by the idea of pickled herring and cheesecake that I was forced to stop. I realized that it is for good reason that some foods get paired: they taste great together and make such good combinations that it is hard to think of one without the other. These are definitely a few of the best:

1. Peanut butter and jelly
2. Macaroni and cheese
3. Fish and chips (or burgers and fries)
4. Bacon and eggs
5. Milk and cookies
6. Pancakes and syrup
7. Gin and tonic
8. Spaghetti and meatballs

Salt and pepper is, arguably, the ultimate combination, though they are seasonings and not exactly "food". Here are some of the runners up from the list above: Butter and toast, cupcakes and sprinkles, tomato soup and grilled cheese, cheese and crackers and Ben and Jerry’s.

I know there are lots of others. What are we missing?