Bacon: The best-kept secret in Washington
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Shane Harris first tasted “Vangie’s bacon” 10 years ago, and he hasn’t stopped thinking about it since. But learning her secret recipe turns out to be harder than Shane’s day job covering national security for The Washington Post. Today on the show, Shane goes on a quest to unlock the bacon mystery – and a time in Washington when Republicans, Democrats, spies, diplomats and journalists used to set their differences aside and gather around a dinner table.
Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Maggie Penman and Renita Jablonski. Special thanks to Ariel Plotnick and Ariella Markowitz. Tape of David K.E. Bruce courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So we are taking a break from the news today to bring you a different kind of story. |
| 0:08.2 | This is a little culinary mystery that I've been chewing on for a long time. |
| 0:13.1 | And I hope that you enjoy it as you are preparing for your Thanksgiving dinner, |
| 0:17.0 | or maybe you're traveling to and from your holiday gatherings. |
| 0:20.6 | This is a story about a sweet, meaty treat |
| 0:23.7 | that has been at the center of American power for decades. |
| 0:28.4 | It's about politics, loyalty, |
| 0:32.6 | and finally giving credit where credit is due. |
| 0:39.3 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 0:43.4 | It's Wednesday, November 27th. |
| 0:45.9 | My name is Shane Harris. |
| 0:47.6 | I'm now a staff writer at the Atlantic, but in October, I wrapped up seven years as a national security reporter for The Washington Post. |
| 0:56.0 | And in that job, I covered the intelligence community, especially the CIA. |
| 1:00.8 | And over the years, my colleague Ted Muldoon on the Post Audio team, would always ask me this one question. |
| 1:07.4 | Okay, Shane, so if you had all the time in the world to report on one thing that's been like burning a hole in the back of your reporter's notebook, what would it be? |
| 1:16.7 | And the answer was always the same. So, this episode has become the last story that I worked on at the Washington Post. The mystery that I never had time to get to the |
| 1:29.8 | bottom of. A top secret recipe for candied bacon. I mean, just saying it sounds so serious. |
| 1:40.9 | It's real good. I understand they met when they were both working for the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA. |
| 1:50.5 | What I'm looking at is who can tell us how to make Fangi Bruce's bacon? |
| 1:53.6 | Oh, yeah. |
| 1:54.2 | She's the key. |
| 1:55.2 | She's the key. |
... |
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