September 10
William James O'Reilly, Jr's Birthday
 

 

Bill O'Reilly is a popular conservative television host, best-selling author, and syndicated columnist who made the jump from  the  tabloid entertainment host of Inside Edition to the tabloid news host of the Fox cable news, The O'Reilly Factor/  Before joining FOX, he was  an entertainment writer and movie critic for The Miami Herald.

Often known for promoting his show as "fair and balanced", Bill occasionally tends to obfuscate the definition of the terms by choosing lesser talented and credible spokespersons for the liberal perspective on controversial topics. He has also been a tireless advocate for Jessica's Law and has often been effective in bringing public corruption incidents to his large national audience. As an often temperamental  champion of many conservative positions, he aggressively attacks some who hold more liberal opinions especially the "Hollywood elite" and some members of Congress. Bill's conservative ideology has resulted in some outrageous tirades including for a boycott of French products in retaliation for French President Jacques Chirac’s stance on the Iraq war, and calling Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling as a “provocateur” for outing one of the book’s characters as gay, and for US intervention in the Muslim world, “What we can do is bomb the living daylights out of them….no more group troops, no more hearts and minds. Ain’t going to work.”

When Bill dislikes a " lunatic left-wing liberal', he will often attack them continuously.  He has managed to create a hit list of people and organizations that he will criticize incessantly including Sean Penn, George Clooney, Rosie O'Donnell. Barney Frank, Jesse Jackson,  Al Franken, General Electric, The New York Times, etc. Many of these feuds and attacks appear to be popular with O'Reilly's audience as he continues to consistently get high ratings and bring home the bacon to FOX..

Speaking of bacon and FOX, Pan-braised Fox is an ideal recipe to serve Bill on his birthday.  Unless you are a hunter in a country that does not outlaw fox hunting, you may not be able to obtain the main ingredient. Countries that still permit fox hunting include  Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the United States. The sport is controversial, particularly in the UK, where a ban against fox hunting  was introduced in November 2004 .In the UK, foxhunting was considered an upper class national pastime with special trained dogs and hunting costumes and protocols and  social rituals such  the act of blooding in which the master or huntsman would smear the blood of the fox onto the cheeks or forehead of a newly initiated hunt follower, often a young child. After the UK anti fox-hunting legislation was passed, some hunters started to use falcon's to catch the foxes because of a loophole in the legislation. 

The birthday movie has to be An American Carol  (2008) — a film that shatters the myth that the conservatives have no sense of humor. Although Bill plays himself , a role that he has perfected over the years, there is one scene where in which Bill follows the fictional  portrayal of Michael Moore (played by Kevin Farley) into a bathroom stall. Other imaginative casting includes Gary Coleman as Bacon Stains Malone which ties into our suggested recipe.
 

  


Pan-braised Fox


Ingredients
 

legs of one fox
3 cups chicken stock
2 large onions, chopped;
1/2 lb bacon chopped into 2" pieces
6 medium carrots, sliced
6 medium zucchini, sliced
1 cup olive oil
 

2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
3 pieces allspice
3 lemons
2 large eggs
sea salt and ground black pepper

 
Instructions
 
  1. Cover fox legs in salted water with 3 TB vinegar  ands soak overnight.
  2. Remove the meet from the bone and simmer it in chicken stock for three hours.
  3. Gently brown the bacon  and onions in olive oil.
  4. Add the meat and cook for a few minutes.
  5. Add bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, salt, pepper, juice of one lemon, carrots and a few cups of water.
    Cover and simmer for half an hour, occasionally stirring.
  6. Add the zucchini.. Cook steadily for about another half-hour.
  7. Beat eggs and mix with remaining lemon juice. Ladle off liquid from pan and carefully beat it in with the eggs.
  8. Add lemon/egg mixture to pan and stir in gently. Place in serving dish

Serves 4

© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes