Bacon: The best-kept secret in Washington

0:28Hey there, it's Colby. It's a story about a sweet, meaty treat that had been at the center of American power for decades. It's about politics, loyalty, and finally giving credit where credit is due. Okay, we hope you enjoy the show. Shane's going to take it from here.

0:52Okay, so setup is, it's October 2014. and Ben Bradley, the legendary editor of The Post, has just died.

1:05And I'm reading an article in the paper, not about his funeral, but about the after party to his funeral. So like Ben had an after party and it was like an A-list party. And where are you in your life? Where are you working? I am working as the senior writer for Washingtonian Magazine. So I had worked, I've been working as a journalist in D.C. at that point for about 14 years, writing on national security, policy, and politics. And I'm reading a story about the party by Roxanne Roberts, who used to write the Post's Reliable Source column. And, I mean, Ben's funeral is a huge event. The After Party is a huge event.

1:39And, like, everybody wanted to go to the After Party. Like, I think the After Party was more exclusive than the funeral. And she's writing this column that is very much, like, with that kind of vibe. But also it's framed as this kind of last hurrah where Sally Quinn, who is also a Post writer, who was Ben's wife, is giving Ben Bradley this final send-off because Ben and Sally famously threw parties, especially big dinner parties that were often quite exclusive. They very much serve this function of social cohesion and influence among a very influential set of people in this town. And so I'm reading it, and the column is describing the food that's being served underneath these tents, I guess, on the back lawn.

2:16And it says, like, you know, there were ham and biscuits. There was chicken. There were chocolate brownies and bacon. And it just says, and bacon, period. And there's no description of the bacon, which makes me think, like, okay, well, there's bacon strips being sent around? Or, like, so I go over and talk to my friend Carol Joint, who I was working with at Washington at the time. I either called or walked across to your office and said, Carol. What's the thing with bacon? Yeah. And she is my trail guide for all things social and strange about Washington. And I think he said to me, oh, you don't know about bacon.

2:53And I was like, Shane, what do you mean? What's this thing about bacon? There's so much I did not know about bacon.

3:04As Carol explained to me, bacon meant candied bacon. It's not a breakfast food. And it goes beautifully with cocktails. Now, a lot of people might be familiar with candied bacon. You might even know it by the name pig candy or hog candy. But this wasn't any candied bacon recipe. This is a recipe with a unique story and a legacy in Washington, D.C.

3:31And as it turned out, it was only something that an elite group of people in D.C. would know about. The reason why Carol knew about the bacon was that she had written professionally about parties and society for years. The kind of events where rich and powerful people would get together, rub elbows, drink champagne, try to look very important. At the time that I worked with her and she told me about bacon, she was the author of this regular column on Washington for a site called New York Social Diary. Which I approached like it was the police beat. And I got to go to all these parties. I mean, everybody wanted me at their parties because they wanted to be in New York Social Diary.

4:13So it was at one of these kinds of parties in Washington that Carol was actually attending as a friend, by the way, and not as a reporter, where she first learned about bacon. This was in the late 1990s. I had my own epiphany with bacon, too. It was not like I was to the bacon born, you know. It was like I had very dear friends, and they'd have great parties.

4:38Carol's friends were of the bacon born, as she put it. They came from this wealthy and powerful family in Washington, D.C., called the Bruces. So I went to this party around the corner, not knowing what to expect. And as I'm standing there with all kinds of people coming and going and everybody very glamorous, I see one of the staff go by with a tray with these little squares, you know, and a woman across the way goes, oh, they're serving the bacon. This is so great. And I'm like, she's serving the bacon? What's with the bacon? So I start following the bacon through the party and I grab one and it's just insanely delicious.

5:19It's bacon and it's savory, but it's a little bit sweet and it's crunchy, but it's not too sweet. It doesn't taste like candy. It tastes more savory. And it's got this incredible texture. So I keep following this server through the party and getting another piece of bacon. Finally, Carol found her friend and she asked, what's with the bacon? And she said, well, that's Vanjie's bacon. She would always serve this bacon. And so we have the same person who made the bacon for her make the bacon for us. The bacon recipe being served at the party belonged to the mother of the guy who was throwing the party.

5:56Her name was Evangeline Bruce, or Vangie for short. Vangie's Bacon.

6:05Vangie's Bacon was once legendary in D.C. In her day, Vangie Bruce and her husband, David K.E. Bruce, were among the most influential and powerful people in Washington. David was an ambassador who served all over the world. He was a very prominent diplomat. The Bruce's belonged to this Camelot era of Washington just after World War II, when the most powerful people in the country, Democrats and Republicans, people who did not necessarily agree with each other, would sit down together at dinner and sometimes, quite literally, were deciding U.S. foreign policy. Well, it was a collection of journalists, publishers, and spies and diplomats who lived in a small area, basically an enclave of Washington, D.C., called Georgetown.

6:53who is an American historian and author of a book called The Georgetown Set, which focuses on people like Evangeline Bruce. They got together very often on Sunday nights and what's called the Sunday night supper and discussed the current events in American foreign policy. And oftentimes, because they were journalists and publishers and spies and diplomats, had a disproportionate influence upon American foreign policy. The heyday of this group of people, this Georgetown set, was really in the 1950s and the 60s, but their influence and the parties they threw rolled on into the 70s and the 80s as well.

7:33The Georgetown set included some of the most notable people of the era. You had people like the Grams, who had once owned the Washington Post, families whose members were associated with setting up the CIA, people like the Wisners and the Dulleses. You had the Alsops, Joe Alsop, a hugely influential journalist, through some of the most famous Sunday suppers that Greg Herkin was talking about. The Kennedys were a fixture in this mix. And of course, you also had the Bruces. These people threw parties like no one throws parties anymore. And when Vanjie Bruce threw a party, she served bacon. It was her thing.

8:11It was like a kind of marker. And if you were eating Vanjie's bacon, you were somebody. You belonged. So this was all the backdrop for that famous bacon. that I asked my friend Carol about. She remembered trying it at her friend's party and following the tray around all night, eating more of it. Now, Vanjie Bruce had died in the mid-1990s, and her husband had died years before that. So I asked Carol to try calling her friend to get the recipe. And she said, well, that was made by Odette Pereira, who worked for Vanjie, and she was her cook. Odette Pereira. The potential true source of the bacon recipe.

8:55And I said, well, do you know how to reach her? And she said, let me see if I have a phone number. I called it. I got Odette, and she was this very lively person and knew exactly what I was talking about and told me she was still making the bacon. I said, what's the secret? Odette refused to tell her. She would not give Carol the recipe. Evangeline Bruce had made Odette swear that she would never reveal it. And almost 20 years after Vanjie had died, Odette was keeping her vow of silence. But she said she'd make it for me. And she made me bacon and brought it to the house. And I think you even ordered some from her too.

9:36Well, you got some for me. I got some for you. Okay.

9:42So Carol brings over this bacon to my house in this like tin. and I open it up and it's these shards of like shellacked meat. Like you can tell it's bacon and it is coated in this shiny candy exterior. And when I bite into this, it is like Dorothy seeing everything in color. I mean, it is like fatty and savory and it's a little bit chewy, but it has this amazing crunchy exterior. It is the perfect balance between salty and sweet and savory. You eat one piece of this and you just want to eat another. And then you want to eat another. You can absolutely see why Carol is just following this tray around through the party all night.

10:27This is now 10 years ago when I first tasted Vanjie's bacon. I have not stopped thinking about it. Now, all this time, mind you, I am covering the Donald Trump administration.

10:44I'm put the bacon story down for a while and I would try to come back to it. And then like life in the world would just sort of get in the way. I mean, I have cracked a lot of stories. I have still not been able to figure out how to replicate this candied bacon recipe. I mean, I go online, I would Google the words candied bacon. And there are a ton of recipes and tutorials on how to make candied bacon. And I would try all of them. Nothing tasted like Vanjie's bacon that I had tried all those years ago. And I know how to cook. Like I know what I'm doing. I could not nail this. And it suddenly felt like everywhere I went, candied bacon was just on the menu.

11:17I was being haunted by bacon. And none of it was as good as Vanjie's bacon. Now, over the years, I would bring this up with people in the city who had been to her parties and they remembered this bacon. There is actually a Vanity Fair article that mentions this. It's a profile of Evangeline Bruce written in the 1990s. And it opens up with this sweeping scene of all the guests at her house for this brunch on a Sunday. and there's a congressman and there's a network TV anchor over here. And the article describes these freshly shucked oysters being set out on a white linen tablecloth and like trays of miniature steak tartare floating around the party.

11:56And then there's a quote that they're also serving, the famous Bruce Bacon. And it says in parentheses, unfailingly crisp, sweet, and greaseless. Which it is! so that is vanjie's bacon now sometimes when you're reporting a difficult story if someone isn't ready to give you some information you give them some time 10 years seemed like long enough to try again what i'm looking at is who can tell us how to make vanjie bruce's bacon odette she's the key she's the key think she'll ever give us the recipe i don't know i mean i suppose The argument to be made is it deserves to be known. And let me just say, I am very accustomed to making difficult phone calls, trying to get information out of people who are paid to keep secrets.

12:50But when I sat down in the audio booth with post-producer Ted Muldoon to call Odette, I was really stressed. That's it. Deep breath. We do it? You're so nervous. I'm nervous. You do national security coverage. I know. But this is like, I mean, what if she's going to be like, piss off you weirdo why are you calling me I know I don't want to buy a subscription to the Washington Post all right let's see what happens all right okay

13:34hello hi my name is shane harris i'm a reporter with the washington post i'm trying to reach odette perera she's not here oh okay later okay could i leave a message for her yeah what do you So I'm working on a story about someone who I think that she used to work for named Evangeline Bruce. Yes. And I was hoping to talk with her about that. I'm working on a podcast. And believe it or not, it's actually about a special recipe that Evangeline Bruce used to serve at parties that I think Miss Pereira used to cook. Listen, can you hold this for a minute? It's myself. So that is myself. I don't know who it's called.

14:16but I can go back talk to you because I'm in another phone for something okay can you just hold it for a minute yeah hold on Odette is myself if that wasn't clear this is Odette on the phone even though she initially disguised her identity not the first source to do that in my experience so Odette puts me on a brief hold because she was on the other line with somebody else okay you hold it thank you yeah oh yeah yes I I cook for 35 years for Evangeline Bruce. Oh, my God. So I've been looking to talk to you for a long time, actually. I have been working on a story about, believe it or not, all things, candied bacon.

15:00Evangeline Bruce and the candied bacon. Bacon, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The same bacon. So I explained a bit about how I learned about the bacon, and then Odette explained a bit about how she first started cooking for Evangeline Bruce. I learned cook when I came to the States in 72. Where did you come from? I came from Portugal. Odette had lost her parents when she was quite young, and she followed her sister to the States. When she first got here from Portugal, her sister got Odette a job at the Italian embassy as a cook, even though Odette didn't know how to cook at the time. So she started learning on the job by experimenting with different recipes.

15:41I'm very curious, and I like to start to do something new all the time. And they like this. How did you first start working for Evangeline Bruce? Well, Mrs. Bruce, this is in the 70s, around 75. Odette became Evangeline's personal cook, which of course included cooking for her dinner parties full of rich and powerful people. Always all the states, like Rick Ken Chazier, Vice President, and Mrs. Reagan, all the people who work with the president. Wow. So like people from the White House and like really powerful political figures. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Sometimes the security comes for seeing the cooking and stay in the kitchen looking what I cook.

16:27So like the Secret Service would come watch you cook? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

16:34Odette especially loved whenever the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, would come over. She, of course, was the wife of then-Republican President Ronald Reagan. And after the meal, Nancy would often come back and visit with Odette. She's all the time. She comes. She say, come to say thank you. One time she's there and she let me take her picture with my kids. Odette still remembers the first time that Vanjie asked her to try to make the candied bacon. She find out in London in some place. I think it's in Queen's house, I think. In the Queen's house, you said? It is in the Queen's house. Like as in Buckingham Palace?

17:11Yeah, oh yes. That's where she said she remembered eating it? Yes, I think she said it's in the palace, I think. But she didn't know how they do it. Bacon literally fit for a queen. Hmm. But Evangeline didn't know how to make it. So one day Odette says, Vanjie comes to her and asks her to replicate this allegedly royal bacon recipe. And she just tell me, Odette, I don't know. I know it's bacon and sugar. You have to find out. And she tell me, you have to try. I mean for a week, every day, for a try to eat the right bacon, what she eats in London. For a week, Odette made batch after batch of bacon.

17:54And Vanjie would come in and she'd try it and she'd say, no, this isn't quite right yet. You have to try again more. And I would try one day and say, oh, yes, this is exactly what I ate. And said, Odette, you keep the secret. Now, this is important. According to Odette, there is a reason to keep this recipe secret. Everyone loved it and everyone wanted it. People would come over to the house. They would expect it. They'd come to the brunches. she told me that Princess Margaret, as in the queen's sister, actually came and ate the bacon. And, like, I don't know if this bacon really came from Buckingham Palace, but, like, somebody who's been there quite a lot ate this bacon and loved it.

18:33So you probably wouldn't tell me the recipe, would you? No. I can tell you it's bacon and sugar. That's it. Yeah, you can try it. Do you still make it on request? Oh, yeah. Like, could you make me some? Yeah, if I have time, if I don't know what you need, maybe for the winter. Maybe for the winter or something, yeah. Yeah, I can make it in the winter. You can call me late in the winter, and I'm sure I can do it.

19:13Okay, so I was not able to get the bacon recipe out of Odette either. But I did come away from our call with two promising leads. One, Odette was willing to make the bacon for me again. This would be the first time I've tasted it in 10 years. Maybe with a sample, I could do what she had originally done and, I don't know, try to reverse engineer it. Two, according to Odette, I might have a lead on the original recipe. It might belong to Queen Elizabeth, which would be a very exciting development, right? My instinct would be correct. This bacon recipe went straight to the top.

19:50After the break, my 10-year quest for bacon continues.

20:18After your first six months, it'll cost$19 every four weeks. You can cancel anytime. Head over to WashingtonPost.com slash subscribe and get premium access to The Washington Post today. That's WashingtonPost.com slash subscribe.

20:37All right, so Odette is not giving up the recipe, but I'm not giving up on her. So I'm going to give her some more time to see if she might be ready to talk later. and in the meantime, I started looking into Evangeline Bruce some more to try and figure out how she might have ended up eating bacon in Buckingham Palace in the first place. Now, I have reached out to Buckingham Palace for a comment on whether or not bacon has ever been on the royal family's menu and whether Evangeline Bruce might have tasted it there. I am shockingly still waiting for a reply. Evangeline Bruce did move around in some very rarefied circles throughout her life, So it's possible.

21:14She was the daughter of an American diplomat. She grew up all over the world, moving between Italy, Sweden, France, Holland, Great Britain, China, Switzerland. Later on in her life, she married David K. E. Bruce. I understand they met when they were both working for the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, during the war. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 12th, 1898. This is David K. E. Bruce. He died in 1977, and this is from an oral history that he gave just a few years before. It's part of President Truman's archive. At various times, I was in the United States Army during the First World War from 1917 to 1920, during the Second World War from 1942 until 1945.

22:01Bruce became a high-ranking official during World War II in the Office of Strategic Services, which, as Greg Hurkin mentioned, was the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. You know, the agency that I cover for a living. I was eventually director of the European Theater of Operations under the Office of Strategic Services. At the height of World War II, David was running operations in the European Theater for the OSS. So you can think of him as like acting as an American spymaster fighting the Nazis. The OSS was supporting resistance efforts behind enemy lines in occupied France. They were sending people in via parachute to set up roving bands of intelligence operators to try and foil Nazi plans.

22:44And David was Evangeline's boss while they were both working at the London office of the OSS. This is how their love story began, according to Evangeline's 1995 obituary in the New York Times. Quote, One day her boss began questioning her about the languages that she spoke. I suppose you speak Italian, he said. She said yes. German? She nodded. French? Again, yes. Well, you certainly don't speak Japanese and Chinese, he said. Well, she said, it happens that I do, sir, because my father was stationed in both countries. With that, David K. E. Bruce invited her to lunch.