Here’s a sizzling opportunity to show off...

Here’s a sizzling opportunity to show off your cooking skills and pick up a little cash. It’s the National Live Stock and Meat Board’s “Makin’ Bacon” recipe contest. For a copy of the guidelines and entry rules, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to “Makin’ Bacon” Recipe Contest, c/o Edelman Public Relations, 211 E. Ontario St., 13th Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60611.

The aforementioned bacon contest is for adults only, but budding turkey chefs from 12 to 18 have a chance to gobble up some bucks--in exchange for their favorite turkey recipes. Grand prize is $2,000. For a list of rules, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: RULES, National Turkey Federation, 11319 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, Va. 22090.

For those who’d rather read about food than cook it, a subscription to Eating Reading, a 12-page bimonthly food letter, may be just the thing. Unlike most food publications, Eating Reading has no recipes, reviews or nutrition charts. What it does have is interviews, memoirs and observations about trends and traditions in food. Previous issues have included an interview with a Vermont jam and vinegar maker, and articles on shopping for antique table linens, and the origins of table manners. A one-year subscription is $32. Write to Eating Reading, 7 Frog Rock Road, Armonk, N.Y. 10504.