On the subject of Bacon

Excluding all the fru fru bacon what is your favorite type of bacon? Describe it and how you prefer it be prepared.

Mine would be a moderately smoked, lightly salted, not too sweet cured, non nitrate, very very lean bacon, very thickly sliced. I like it slowly fried over low heat. my personal preference of pan is a heavy cast iron based frying pan. I want it "just" crisp on the outside.... Oh! and plenty of it. Note, I do take Lipitor.

I love the flavor of just crisp cooked pork, be it sausage, bacon or an outside slice of a fresh ham.

Right now, we buy the Daily's Peppered Thick Cut Bacon. It is fried outside on the burner next to the bbq grill. We like it very crispy and brown. I also have enjoyed bacon brushed with maple syrup and browned in the oven. So far, the Daily's is the one we have prefered.

The Scottish kind, pork loin, smoked and fried until the fatty rim is nearly crisp.

Nueske's

No specific brand for me but when I do buy bacon it is generally by the whole slab. My tests - first aroma. Second, a knocking with the knuckles to see that it sounds solid and that it does leave a small bit of fat on my fingers after the tappig;
third,a pinch taken from one end of the slab, that tasted raw to see if meets my requirements for salt and flavor.

As to cooking at home, thick slices, half-crisp and in abundance. As to dining out, especially at breakfasts at fine hotels, to order the first rasher and if that is up to my anticipations to tell the waiter/waitress to just keep bringing bacon until I tell him/her to stop.

And no, I do not take Statins.

Best
Rogov

More myth-busting, Rogov?

A rasher is a single slice.

I like the applewood smoked stuff from the market around the corner. The sweetness level is just right and it's cut very thick. I like it cooked just short of crispy, so that it's a touch chewy as well. I also like the fact that I can buy as few or as many slices as I like.

Sadly here there is so much rubbish sold as bacon that is just awful, full of water, nasty tasting yeeech.
So we prefer to make our own. We use a couple of different cures, one with a little honey is a favourite. The cuts we use are either belly or loin depending on what looks good at the market. After curing we cold smoke it for a few hours, air dry for a bit , slice, vacuum pack and store.
It is actually one of the easiest and quickest cures to do and the result is just so good. It is so worth the effort when we have that occasional sunday bacon and egg etc.

More myth-busting, Rogov? A rasher is a single slice.

Jeff, Hi..

No myths here but double definitions. The term "rasher" can indeed be used to describe a single slice of bacon but can equally refer to an order of slices of bacon. I have found that in the USA the traditional rasher is of three slices, in France of four, in Italy of five and at my dearly beloved the Baddrutt Palace Hotel in St. Moritz six, with as many "refills" as might be requested. And believe me, please, the Baddrutt Palace Hotel has the best bacon in the known universe (and I might be willing to gamble that this includes the unknown universe and parallel realities as well)>

Best
Rogov

[Jenise]

George, my requirements for the raw product mirror yours. For cooking, bake. I always BAKE which is probably equivalent to your slow stove method, except that I get all 8 slices I cook for Bob and I cooked equally and at the same time--on a cookie sheet, at about 350, started from cold. Perfect bacon every time, no splatter. I detest, btw, the stove method where a whole pound is cooked in the same pan--after the first batch, unless the pan is cleaned out and started over, the bacon fat overcooks and the later batches have a flavor I don't like.

The term "rasher" can indeed be used to describe a single slice of bacon but can equally refer to an order of slices of bacon.

You have it backwards.

The definition is "a thin slice". Both OED and Merriam-Webster confirm. Oh, also p.278 of Samuel Johnson's.

The word can indeed be used to refer to "an order of bacon" but that meaning does not appear in OED and appears in MW only as "also" (...a kiss of death terminology for we curmudgeons if I ever saw one).


Jeff

George, my requirements for the raw product mirror yours. For cooking, bake. I always BAKE which is probably equivalent to your slow stove method, except that I get all 8 slices I cook for Bob and I cooked equally and at the same time--on a cookie sheet, at about 350, started from cold. Perfect bacon every time, no splatter. I detest, btw, the stove method where a whole pound is cooked in the same pan--after the first batch, unless the pan is cleaned out and started over, the bacon fat overcooks and the later batches have a flavor I don't like.

When I was in the restaurant business we always prepped our bacon by "blanching". Blanching, being in this case baking it off. It was then reheated quickly to order and just before being plated. This was done for a number of reasons- speed, less grease and mess on the cooking line, and lastly it greatly reduced the shrink. At home I don't do it unless I am cooking for quite a crowd. I agree that it does turn our a superior product.

un blanched bacon would shrink up at least by 1/3. Blanched bacon had very little shrink. The food cost was the same but the plate coverage was considerably greater. As the old saying goes, "Customers eat with their eyes".

[Jenise]

un blanched bacon would shrink up at least by 1/3. Blanched bacon had very little shrink. The food cost was the same but the plate coverage was considerably greater. As the old saying goes, "Customers eat with their eyes".

So do I and I'm my own best customer. But yes, less shrinkage and superior in every way. I'd never go back to the stovetop.

Years ago, it was unsmoked Back Bacon

These days I much prefer smoked streaky bacon, but like many others, it has to be crispy.

I gave up buying supermarket bacon years ago, for a large part due to the appallingly high water content that seems to serve no other purpose than ripping the customer off. We're lucky to have a good choice of decent local butchers.

regards

Ian

George, I'm wih you. I love my bacon the way you like yours -- not so salty, always super thick cut, and just crispy outside. I'm not a fan of extra crispy bacon, or what you get at a typcial I-HOP type breakfast restauarant where it's so thin you can see through it. Also, like the outside crusty edge of a smoked butt or fresh ham. Oh my.

I'm a traditionalist. My two favorite places for bacon are next to a stack of warm pancakes with maple syrup, or between two slices of toast with lettuce, tomato and mayo.

[Jenise]

I'm a traditionalist. My two favorite places for bacon are next to a stack of warm pancakes with maple syrup, or between two slices of toast with lettuce, tomato and mayo.

I just love bacon. Don't want it soft, but regardless of my stated preferences, I will eat it just about any way it comes. Ever go to one of those breakfast buffets and see the huge piles? My heart races just thinking about it.

I'm a traditionalist. My two favorite places for bacon are next to a stack of warm pancakes with maple syrup, or between two slices of toast with lettuce, tomato and mayo.

One of my most favorite things in summer is BBT. Bacon, Basil and fresh tomato on good white bread and good mayo.