People are often surprised when I tell them that I don’t like bacon. I imagine it is especially strange since I have an unabashed love of pork, and bacon is considered one of those culinary staples where no cook would question its merit. “When in doubt, add more bacon!” seems to be the motto of fast food chains, there are scores of sites on the Internet dedicated to the love of bacon, and there has got to be some reasoning behind the all-American breakfast being called “bacon and eggs”, not the other way around.
Here’s the truth of the matter: I do like bacon. I love bacon as an ingredient in dishes, imparting a smoky, fatty flavor to everything from pasta to vegetables to soups. The problem is that I really can’t stand industrial “bacon” that gets sold in the supermarkets, and that’s usually what is being offered, and it’s a lot easier to say, “I don’t like bacon,” than, “I don’t like that kind of bacon.” It saves me from repeated long-winded explanations and from looking like even more of a food snob.
But this is my haven for food snobbery. I will admit that I have not liked “bacon” since I was a kid. When it was served to me at breakfast, I would cover it in peanut butter and maple syrup to mask its overly salty taste. I would feed it to the dog when no one was looking. On occasion I would eat it plain, but only if it wobbled as though it were partially raw, so I could feel the texture of the fat in my mouth and taste something other than crispy salt. To be clear, I’m talking the cured and smoke pork belly bacon here, not Canadian bacon, which may as well be ham steaks to me.
The quality of bacon has fallen dramatically due to industrialization and the consumer demand for ‘value’. Obviously, when you buy a pound of bacon for $2.99, it should be no surprise that you get what you pay for. Ordinarily I would recommend that you boycott the supermarket and learn to make something yourself when they can’t deliver, but most people aren’t particularly willing to spend the time to cure their own pork. I’ve made my own bacon before and plan to do it again this summer, so I will make a post about that when the snow melts for those that are interested.
The main differences in the products themselves are easily visible when comparing them side by side. Industrial bacon is wet cured in a factory, bathed in liquid smoke and plumped up with water. All that moisture is the antithesis of good bacon, as the proper curing of meat is the process of removing moisture and concentrating flavor. Proper bacon has been dry cured and then smoked in a smoke house with real wood chips, therefore it will look comparatively smaller, denser and drier.
There is mostly a perception of value when buying a pound of bacon from the supermarket. If you look at the ingredients, you’ll see that a lot of it is water. Not only are you paying for water, and the processing of the bacon is detrimental to its flavor, but it does not cook up as well as real bacon, because you have to cook off all that water before it gets crispy. That is part of why slices of bacon shrink so much when you cook them, because all that water that has been added is removed while the bacon is cooking. Most likely if you visit your butcher or a real deli, they will have bacon available that they can slice for you, to the thickness you desire. This bacon will taste better and cook better than the stuff from the supermarket, all for a price that is comparable to the supermarket stuff, once all the water boils off of it. It’s no wonder that pork belly is so popular on restaurant menus now, its like a revelation for people who like bacon but have never eaten anything like it before!
Regardless of the bacon you end up buying, the best way to cook it, in my opinion, is in the oven. Cooking bacon in the oven affords you the luxury of effortlessly cooking a large quantity at once while maintaining flat, uniform slices. You can bake up an entire tray of bacon and have your stove top free to make hash browns and eggs. Simply line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and lay the bacon on it. To maximize your space, the slices can overlap, just as long as the meaty parts of the slices do not touch. Imitate how the bacon is laid out in the package, only space the slices more in the pan. Place the baking sheet into the oven, set on the middle rack, and heat it to 350 degrees. The gradual increase of temperature will help to render some of the fat from the bacon, making it crisp up better. Keep an eye on it after 15 minutes and wait for it to reach your desired doneness.
Drain and save the fat in a jar for other uses. Bacon fat is a fantastic addition in pastry crusts in place of lard, a flavorful oil to roast potatoes in and a great base for sweating vegetables in before making a soup or stew. I even found a recipe for How to Make Bacon Soap! If nothing else, just dispose of it, because you don’t really want to pour bacon fat down your drain.
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