[ctviggen]

Isn't "good bacon" redundant? Sure, some bacon's better than other bacon. I've had underdone bacon, overdone bacon, thick bacon, thin bacon. But I don't think I've ever had bad bacon. What can I say? I dig pig.

I cook my bacon in the oven.  One time, I left it in there probably 20+ minutes past when I should've taken it out.  The bacon was inedible.  Barring that, though, I believe you're right -- all bacon is pretty good.  I prefer to stay away from nitrates if possible, and Neuske's is much better than the bacon I normally have (which is also nitrate free).

[ctviggen]

Tried the thin sliced bacon from Neuske's and I still think it's the best bacon I've ever had.  I also compared the hot dogs with Hummel's, and the Neuske's hot dogs have more taste and a better texture. 

[Scott F.]

OK, this thread has gone on long enough that I can no longer resist. So here you guys go, some of the worst ideas in culinary delights ever brought forth to mankind...

bacon flavored popcorn


Bacon flavored mayonnaise


Bacon flavored salt


Bacon flavored Jelly Beans   


Need a breath freshener?


Now the thought of this is truly disgusting



and last but not least I bring you the chocolate covered bacon candy bar (in both milk and dark chocolate) (ask Occam for a piece of this)




...and if you thought I was done...nooooo. Yes thats right, this one you can't eat....unless....oh never mind

[zybar]

Tried the thin sliced bacon from Neuske's and I still think it's the best bacon I've ever had.  I also compared the hot dogs with Hummel's, and the Neuske's hot dogs have more taste and a better texture.

I went with the thick slice and thought it was quite good.

Still not having that "WOW!!" moment, so I am going to try some other places and see what happens.

George

[ctviggen]

Tried the thin sliced bacon from Neuske's and I still think it's the best bacon I've ever had.  I also compared the hot dogs with Hummel's, and the Neuske's hot dogs have more taste and a better texture.

I didn't realize it until now, but the bacon is not nitrate free.  I'll have to look elsewhere then for bacon.

[drab]

For bacon lovers. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaK9bjLy3v4

[satfrat]

Saw a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show on the Food Channel monday night where this diner was frying their own dougnuts, then dipping them in a maple coating and rolling them in bacon bits. Looked killer to me. 
 
Cheers,
Robin

[ctviggen]

That is a great show.  Just don't watch the "best of" episode, because it just shows food after food after food.  My wife and I watched that, then had to go have a snack! 

The only problem is that most of the stuff shown is very dessert-ish.  Sadly, I've given up on waffles, pancakes, syrup, etc., as I simply cannot eat this stuff without gaining weight and yet being famished after-wards.

[satfrat]

That is a great show.  Just don't watch the "best of" episode, because it just shows food after food after food.  My wife and I watched that, then had to go have a snack! 

The only problem is that most of the stuff shown is very dessert-ish.  Sadly, I've given up on waffles, pancakes, syrup, etc., as I simply cannot eat this stuff without gaining weight and yet being famished after-wards.

Bob, there is usually a new episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives each monday nite @ 10pm est followed by a repeat. I find very few of their shows being totally devoted to desserts but as that is part of most meals, there's usually always 1 included. Myself, I'm not a fancy restraunt type of guy anyways so I really relate to this show as it pertains to places that I would normally visit anyways, especially the Drive-ins. It's 1 of my pet peeves to take a long drive to dicover a Drive-in I haven't been to before and sample their BLT cheeseburger with a good Vermont made microbrew that all the stores are carrying nowadays. It's the perfect summer afternoon, especially the long drives so I can spin some freshly ripped CD-R's. It won't be long once March Madness passes, summer'll be right around the corner. 
 
Cheers,
Robin

[gonefishin]

   Hey guys

  Well, I've got 4 cured pork belly's ready to go into the smoker today.  I plan on smoking 15lb's with applewood and the other 15lbs with cheerywood.  I can't wait!


   I've eaten and made pork using nitrates and nitrate-free pork.  For those of you who choose only to eat nitrate-free pork, I would like to know what you consider nitrate-free?  Definition, brands?

  I'm not looking to start an argument at all.  I believe in eating good, tasty, healthy food and grow almost all of my own vegetables during the growing seasons. But, as I see it, there is no difference in the end product if you use sodium nitrate to cure a product or you use an ingredient like celery juice (which is high in natural nitrates) as the curing agent.   

     In both instances you end up with a product that is cured with nitrates.  Unless it is a true nitrate-free product...but that's a much different thing all together.


   I'm just not sure if I'm missing something here or what???


  thanks,
  dan

[ctviggen]

When I smoke pork belly this year, it will be totally nitrate free -- the only cure will be salt.  At least, that's the way I'm going to try it (perhaps I'll try two, one with nitrates and one without).

I don't know what the evidence is like for the nitrate argument.  Most of the evidence appears to be epidemiological studies, which don't prove causation.  I just figure if you can make bacon without it, why use it? 

I just bought some nitrate free bacon; I'll try to remember to look on the package to see exactly what it says.

[gonefishin]

   Okay,  this isn't good!

  I need to lose about 15lbs and I finished smoking my 26lbs of bacon today, you do the math  .  Everything went the same as it did last time.  When it comes time to rinse/soak the belly's it takes a rinse, 30 minutes in cold water and then another 15 minutes in new water. 

   The cheerywood  bacon is real nice...I wish I would have done more like this.  Maybe next time I'll do cheerywood with just a little oak mixed in.

   take care all,
  dan

[pjanda1]

I am a big fan of Nueske's.  But, it is a bacon for smoke lovers.  It smells and tastes like a real wood fire.  My wife is not a fan (though she loves the taste of the cheap stuff).  Nor is America's Test Kitchen, who likened it to "licking ashes" or something like that.  I think it's potency lends itself especially well to sandwiches.  I went to grad school in Milwaukee, where Nueske's bacon adorns many a fine burger, chicken breast or pile of vegetables.

In my quick scan, nobody had mentioned my favorite bacon cooking method: the grill.  I start it on a cold grill, then cook it at the lowest heat I can for a goodly while (20-30 minutes).  If it doesn't seem to be getting done, I crank the heat up a bit.  As soon as you caramelize the outside, you can't really render more fat and may as well finish it.  I have a cast iron grill grate, and the fat really helps keep it seasoned.  If I can't do it on the grill (25 below, grill is full of something else, etc), I put it on a rack in a jelly roll pan and cook it in a cold start, very low oven.  This gives you a big pile of bacon fat, which is a great advantage.  The stovetop is the last place to cook bacon, IMO.

Now I'm hungry.  I better start dinner.  I'm reheating some frozen Ragu.  Anybody looking for an incredible meat ragu should try this: Ragu Enriched with Chicken Livers  Four meats a fine sauce makes.  I eat very little meat.  But when I do, I make it count.

Paul
www.wildburroaudio.com

[gonefishin]

    Hi Paul.  The recipe looks nice, thanks.  If your interested in making a Bolognese, http://culinariaitalia.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/ragu-alla-bolognese-authentic-recipe/ that link brings you to the best I've had.  Great flavors!

   take care,
 dan

[pjanda1]

Nice.  There was a giant article with a couple of applicable ragu recipes in that Saveur issue.  I am thinking about getting a pressure cooker, and I think Bolognese would be an interesting experiment in one.  My other objectives would be to speed up curries, beans and braised meat.

As it would almost be on topic, does anybody have mail order Pancetta recommendations?  I have never mail ordered food, but it my new local, I may have to.  When I made the sauce I linked to, I used nitrate loaded pork belly.

Paul

[gonefishin]

  Hi Paul,

  You can certainly make pancetta easy enough.  It's made similar to the curing stage in making bacon, just with different spices.  After the curing process you rinse, add some more spices, tie and hang it for another 2 weeks.  [url]http://www.chow.com/recipes/10699/url]

   This does use nitrates.  If you didn't use nitrates in cured meat it would taste like pork (rather than have that hammy, bacon, salumi taste).  It would also be grey in color.  That is unless it was cured with celery juice,which is considered by some to be nitrate free by definition.  But it still cures the meat via nitrates...you're just using a different source.

   If you would like to use a nitrate free pancetta I do believe you're out of luck.  But you can just use raw pork belly...which should get you much of what you want...without any nitrates (in any form).

   But be careful when you add the vegetables.  Certain vegetables contain more nitrates than others.  In the average diet you consume more than 70% of your nitrates from vegetables, about 21% from drinking water and about 6% from meats. 


  try the raw pork belly for your sauce though...it should fit the bill.


    dan

[gonefishin]

     I finally got to try some Neuske bacon the other day.  I have to admit that I didn't think it was going to be anything extraordinary,  but it was pretty good!  Not as good as my homemade bacon...but good.

    (on a seperate note) I picked the Neuske bacon up at Fox & Obel, in Chicago.  I was heading up to Chicago to eat at Frontera Grill and I wanted to stop at F&O for some other grocery items. If you've never been there, it's a fairly nice store...with some hard to find items.  My favorite item is my addiction, Iberico Bellota jamon.   It's sooooo good!  The complex nutty flavor with a fat content so delicate it simply melts away in your mouth. 

    If you ever make it there, they also have other honorable mentions.  The Iberico Pata Negra, Petite Jesu, Di Parma Pio Tosini, Palacios Chorizo (paella), Cantimpalo Style Chorizo (slicing type), fresh truffles (in season)...oh so good!



    cheers,
   dan 

[Doublej]

There's a club for everything these days!

http://www.thepignextdoor.com/bacon/traditional.html

[rockadanny]

I don't eat pork but I do appreciate its use as clothing ... 

[BobM]

Bacon Tree (OK, you asked for it!)

Two Mexicans are stuck in the desert after crossing into the United

States , wandering aimlessly and starving. They are about to just lie

down and wait for death, when all of a sudden Luis says.........


"Hey Pepe, do you smell what I smell. Ees bacon, I theenk."


"Si, Luis, eet sure smells like bacon. "


With renewed hope they struggle up the next sand dune, & there, in the

distance, is a tree loaded with bacon.


There's raw bacon, there's fried bacon, back bacon, double smoked bacon

.... every imaginable kind of cured pork.


"Pepe, Pepe, we ees saved. Ees a bacon tree."

"Luis, maybe ees a meerage? We ees in the desert don't forget."

"Pepe, since when deed you ever hear of a meerage that smell like

bacon...ees no meerage, ees a bacon tree."


And with that, Luis staggers towards the tree. He gets to within 5

metres, Pepe crawling close behind, when suddenly a machine gun opens

up, and Luis drops like a wet sock. Mortally wounded, he warns Pepe

with his dying breath,


"Pepe... go back man, you was right, ees not a bacon tree!"
"Luis, Luis mi amigo... what ees it? "


"Pepe.. ees not a bacon tree. Ees


Ees

 

Ees

 

Ees

 

Ees a ham bush...."