Comments on: The World's Most Perfect Bacon

The World's Most Perfect Bacon

jonson — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:44:43 -0800

I have to assume the only reason you're reading this right now and not busy home curing & eating bacon is because nobody has shown you how. Let's fix that.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:47:07 -0800

I petition that the word jonson become synonymous with bacon.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:48:03 -0800

And therefore greatness.

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:48:17 -0800

I could only dream of such honors!

By: amyms

amyms — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:48:23 -0800

Love your intro sentence!

By: eriko

eriko — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:50:25 -0800

It's BACON!

By: quin

quin — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:57:30 -0800

Oh sure, reveal the dark arts for everyone to know. You are totally getting kicked out of the bacon cabal now jonson. And you better not show anyone the sizzly-finger secret handshake. I mean it.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:58:27 -0800

That meat sure looks tasty! Just don't have that kind of time or outdoor curing space, unfortunately. Still, thanks for the post, bacon! I mean, greatness! I mean, jonson.

By: Megafly

Megafly — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:58:27 -0800

I'd like a jonson double cheeseburger. Double jonson.

By: coffee and minarets

coffee and minarets — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:00:14 -0800

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it starts with killing a pig.

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:01:43 -0800

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it starts with killing a pig. We kill and eat wild guesses around here, so ask before you take one.

By: kbanas

kbanas — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:03:48 -0800

Oh...oh, my God. It's full of stars.

By: thehmsbeagle

thehmsbeagle — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:06:29 -0800

AND he makes beer? Is he single? Can we all marry him?

By: stet

stet — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:08:11 -0800

You know, I was just negotiating with my wife to allow me to purchase an eight-pound pork belly to turn into bacon. She is skeptical.

By: nixerman

nixerman — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:11:02 -0800

That post really turned me on.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:11:39 -0800

this will come in handy after the apocalypse.

By: Gnostic Novelist

Gnostic Novelist — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:14:17 -0800

I wonder what human flesh tastes like.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:15:06 -0800

You know, Pope Benedict XVI's first miracle was curing bacon.

By: nervousfritz

nervousfritz — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:17:47 -0800

To hell with sobriety. And bacon sucks.

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:18:44 -0800

Does this work the same with longpigs? I've got a freezer full of em and I'm getting tired of bbq.

By: mrbill

mrbill — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:20:43 -0800

I like his entry about cooking a pig too.

By: MasonDixon

MasonDixon — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:21:00 -0800

When we hand out the Meta awards later this year, I nominate this one for "BEST ONE LINK POST," and I think it is definitely in the running for "BEST ONE LINK POST OF ALL TIME."

By: bonehead

bonehead — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:26:11 -0800

I love that his bacon rubs use kosher salt.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:27:39 -0800

It's kind of sad, but the biggest lasting impression I got from that blog is the dude's got really pretty hands.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:29:26 -0800

I'll bet it would be even better if you replaced the kosher salt with bacon salt.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:41:21 -0800

Poolio, that would be worse than crossing the streams. Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light while tasting of bacon.

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:42:45 -0800

What the hell did he mean by: like eating pizza at Sbarro’s while visiting New York City Is he trying to say "mediocre?" Or did he mean to say "like eating pizza at Lombardi’s while visiting New York City"

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:47:29 -0800

Sbarro's? Is he serious? He may know bacon, but he sure don't know pizza. Hey bacon guy, next time you're in NYC, go here.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:48:31 -0800

Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light while tasting of bacon. I can't think of a better way to go.

By: Deep Dish

Deep Dish — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:48:56 -0800

Some men like fishin', and some men like fowlin' and some some men like to hear the cannon ball a roarin'.. but me I like bacon.

By: Tube

Tube — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:50:19 -0800

This reminds me of a t-shirt I saw in high school in the 70's: Underneath a cartoon of two pigs furiously copulating reads the caption "makin' bacon".

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:51:29 -0800

It rubs the kosher salt in, or else it gets the hose again.

By: Aversion Therapy

Aversion Therapy — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:51:37 -0800

Damnit, I just became a vegetarian again.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:52:14 -0800

Read the maple syrup/Sbarro's sentence again guys : "Buying maple syrup from L.L. Bean’s headquarters is a bit like eating pizza at Sbarro’s while visiting New York City." He's pointing out that in Maine you are surrounded by homey mom and pop places selling glorious, freshly tapped maple syrup and instead he bought it at L.L. Bean, which is like being in NYC surrounded by amazing pizza joints and buying a slice from Sbarros. Great link, jonson.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:53:58 -0800

Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light while tasting of bacon. This bacon taste would then last, we might suppose, for what could be described as "infinity"? An infinity of bacon?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:54:44 -0800

Thanks for clarifying, LeeJay. My faith in Bacon Guy is restored.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:55:06 -0800

damn, it's 9:55 pm and and I want to make breakfast....

By: god hates math

god hates math — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:57:20 -0800

An infinity of bacon? Yes, please.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:58:24 -0800

Damnit, I just became a vegetarian again. posted by Aversion Therapy at 9:51 PM on August 9 [+] [!] Okay, that's eponysterical.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:58:44 -0800

damn, it's 9:55 pm and and I want to make breakfast.... Any hour is the right hour for breakfast, he said eponysterically.

By: howfar

howfar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:01:38 -0800

This is good. But I prefer green bacon to smoked. So if you want to try that, I think this link might be handy for you. The other point, as the link I put in suggests, is that you really should invest the savings you make from buying in bulk and home curing in buying some really tasty and top quality belly. For unfussy and practical, but also profoundly joyful, information on brining, confiting and much more, Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson, of St. John restaurant in London, is excellent. It is also an elegant debunking of the idea that British food is, and has always been, terrible. If you get a chance to visit St. John itself, please do yourself the favour, you'll be glad you did.

By: Item

Item — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:04:11 -0800

The funny thing is that most true bacon fanatics could hardly muster up the strength to lug their artery-clogged wideloads to the supermarket to buy a package of bacon, let alone go to the trouble to make it themselves.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:13:05 -0800

I can feel my arteries hardening just reading this thread. Yet another nail in my coffin. Thanks guys. Y'know, my father died from bacon. It was on the coroners report, along with a score of other foods THEY won't let me eat anymore.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:13:11 -0800

I can't wait to wrap my lips around some jonson... err, no I'm gonna have to say bacon and not jonson. I can just barely forgive this guy for doing bacon instead of proscuitto, given that charcuterie had recipes for both.

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:13:24 -0800

GODDAMN IT NOW I WANT ME SOME BACON SCREW THESE BACON POSTS UNLESS YOU HAVE SOME FOR ~~ALL OF US~~ ME!

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:14:39 -0800

AND PROSCIUTTO! AND LARDO! AND PANCETTA! AND no carrier

By: ooga_booga

ooga_booga — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:23:28 -0800

I'm thinking this link might be useful given the FPP.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:24:30 -0800

contains more free radicals than a PETA convention. Hah!

By: yhbc

yhbc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:28:07 -0800

God Fucking Damn. That was great. I want that bacon. Hell, I want to have that bacon guy's babies.

By: headspace

headspace — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:29:07 -0800

Crap. It's 10.30pm and now I have to make bacon.

By: yodelingisfun

yodelingisfun — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:54:02 -0800

Has anyone gotten the bacon salt? Was it yummy?

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:55:31 -0800

I need to try this.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:56:48 -0800

Wow. Just wow. Unfortunately, I think curing and smoking it is out of the question for me, but luckily I have a great local butcher / meat-market that sells wonderful local bacon. Makes me want to break out my skillet and fry up a few rashers. Also interesting -- I had never realized quite what a "pork belly" was before. No wonder they're worth money.

By: TungstenChef

TungstenChef — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:05:02 -0800

Great post, I got Charcuterie for Christmas and tried my own hand at making bacon. It's just as easy and every bit as incredible as he says. Imagine the best bacon you've ever had, but a hundred times better and smoking hot from your grill. I do have a bone to pick with him though, technically he's salting his bacon, not curing it. Notice how gray the inside of the meat is at the end, curing refers to the chemical change that nitrites cause which keep the meat pink and give it the characteristic "hammy" flavor. I'm sure his bacon was really great too, but I prefer the taste the nitrites give it. I know they're bad for me, but I figure a few milligrams aren't going to kill me if I survive all the saturated fat and salt. I order my curing salt from Butcher & Packer. The correct proportion for a 5lb slab is: 1 lb kosher salt 8 oz sugar 2 oz curing salt

By: recursion

recursion — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:05:48 -0800

Damnit, I just became a vegetarian again. You are at least the third vegetarian I've heard curse the existence of bacon and its tastiness. The power of bacon is not to be underestimated.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:06:02 -0800

THIS is why my pet pig Alphonse will from heretofore have his web access disabled. Even the PETA sites; He gets overexcited.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:10:38 -0800

GODDAMN YOU BACON GIVE ME JONSON YOU CRUEL BASTARD bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon bacon bacon jonson bacon bacon bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:11:52 -0800

*eyeballs jonson* I wonder. They don't call us long pig for nothing. Hey, jonson? Eat more butter.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:12:33 -0800

...and bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

By: saffry

saffry — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:13:58 -0800

My husband has the book Charcuterie, too. And now we also have a professional meat grinder, sausage skins, curing salts and plans for a smokehouse at the house we just bought. Plus, we live right next to a pig farm. Bacon Heaven.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:18:49 -0800

And now we also have a professional meat grinder, sausage skins, curing salts and plans for a smokehouse at the house we just bought. Plus, we live right next to a pig farm. Trade lives with me.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:21:05 -0800

Heh, I was going through makeblog and *just* sent that link off to a bunch of friends. What do I find, here on Metafilter? Bacon. =) item - The funny thing is that most true bacon fanatics could hardly muster up the strength to lug their artery-clogged wideloads Tape up your fingers, item. I'm a skinny dude and I take my bacon very very seriously. Hell, metafilter users have favourited a bacon post of mine. Bacon is greater than religion. Bacon is more than a way of life. I needs to find me a smoker. Love (not just lust, but love, true love) of bacon? Check. Access to Asian butchers selling cheap sides of pork? Check. Interest in different flavours of bacon? Check*. Smoker to cure the bacon? uh... Love of eating bacon? Check. *flavoured bacon beats bacon flavoured salt anyday imho

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:22:20 -0800

My husband has the book Charcuterie, too. And now we also have a professional meat grinder, sausage skins, curing salts and plans for a smokehouse at the house we just bought. Plus, we live right next to a pig farm. Bacon Heaven. Pig hell.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:26:00 -0800

The blogger's written diction reminds me of Alton Brown's spoken diction. But maybe it's just the food connection.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:31:12 -0800

Infidels.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:34:05 -0800

Gives me tha money or I cut offs your jonson.

By: TungstenChef

TungstenChef — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:37:32 -0800

Interesting/gross fact: sometimes when you buy pork belly that still has the skin attached, it still has a nipple or two. Mmm, bacon nipple.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:39:05 -0800

Interesting/gross fact: sometimes when you buy pork belly that still has the skin attached, it still has a nipple or two. On the belly? Would those be superfluous nipples?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:44:58 -0800

I discovered last week that Wegman's* carries uncured bacon. Which is really REALLY good, in an "Oh, so that's what bacon tastes like!"** *If you've never seen a Wegman's, I pity you. Wegman's is teh awsum. **But not as much as the root beer at Schilo's in San Antonio, which is the platonic form of root beer. For the record, Schilo's root beer does not taste of like bacon.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:49:45 -0800

Where the hell sm I supposed to buy a smoker at 10:49 pm? Home Deopt done run Uncle Sue's All Night Smoker Warehouse right out of bidness!

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:49:57 -0800

No, no, no. Using a smoker to smoke bacon is just....WRONG!!! You can't smoke-cure bacon and cook it simultaneously!!!!! The whole point is to COLD SMOKE it, not cook it, which means you need a hot box to generate the smoke and you need a cold box in which to hang the bacon. And a duct connecting one to the other. Confused? Don't be.

By: slogger

slogger — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:53:06 -0800

I also discovered for the second time that pig parts look eerily like human parts... I wonder how he knows this? Regardless, I shall be purchasing Charcuterie very soon.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:56:19 -0800

Using a smoker to smoke bacon is just....WRONG!!! Thou shalt not have any smoker other than side-by-side. Those vertical things are just... grills.

By: TungstenChef

TungstenChef — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:21:37 -0800

On the belly? Would those be superfluous nipples? As you can see from this illustration the cut that's called "pork belly" extends well into nipple territory. Where the hell sm I supposed to buy a smoker at 10:49 pm? Home Deopt done run Uncle Sue's All Night Smoker Warehouse right out of bidness! Wal-Mart (I've asked myself that same question before) You can't smoke-cure bacon and cook it simultaneously!!!!! In this epic eGullet thread (WARNING: endless pages of cured meat porn) someone cured 2 slabs and did one on their hot smoker, and one on their cold. The cold smoker version turned out no better than the hot. But bacon isn't a food that can be argued about, it's a religion. You got to believe, brother!

By: cj_

cj_ — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:23:49 -0800

And all this time I thought this was how bacon was made.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:28:15 -0800

But bacon isn't a food that can be argued about, it's a religion. You got to believe, brother! RAmen!

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:35:23 -0800

TungstenChef, where does this idea that curing = nitrites come from? Curing is any preservation by salting, smoking or drying, and what he's doing is definitely curing, albeit a cure that may not be thorough enough for long term preservation. I have never heard "cure" used in your very restrictive way before.

By: Deep Dish

Deep Dish — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:38:00 -0800

This article made me go to Canadian Tire to look at smokers -- my dad then phoned me (career meat cutter and salesman) - and asked me what I was doing at CT. Anyway I explained this article, and my Dad told me most of the pork bellies you get in these parts have the rind already removed because at the slaughterhouse it is easier to process... That, and a lot of guys don't remove the rind. So, there is some variation on this method, and the pork is nipple free

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:42:25 -0800

"Has anyone gotten the bacon salt? Was it yummy?" Yes, and yes.

By: fandango_matt

fandango_matt — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:51:14 -0800

posted by jonson I have to assume the only reason you're reading this right now and not busy home curing & eating bacon is because nobody has shown you how. I have to assume the only reason we're reading this right now and not busy home curing & eating bacon is because the fellow who showed us how hasn't had a quadruple bypass at the age of 30.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:02:51 -0800

mr_crash_davis - Yes, and yes. Which flavor(s)?

By: spock

spock — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:23:19 -0800

Alright. I can already make bread and roast my own coffee. Now I can learn to cure bacon. All I need is to learn how to lay eggs and I can homebrew a complete breakfast!

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:54:05 -0800

Salt (second poem down) ‘We’d pack the meat down, in big joints, shift them to lie snug. You’d hear the salt crunch as you pushed your first lot in – a good bed under the meat – handfuls pressed down. Every space right solid. Your fingers go numb. Little grains get under your nails, skin’s as rough as pig’s hide. End of day, your lips taste salt. You breathe salt. Everything stings.’

By: frobozz

frobozz — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:55:35 -0800

On the belly? Would those be superfluous nipples? Pig nipples are on the belly already, no? Like cats and dogs. And cows.

By: rob511

rob511 — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:35:08 -0800

You know, Pope Benedict XVI's first miracle was curing bacon. Il Papa heads forces arrayed against Satan: His seat in the See sees him beatificatin', Delivering hom'lies on doctrinal fealty. (Though dogma aside, his true passion's the BLT.) Sainthood awaits he who weds Whip with some bacon.

By: Araucaria

Araucaria — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:50:25 -0800

Press button. Receive Bacon. Enjoy Bacon.

By: lapolla

lapolla — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:29:11 -0800

“forming the pellicle” ...sounds like a weird art rock album by Hawkwind hahahahaha. ha. bacon. my mom used to cook it in butter. and then salt it. damn good cook.

By: rhymer

rhymer — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:48:17 -0800

BitterOldPunk is right. This is an interesting post up until the point where he gets it totally wrong and makes a cooked pork belly. Bacon is always cold smoked - which is why smoked and unsmoked bacon look pretty similar although they taste different. Kind of strange to go to all that effort and then make such a basic error. What next? Cooked Carpaccio? Still Champagne? Fish & Chips using sushi?

By: Gnostic Novelist

Gnostic Novelist — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:23:43 -0800

Other than the human/non-human dichotomy and comestible issue, how are bacon eaters different from Nazis?

By: St Urbain's Horseman

St Urbain's Horseman — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:42:19 -0800

From the blog post: "I sliced mine about 3/16 inch thick, which is something you just can’t get at a store, and which results in a piece of bacon that is crisp on the outside, and slightly chewy on the inside." I beg to differ. Any decent meat shop will have slab bacon and will be happy to slice it at any thickness you request. Here's a thick-sliced-bacon suggestion: next time you are having pork or beef (or preferably both) kebabs, add a few squares of thick-sliced bacon to the skewer. Truly sublime. My favourite traditional arrangement is onion-bacon-pepper-pork, onion-bacon-pepper-beef, repeat until you are nearly out of skewer and stick a cherry tomato on the end. Marinade in your favourite b-b-q sauce and you're good to go. Bonus points fo using quality cuts of meat and alternating green and red peppers.

By: PontifexPrimus

PontifexPrimus — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:10:56 -0800

loquacious: "bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon jonson bacon bacon jonson bacon jonson" MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!

@BitterOldPunk: I love that episode - like S10E18 "Corn the Beef" it's something I just have to try someday. I'm only an amateur cook, but some things are just too interesting not to try...

By: ninazer0

ninazer0 — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:48:56 -0800

Wow - serendipity. I just bought the book that inspired this blog. You're my hero, Jonson. Bacon ahoy!

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:37:15 -0800

Has anyone gotten the bacon salt? Was it yummy? I bought it from the website approximately four seconds after I saw the link -- the three flavor pack, as a birthday present for my roommate. (Side note about my roommate: he loves bacon. He loves bacon so much that a couple years back, I made him a bottle of Gentleman Ham's Fine Bacon-Infused Whisky.) Anyway, yeah. The bacon salt was quite a success. We've been sprinkling it on eggs, nachos, popcorn, everything that could use more bacony goodness (PROTIP: EVERYTHING ON THIS UNWORTHY PLANET COULD USE MORE BACONY GOODNESS). The best use I've found for it so far? Ordinarily, when I make a big batch of hummus, I use two teaspoons of salt. Last time, I used a teaspoon of regular salt... and a teaspoon of bacon salt. And oh, oh, the angels did sing.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:53:01 -0800

I think I love. You.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:55:43 -0800

Damn it, you need a smoker. I do not have access to a smoker. Love withdrawn. Bacon love remains.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:35:31 -0800

"mr_crash_davis - Yes, and yes. Which flavor(s)?" I like them all, but I think the hickory is the best.

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:32:41 -0800

To those of you lamenting the lack of a smoker, most meat shops will smoke stuff for you for a modest fee. As to the nitrite/nitrate usage, apparently you can substitute ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to keep the meat pink. Nitrites are the dangerous ones, they make carcinogenic nitrosamines when they hit your stomach acid. Sulfur will out compete amines, so you could just eat some onions with cured meat (not so strange for hotdogs, weird for bacon though). Though we were dirt poor when I was a kid growing up on a small farm (some years with adverse weather, we survived on $2000), we ate well. The back pantry had many bushels of potatoes, and rows of canned tomatoes, peppers, peaches, grape and cherry jam. The pump house had crocks of corned beef, sauerkraut and pickles. The freezer had the meat from several hogs and a steer (and fruit for pies). And the rafters hung with homemade bacon and ham, suspended from baling twine. Breakfast meat alternated between scraple, sausage and bacon. The old man would get a slab of bacon out of the fridge, skin still attached, and using a large butcher knife, cut perfect thick slices down to the skin, then slice along the bottom and detach them. Oh, and our smoker? Vertical, made out of two 55 gallon drums. The smoke was definitely cold though. We didn't have hickory, so we used prunings or dropped limbs from our fruit trees (apple, peach, cherry, plum). And as to the comment about bacon eaters not being able to move under their own power because of clogged arteries, my grandmother, who's farm it was, walked our long farm lane to the road several times a day and did 20 toe touches every night, till the day she died at 97.

By: bluesky43

bluesky43 — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:33:05 -0800

Maybe when our bacon-of-the-month subscription runs out, we'll start preparing our own artisan bacon. In truth, what possessed my husband to sign up was beyond me but the bacon has proven to be a huge hit with the 13 year old (boy whose shoe size has gone up three sizes in the last three months - is it the bacon?).

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:35:05 -0800

I am at this moment eating crispy, delicious bacon and for this I ~~curse~~ thank you jonson!

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:51:24 -0800

mmmmmm scrapple hey, 445supermag, did y'all have scrambled pork brains'n'eggs as a special breakfast every once in a while? That's a childhood memory that elicits a frisson of equal parts revulsion and delight. A week's supply of cholesterol in every delicious serving.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:02:03 -0800

bluesky, your boy is stuffing bacon into his socks

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:17:57 -0800

A wonderful, magical animal.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:13:26 -0800

What a great post!

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:16:20 -0800

hey, 445supermag, did y'all have scrambled pork brains'n'eggs as a special breakfast every once in a while? No, but my mother (pennsylvania dutch side of the family) did talk about them wistfully (she also enjoyed sweetbreads and tripe). Our pig's heads were made into bacon/salt pork (jowls), scrapple or head cheese (souse). Our store bought breakfast treats were salt mackrel and potatoes or creamed salt cod on toast (or potatoes), no doubt reflecting my father's Finnish and Estonian side. I remember my Finnish grandmother giving me coffee with breakfast when I was a toddler, but my mom put a stop to it, she thought it would stunt my growth.

By: slogger

slogger — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:49:36 -0800

TungstenChef: thanks for the link to eGullet. Great stuff. This post in particular is fantastic. Reminds me I need to read eGullet more often.

By: hindmost

hindmost — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:43:22 -0800

More people need this shirt. Including Aversion Therapy.

By: empyrean

empyrean — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:02:31 -0800

Maple bacon is the secret to my potato salad. Don't tell anyone.