The Bacon Wave

[pacanis]

I agree, but you should know I make a great maple walnut ice cream.

I stand corrected. Maple walnut ice cream is the exception!

 

[FrankZ]

I am with you there. I hate maple flavored bacon.

I do have to admit I like maple smoked bacon. though I do prefer, as usual, hickory.

The best bacon I ever tasted was organic. How was it better? It just tasted like bacon, but more so, and didn't have those chemical tastes that we don't usually notice. I bought organic bacon again and it was just good, not spectacular like that first package (different brand, I think).

Any uncured bacon should be free of the chemicals (sodium nitrite), organic or no. "Organic" bacon would have to be uncured.

 

[pacanis]

I do have to admit I like maple smoked bacon. though I do prefer, as usual, hickory.



Any uncured bacon should be free of the chemicals (sodium nitrite), organic or no. "Organic" bacon would have to be uncured.

Does organic mean uncured or the way the pigs were raised? I took it to mean the pigs had no growth hormones and were raised in more of a natural setting, perhaps left to forage. If it's uncured it's just pork belly, isn't it?

 

[taxlady]

Does organic mean uncured or the way the pigs were raised? I took it to mean the pigs had no growth hormones and were raised in more of a natural setting, perhaps left to forage. If it's uncured it's just pork belly, isn't it?

Yes, it means how the pigs were raised as well as how the bacon was cured. It was cured with just salt. It was frozen.

 

[Andy M.]

Yes, it means how the pigs were raised as well as how the bacon was cured. It was cured with just salt. It was frozen.

But salt is not organic, it's a mineral.

 

[pacanis]

Yes, it means how the pigs were raised as well as how the bacon was cured. It was cured with just salt. It was frozen.

Thanks. I thought it was still cured, otherwise it isn't really bacon, just smoked pork belly.

 

[taxlady]

But salt is not organic, it's a mineral.

No, it's not organic and DDT is. But salt is allowed in "organic food" and DDT isn't.

We just don't have a good term for what we mean when we say food is organic. In Quebec, in French it's "biologique", in Denmark it's "økologisk" (ecological). Unfortunately the term "natural" has been abused.

 

[Andy M.]

...Unfortunately the term "natural" has been abused.

It was the wrong term from the beginning. It's much too broad in meaning to be of any use. That's what happens when advertising executives choose 'technical' terms.

 

[FrankZ]

Does organic mean uncured or the way the pigs were raised? I took it to mean the pigs had no growth hormones and were raised in more of a natural setting, perhaps left to forage. If it's uncured it's just pork belly, isn't it?

Yes, it means how the pigs were raised as well as how the bacon was cured. It was cured with just salt. It was frozen.

How can anything billed as "organic" contain things that aren't? Sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate, are not organic. Salts, as mentioned, are not organic. I also thought the purpose of "organic" food was no preservatives, which NaNO2 and NaNO3 both are, and they also pretty nasty if you miss and add too much.

This is why I think they need to change the word. It is misleading and all about trickery and marketing.

 

[taxlady]

How can anything billed as "organic" contain things that aren't? Sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate, are not organic. Salts, as mentioned, are not organic. I also thought the purpose of "organic" food was no preservatives, which NaNO2 and NaNO3 both are, and they also pretty nasty if you miss and add too much.

This is why I think they need to change the word. It is misleading and all about trickery and marketing.

When I wrote that there was only salt, I meant NaCl, not nitrites or nitrates. I think there may have been vinegar.

You may not approve of the term "organic" as currently applied to food, but it does have rules. I don't like the term, myself.

 

[pacanis]

How can anything billed as "organic" contain things that aren't? Sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate, are not organic. Salts, as mentioned, are not organic. I also thought the purpose of "organic" food was no preservatives, which NaNO2 and NaNO3 both are, and they also pretty nasty if you miss and add too much.

This is why I think they need to change the word. It is misleading and all about trickery and marketing.

I wouldn't know. That's why I asked.

 

[Raspberrymocha55]

I get my med thick bacon from a butcher, as we buy a whole hog twice a year. Great bacon. Don't like their salt cured ham, so I get fresh hams and have hams made into cutlets. I am salt sensitive. But, darned if I'll ruin the taste by rinsing anything. I just put up my feet and take my diuretics like a good girl. As for bacon, deep fried crispy is my favorite, but will eat it in any manner as long as it doesn't oink!!

 

[Aunt Bea]

I was just reading an article about making chicken fried bacon!

Thick cut bacon floured, dipped in an egg wash then in a crumb coating and fried in oil. I would have never thought of doing that.

When we were kids my Grandmother did dredge very fatty bacon in flour to prevent shrinkage, never actually used a coating though.

Might be nice on a cold winter night with some cream gravy, a baked potato and a couple of bakechef's Bakewell Cream biscuits to sop up the gravy!

 

[Raspberrymocha55]

I am drooling g already. Must try this. The idea of making a nice white peppered milk/cream gravy and biscuits! Wow! Heart attack in the making, but I'd die happy!!!

 

[joesfolk]

Man you guys really dredged up the memories for me. My Dad used to cook bacon with a little sugar sprinkled on it. I loved it. But when I made some once for my ex- hubby he said I ruined it. To each his own. Must warn you though, if you decide to try this it burns very easily.

 

[Addie]

Man you guys really dredged up the memories for me. My Dad used to cook bacon with a little sugar sprinkled on it. I loved it. But when I made some once for my ex- hubby he said I ruined it. To each his own. Must warn you though, if you decide to try this it burns very easily.

At what point of the cooking do you add the sugar? Spike can sit and eat a pound of bacon at one sitting. And he doesn't care how it is cooked. But he is always open to new ideas.

Aunt Bea, I definitely will have to show him your post. But I will have to find a protective screen for my monitor. He will be drooling all over it when reading it.

 

[CarolPa]

I want my bacon crisp like potato chips. And don't be adding any sweet flavours to it.

I think I could very easily handle chocolate covered bacon. I mean, if they put bacon in cup cakes, why not dip it in chocolate?

 

[Addie]

I think I could very easily handle chocolate covered bacon. I mean, if they put bacon in cup cakes, why not dip it in chocolate?

I just made a large jar of chocolate syrup for Spike to use on his nightly bowl of ice cream. I will have to tell him about dipping or covering the bacon also. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[taxlady]

I think I could very easily handle chocolate covered bacon. I mean, if they put bacon in cup cakes, why not dip it in chocolate?

I once tried a chocolate chip cookie with bacon at a party. It wasn't awful, but I thought it was a waste of good bacon and of good chocolate chip cookies.

 

[joesfolk]

At what point of the cooking do you add the sugar? Spike can sit and eat a pound of bacon at one sitting. And he doesn't care how it is cooked. But he is always open to new ideas.

Aunt Bea, I definitely will have to show him your post. But I will have to find a protective screen for my monitor. He will be drooling all over it when reading it.

I guess it depends on how well done you like your bacon. I like mine crisp so I cook the bacon at least half way before adding the sugar. But like I said watch it carefully because it can burn very easily