Bacon!
|
|
A side of unsliced bacon is a flitch or slab bacon. An individual slice of bacon is a rasher (UK, Ireland and Australia), or a slice (North America). Traditionally the skin is left on the cut and is known as bacon rind. Rindless bacon, however, is quite common.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland bacon comes in a wide variety of cuts and flavours whilst bacon in North America is predominantly what is known as "streaky bacon", or "streaky rashers" in the UK and Ireland. Bacon made from the meat on the back of the pig is referred to as back rashers, and is part of a traditional Irish breakfast.
In recent years, in North America, pre-cooked bacon, which can be heated in the microwave for a few seconds and then eaten, has become a popular alternative to traditional bacon.
Bacon Curing and smoking
Curing means preserving with salt. The traditional dry-cure process involves taking the meat and rubbing it, over a number of days, with dry salt or a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. Bacon is then left to hang for up to 2 weeks in order for the moisture to be drawn out. Bacon is then left to cure in a cool, dry, airy environment for anything up to 9 months. Less time is needed if Bacon is going to be smoked.The alternative wet-cure process, which produces Wiltshire bacon, involves immersing the meat in brine for two to three days. Sweetcure bacon is produced by adding sugar to the brine. Honey-cured bacon has added honey, and maple cure bacon has added maple syrup. The meat is then left to hang for approximately 2 weeks until Bacon is cured.
Modern mass produced bacon uses the wet-cure process but also involves pumping additional water, sodium nitrite and phosphates directly into the flesh to speed up the process and add bulk; however, this is directly at the expense of flavour. Mass produced bacon is held for curing for 6 to 24 hours before being cooked. Bacon is often regarded as inferior, and can exude unappealing white liquid during frying.
smoking is used to impart more flavour into the bacon and also to speed up the curing process. Unsmoked bacon is sometimes known as green bacon. Smoked bacon is traditionally produced by allowing the cured meat to hang in a room over a bed of smoking wood chips. Using different varieties of wood, such as apple, beech, cherry, hickory, or oak, gives the cured bacon different flavours. Cold smoking involves leaving the meat at a low temperature fire for anything up to 2-3 weeks. Hot smoking involves using a much higher temperature where the meat is partially cooked over a few days.
Mass produced bacon is cooked in large convection ovens. The ovens can either be of the "batch" or "continuous" variety. In a batch oven, the bacon is cooked and smoked in the same cabinet. In a continuous oven, bacon hung on a monorail system is moved from a cooking cabinet to a smoking cabinet by an overhead chain. Smoke flavour is imparted to the bacon either using natural smoke obtained by burning wood chips, or by spraying the bacon with a liquid smoke extract. Mass production cooking is much quicker than traditional smoking due to the use of convective heat transfer and can be completed in as little as 6 hours.
After cooking and smoking, the bacon is chilled before being pressed and sliced. In mass production, bacon is chilled to under 40'F in less than six hours after cooking in order to prevent bacterial growth and promote product shelf-life.
Cuts of bacon
Most bacon consumed in the United Kingdom is back bacon, also called short back bacon. The cut comes from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig. Bacon is a lean meaty cut of bacon, with relatively less fat compared to other cuts. Middle bacon is much like back bacon but is cheaper and somewhat fattier. Collar bacon is taken from the back of a pig near the head. Streaky bacon, the most common form of bacon in the United States, comes from the belly of a pig. Bacon is very fatty with long veins of fat running parallel to the rind. Pancetta is Italian streaky bacon, smoked or green (unsmoked), with a strong flavour.Gammon is Wiltshire cured bacon rolled into a joint. Bacon is often boiled or baked. Boiled bacon and cabbage a traditional Irish recipe uses a gammon joint. Rashers of bacon are a main constituent of the traditional Irish breakfast, along with sausages.
Although Britain has a large pork and bacon industry, much of the bacon consumed in Britain is produced in Denmark, and marketed as Danish bacon (the word "Danish" is stamped on the rind). In 1999 the Conservative Party leader at the time, William Hague, called for a ban on Danish bacon. He claimed that Britain's strict animal welfare regulations meant that British pig farmers could not compete with Danish producers who use a sow stall system.
Back Bacon or Canadian Bacon
Back bacon is known as "Canadian bacon" in the United States but not in Canada, where Bacon is simply called back bacon, or peameal bacon. In Canada, "Canadian bacon" is traditionally unsmoked back bacon that has been sweet pickle-cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. This variation is also known as peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yellow peas was used for coating to improve curing and shelf-life. The "Canadian" bacon sold in the United States is plain lean back bacon.Cooking with bacon
The classic use of bacon is of being fried for the full English breakfast or similar dishes. The heat melts some of the fat from white parts of the rasher, which therefore shrinks and curls somewhat. This reduces contact with the pan, so the cook has to be present to frequently press the rashers against the pan and move them around. This problem is more apparent with back bacon rashers, which have their white meat round the edge. This then curls upwards away from the heat of the pan. To overcome this problem, the rashers can be placed into ice cold water for a couple of minutes, drained and dried before cooking.For the bacon to be browned and crispy rather than chewy, cooks can flip back bacon rashers as they curl away from the heat. Alternatively, one can hold the rashers down using handled iron weights called bacon crispers.
Frying in oil alone will do the job, but browning can be accelerated by using half oil and half butter. The butter browns and adds colour and flavour.
Grilling has none of these problems, as the heat does not come from surface contact. In fact, the white edges of back bacon curl toward the overhead flame, and fat drips off the rasher, thereby increasing the crispiness.
Fat has pros and cons: on one hand some people want to limit their fat intake to avoid weight gain. Health-conscious diners can simply pour away the surplus melted fat, and/or mop Bacon off rashers with paper towels. On the other hand, much of the flavour comes from the fat and its caramelisation. Fresh mushrooms are very absorbent, and soak up melted bacon fat flavour that would otherwise be lost. Sliced mushrooms have more area to help absorption and cooking. Tinned mushrooms are inferior, as they are already saturated with weak brine. Bread may be fried in the bacon fat; black pudding is another absorbent and high-calorie accompaniment.
Bacon is often used with low-fat meats such as turkey or game birds. A rasher or two of bacon can be placed over a roasting bird, and the melting bacon fat helps baste the bird without human assistance. Note the rasher will leave a relatively pale stripe underneath it, so Bacon can be tucked under the skin of the bird. Small birds such as quail can be well wrapped in a single rasher.
Bacon rashers are often added to hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Bacon works well with bison burgers, especially if the bison burger is fried in the bacon grease. This helps in keeping the burger from getting too dry and adds a complementary flavour to the meat. They are also popular in sandwiches; a sandwich with bacon, lettuce and tomato is popularly called a BLT, while hot bacon in bread or a roll (often served with brown sauce or tomato ketchup) is often called a bacon butty.
Bacon "Bringing Home the Bacon"
The phrase "bringing home the bacon" comes from the twelfth century, in the English town of Dunmow. The local church promised any man who could swear before God and the congregation that he had not fought with his wife for a year and a day would be given a 'flitch' (side of bacon). Men who "brought home the bacon" were held within high esteem in their communities.The phrase remains in common usage in popular media (see, for example, the 2 Live Crew song "2 Live Blues" from the As Nasty As They Wanna Be album).
