Squishy or Crispy

[Jstpssng]

I like mine just crisp and golden. I think the oven is the best way to get good bacon. 10 min at 350. But I usually don't want to put the oven on for bacon, specially for 1 lb in the summer.

You can do a surprisingly good job in the microwave... I would call it "el dente". although trying to do a pound at a time you need to do it in layers so it tends to come out greasy. I also used to make the best scrambled eggs you will ever have the same way, back when I was working out of motel rooms.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not flippy floppy but not so crisp it destroys the roof of your mouth and gets too salty.

 

[MossRoad]

I cook half squishy and half crispy and guess what??? Its all gone no matter who's sitting at the table! :licking:

 

[/pine]

Is there anything as different and still the same as bacon?? (food wise that is...)

The best thing about bacon is the aroma therapy it provides...along with the anticipation...!

Around here...what we call "market bacon" can be as thick as 1/4"...depending on where you buy it...

 

[MossRoad]

Is there anything as different and still the same as bacon?? (food wise that is...)

The best thing about bacon is the aroma therapy it provides...along with the anticipation...!

Around here...what we call "market bacon" can be as thick as 1/4"...depending on where you buy it...

Jeepers I'm hungry again! :laughing:

 

[boggen]

man... ya'all making me hungry for a.. bacon egg cheese mcmuffin with the bacon crispy, though just a little bit soft. to point it almost breaks apart when you just start to bite into it. then once teeth hit it, it breaks apart.

 

[LD1]

For me it all depends on how I plan on eating the bacon.

For a side with breakfast, I don't want it dry and too crunchy. But don't want to chew on it like jerkey either. There is a good in-between. Just a little crunch to it but still juicy.

If its going on a sandwich (burger, BLT, breakfast sandwich, etc) I cook it a little crisper. I don't want to have to fight with the rest of the sandwich to get bit through the bacon without pulling the whole thing out and then being left with a baconless sandwich

 

[PhysAssist]

For me it all depends on how I plan on eating the bacon.

For a side with breakfast, I don't want it dry and too crunchy. But don't want to chew on it like jerkey either. There is a good in-between. Just a little crunch to it but still juicy.

If its going on a sandwich (burger, BLT, breakfast sandwich, etc) I cook it a little crisper. I don't want to have to fight with the rest of the sandwich to get bit through the bacon without pulling the whole thing out and then being left with a baconless sandwich

Hey LD1,

While I think you got it just right (for my tastes too), I still have to say that I never really ever met a bacon I didn't like, as even so-called Canadian Bacon (actually lean ham) is good, though it is a faint pleasure vs real bacon.

The best bacon I have had recently was at a local restaurant called the Center Street Smokehouse, where is cooked in strips that end up being around. 3" wide by 1/2" thick, and then served on a hot skillet (like those used for fajitas) in a bourbon honey glaze. They also cut, smoke, and age it on the premises.

Thomas

 

[LD1]

I agree. Hard to call any bacon bad.

 

[check]

OK, I've had enough of this. I can't take it anymore! I have to head out now and get a BLT on the way home from the cottage.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I'll throw out a vote for softer bacon. Soft enough that you can fold it up to put it in a slice of toast or on a burger without it breaking. I find the flavour goes down proportionally with more cooking.

Like others have said though, no such thing as bad bacon!

 

[IslandTractor]

I'll throw out a vote for softer bacon. Soft enough that you can fold it up to put it in a slice of toast or on a burger without it breaking. I find the flavour goes down proportionally with more cooking.

Like others have said though, no such thing as bad bacon!

So, are you describing what we call "Canadian bacon" or strip bacon. What do Canadians call the round cut ham like "bacon" we refer to as Canadian bacon?? I recall that British bacon is more like "Canadian" bacon than what we are used to here below the 49th parallel so I wonder if Canadian=British bacon?

 

[Egon]

[video]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Bacon[/video]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Bacon

Got me real confused on Bacon nomenclature.

Back when on the farm Bacon was side cut brined and then smoked. All done right on the farm. Ham was from the shank. Also brined and smoked.

Usually smoked ham's, bacon and sausages together using willow wood. Surely would like to have some again.

 

[RSKY]

Anybody ever fry up any bacon you've cut from a slab yourself? I was probably sixteen or seventeen before I had 'store bought' bacon sliced on a machine. Same way with so called country ham. Mom would have a ham or a shoulder laying out on the counter in the kitchen. It might take a month or so for her to slice it all off and cook it. She only sliced enough to cook each meal. The only meat she ever bought was ground up hamburger.

And those were the good old days?

RSKY

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

So, are you describing what we call "Canadian bacon" or strip bacon. What do Canadians call the round cut ham like "bacon" we refer to as Canadian bacon?? I recall that British bacon is more like "Canadian" bacon than what we are used to here below the 49th parallel so I wonder if Canadian=British bacon?

Nope, I'm talking about regular strip bacon.

Strip bacon is just "bacon" up here. Canadian bacon as you describe the "ham-like" ones is accurate as long as it's also rolled and cured in corn meal. Most of the time up here it is called back bacon but the package in my fridge says "cured pork loin". Occasionally (like at a bacon-on-a-bun booth at a fall fair) back bacon will be the British cut which is actually a combination of the 2 styles.

Pic here:
https://willssunnysideblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/baconguide.jpg

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Correction to myself: what you Southerners refer to as "Canadian bacon" is usually called peameal bacon up here. I knew something didn't sit right with what I'd said yesterday.

 

[IslandTractor]

Correction to myself: what you Southerners refer to as "Canadian bacon" is usually called peameal bacon up here. I knew something didn't sit right with what I'd said yesterday.

I don't recall ever seeing "Canadian Bacon" being involved with cornmeal or any other coating. I always think of it as something that is cured and suspiciously shaped to fit exactly on an egg McMuffin. No crispiness at all. More like the ham in a ham sandwich.

I found the following on the internet so it must be true: "The biggest difference between American Canadian bacon and Canadian Canadian bacon is a matter of smoking. Both bacons are cured, but the American kind also is smoked, which gives it a flavor closer to what we normally call ham. " And: " Canadian bacon is more like ham than the streaky cured and smoked strips of bacon that most of us are used to. American bacon comes from the fatty belly of the pig while Canadian bacon is typically cut from the loin. "

The British bacon is apparently "Back bacon is a traditional British cut of typically unsmoked bacon sliced to include both the pork loin from the back and a bit of pork belly in the same cut."

So, the cut of meat is different and while US, "Canadian" and British bacons are all cured, only US bacon is also smoked.

 

[IslandTractor]

And, while we are talking about the pleasures of fried pig parts, anyone who loves bacon that has never had a fresh cooked "chicharrone" hasn't lived. They are available in central American restaurants. I was first introduced to them in Medellin Colombia and this is the technique used to cook pork belly there: The Nasty Bits: How to Make Chicharrones | Serious Eats

 

[AaronS]

I like mine somewhere in the middle. I grill our bacon on our Holland grill to keep the smoke and smell outside. Turns out great.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The Tomatoes are just outstanding this year. Perfect fit with bacon! But how many of these things does a guy want to eat?