Dear Eric: Could you please tell me why it is we cannot get lean bacon? Now, bacon rashers are mostly fat, with a little bit of meat in between. I search the supermarket shelves for less fatty bacon, but it is hard to find.
Sandra
As I’ve written in previous articles, in an effort to make pork “the other white meat,” over the years, hogs in Canada have been bred to yield leaner meat. According to the Canadian Pork Council (cpc-ccp.com), most fresh pork cuts, when trimmed of visible fat, now qualify as lean meat under Health Canada guidelines.
One exception is pork belly, the lower side of the animal where pork side ribs, also called spare ribs, come from. Once the ribs are removed from the belly and it’s trimmed, you have boneless pork belly, which is used to make side bacon.
Because of where the belly is, it is naturally a cut that is layered — streaked — with both meat and fat. That’s why side bacon, which is most often brined (marinated in a salt solution) and smoked, is also known as streaky bacon.
According to The New Food Lover’s Companion, the fat gives side bacon its sweet flavour and tender crispness, and the book says its proportion should ideally be one-half to two-thirds of the total weight.
No two pork bellies are exactly the same. And that fact is reflected in the types of side bacon you can buy in food stores.
“Hogs all grow differently, just like people grow differently. The hog genetics [breeds] make a difference as well,” said Ron Caldwell, general manager of Hertel Meats in Port Alberni.
At Hertel, Caldwell said, they try their best to select the leanest pork bellies possible.
“Even then, some fattier bellies may go into the packages,” Caldwell said, because, as noted, no two bellies are exactly the same.
Caldwell said meat-processing plants have to do something with the bellies they’ve purchased, including the fattier ones. So some of them may choose to make a
No. 1, No. 2 and, perhaps, also a third-grade product, with the latter having the most fat.
“The bacon-processing plant may put the fattier bacon into the packages, but they will reduce the price to the retailer and then to the consumer,” Caldwell said.
I’ve wondered about that, because when I buy a more budget-friendly brand of bacon, it always seems to be fattier. That was certainly the case with the Schneider’s brand country maple bacon I recently bought that you see in today’s photo. It was cheaper than other types, but had much more fat.
Another thing I’ve noticed about more budget-friendly types of side bacon is that they are cleverly packaged in a way that does not give you a clear view of the bacon inside.
Beyond often being fattier, some less costly types of side bacon are also brined in a way that causes the bacon to retain excess water, which in turn bumps up the weight.
When you cook the bacon, if it leaks a milky/watery liquid into the pan and does not crisp up properly, that’s a sign it has retained a lot of excess water.
I guess what I’m saying is, when it comes to getting good side bacon that’s meatier, but still contains the right amount of fat to make the bacon taste divine once cooked, you have to be willing to spend more money on it and shop around. These types of bacon are most often sold in clearer, you-can-see-what’s-inside packages, or are sold in bulk from a butcher’s case.
My four favourite types of side bacon sold in Victoria, which are shown in today’s photo, include those produced by Hertel Meats (hertelmeats.ca), Red Barn Market (redbarnmarket.ca), Harvest Meats (harvestmeats.ca) and the Whole Beast (thewholebeast.ca).
Sandra, why not cook some of each type, do a taste test and see which one you prefer?
Bacon Ranch Dressing
A bacon-rich dressing that you can use as a dip for raw vegetables or to dress five ounces or so of baby salad greens or baby spinach, or a head of chopped romaine or head lettuce. If using this dressing as a dip, save a bit of the crisply cooked bacon cubes to decorate the top.
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: about five minutes
Makes: About one cup
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 green onion, thinly sliced
3 strips bacon, cut into small cubes, cooked crispy, drained well and cooled
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine the mayonnaise, buttermilk, sugar and vinegar
in a small to medium bowl. Stir in the bacon, green onion, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate dressing until needed.
Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
