BACON

[Shallot Man]

Thought I would do myself a bacon sarnie,[ the Memsahib was out ] whilst cooking and looking at all the salt water evaporating, I wondered on how much salt water the public buy each year. I mean, should salt water be allowed in bacon.

[peter]

Buy better bacon!

Dry cure doesn't leak.

[Shallot Man]

[quote][/quote] Will you be telling the Memsahib !

[alan refail]

I agree with Peter. Cheap bacon is a false economy; it may look cheap, but how much is salt water really worth?
I only buy dry cured which is produced up the road from here. It may be expensive, but is is not only the best tasting bacon ever, but 100% bacon.

http://www.glasfryn.co.uk/glasfryn-farm-shop/

[Geoff]

Lidl dry cure is good stuff.

[Shallot Man]

Geoff. Will give it a try.

[Johnboy]

You still need salt to produce dry cured bacon but not brine.
JB.

[dan3008]

Nothing to do with the quality of bacon, but still about bacon...

The Bacon Candle DIY

[Westi]

Eeek Dan Numbers!

I do love bacon, love the smell of it cooking, but a bacon candle is a step to far! I could imagine the candle going rancid as well if using real bacon fat.

Shall we go back to bacon butties, toasted bacon sarnies, the BLT, spaghetti carbonara?

Westi

[dan3008]

You'd be surprised, once its bound to the wax, the fat is amazingly stable... But yeh, id be dubious...

Best bacon food I've had recently was eggybread with diced bacon... Or my home made bacon bread mmm. Nommy

[Motherwoman]

Back to the original question, I think the public buys a lot of water in meat products, and they don't have to tell you about it on the pack. Supermarkets age their meat in plastic bags (unlike proper meat aging where it's hung without plastic) to retain moisture in the meat which should be allowed to air out. Keeps the weight higher when sold.

[robo]

Suppliers are allowed to pump cooked meats with up to 25% of water, that's why when you buy boiled ham it's never dry it's always wet and shinny same with bacon ,I think it's disgusting about and not needed

[Motherwoman]

My local butcher never uses cling film, polystyrene trays or any other 'wrapping' until he sells it to you. I once bought a chicken from another butcher, it was wrapped in clingfilm and when I removed it at home it stank to high heaven... it went back. At Christmas he hangs sides of beef in his shop (no heating and an air grill over the doorway) complete with rosettes! Great to see but none of his family want to take it over and he is getting close to retirement, I fear we will lose the shop.

[Primrose]

Mothwoman . To lose your traditional butcher would be a tragedy. You'd better get working on him now helping him to find a suitable buyer to keep the tradition on. We had two traditional butchers in our village u til a few years ago. We only have one now which has changed hands three times and with every change of owner it has become more like a supermarket butcher. For some reason the current owners think nobody wants to buy cheap but tasty cuts of meat these days. Perhaps they're right from a sales point of view Very few people seem to know how to cook them which is really sad.

[Pa Snip]

Primrose

I noticed one had gone when I drove down the High Street last week, I was going to stop for some of his South African sausages.