Bacon

Raw streaky bacon

About bacon

Bacon is a cut of meat taken from the sides, belly, or back of a pig, then cured, smoked, or both. Bacon may be eaten fried, baked, or grilled, or used as an ingredient to flavor dishes. The word is derived from the Old High German bacho, meaning "back", "ham", or "bacon".

The in America, USDA defines bacon as "the cured belly of a swine carcass"; other cuts and characteristics must be separately qualified (e.g., "smoked pork loin bacon"). "USDA Certified" bacon means that it has been treated for trichinella.

In continental Europe, bacon is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient, valued both as a source of fat and for its flavour. In Italy, bacon is called pancetta and usually cooked in small cubes or served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto. Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game birds. Many people prefer to have bacon smoked using various types of woods or turf. This process can take up to ten hours depending on the intensity of the flavour desired.

Cure your own bacon, 'River Cottage Style'

Follow my simple steps to cure your own bacon. I have been smoking and curing bacon at home for 5 years now and never had a failure.

Cuts of bacon

The names of rashers or slices differ depending on where they are cut from:

• Streaky bacon comes from the belly of a pig. It is very fatty with long veins of fat running parallel to the rind. This is the most common form of bacon in the United States. Pancetta is Italian streaky bacon, smoked or aqua (unsmoked), with a strong flavor. It is generally rolled up into cylinders after curing.
• Back bacon comes from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig. It is a lean meaty cut of bacon, with relatively less fat compared to other cuts and has a ham-like texture and flavour. Most bacon consumed in the United Kingdom is back bacon. Also called Irish bacon or Canadian Bacon.
• Middle bacon is much like back bacon but is cheaper and somewhat fattier, with a richer flavor.
• Cottage bacon is thinly sliced lean pork meat from a shoulder cut that is typically oval shaped and meaty. It is cured and then sliced into round pieces for baking or frying.
• Jowl bacon is cured and smoked cheeks of pork

Bacon joints include the following:

• Collar bacon is taken from the back of a pig near the head.
• Hock, from the hog ankle joint between the ham and the foot.
• Gammon, from the hind leg, traditionally "Wiltshire cured".
• Picnic bacon is from the picnic cut, which includes the shoulder beneath the blade. It is fairly lean, but tougher than most pork cuts.

Cuts of pork

British cuts of pork

American cuts of pork

Various cuts of pork

The two images above outline the differences between British and the American cuts of pork. Not all cuts are shown, but those that are not should be self-evident.

• Pigs' head
• Ham hocks
• Spare ribs
• Belly of pork
• Pork tenderloin

Pork chops

A pork chop is a chop of pork. A cut of meat cut perpendicularly to the spine of the pig, and usually containing a rib or part of a vertebra and served as an individual portion.

Boiled bacon

Many cuts of bacon can be used for boiled bacon, gammon is probably the most common.

Viande de porc, marque nationale grand-duché de Luxembourg

Viande de porc a BGA pork from Luxembourg. The pigmeat in this case differs from other pork through its superior quality, ie a red colour, light marbling with fat, minimum fat and a total absence of PSE (pale, soft, exudative) meat. A light cover of fat is not only tolerated but even desirable. Exudative meat is detected by pH measurement (pH < 5.8 measured on each carcase after slaughter in the long dorsal muscle). The pork is marketed in the form of whole carcasses for butchers/pork butchers and retailed for end consumers.

The quality and specific character of the pork is essentially due to the nutrition and to rigorous control in slaughterhouses; these factors have led to an undeniably high reputation among consumers.

The product is obtained by a non-industrial method; there are 40 or so farmers/producers throughout the country. The origin of the pigs is not regulated and they are fattened for at least three months on the farm; the fattening ration contains at least 60% cereal, no more than 1.5% polyunsaturated fatty acids and no fishmeal. The density of pigs in the piggeries is controlled. At the slaughterhouse, the weight must lie within a defined weight scale, the pH measured in the long dorsal muscle must be over 5.8 and the percentage of lean meat must lie between 50 and 62%.

Reference: The European Commission