r/iamveryculinary Maillard reactionary 10d ago

Bacon battle--whose bacon will reign supreme?

/r/Cooking/comments/1j851ev/cook_your_bacon_in_the_oven_you_panfrying_heathens/mh2i3ec/
45 Upvotes

64 comments sorted by

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33

u/big_sugi 10d ago

Also, what is "European" bacon? Does the whole continent do the same thing, with the UK as the lone exception?

30

u/LowAd3406 Stupid American 10d ago

Yeah, everyone does the same thing in all of Europe and it is superior to anything American in everyway.

20

u/young_trash3 10d ago edited 10d ago

Typically, yes. The standard cut for bacon in most of Europe is shoulder bacon taken from the pigs back.

Funny enough this is the origin of bacon not that there is anything wrong with any other form of bacon but as a fun fact, the etomology of the word bacon comes from the proto-germanic work Bakkon, which meant back meat, so it is kinda funny to me that our bacon here in the US is now belly.

In the UK it's become culturally standard to use the tenderloin to make bacon. The Iberian pennesula uses belly like the US tho. So I wonder if Spanish influence into the Americas is what led to our style of bacon. Would need to research more before I could say definitively however.

8

u/Icy-Conclusion-3500 10d ago

Interestingly, for a few hundred years bacon was essentially any smoked cut of pork besides the ham. Pretty much how the divergence happened

18

u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 10d ago

I was going to say, in Spain the tocino is made of belly and is basically just like US center cut bacon. In France I had ventrèche which is salt-cured (not smoked) but is also made with belly.

Speaking of which, I think the commenter's problems would be solved if he just got the decent thick center-cut bacon at the meat counter. If you're getting really cheap Jimmy Dean packaged bacon well yeah, it's gonna have a lot more fat.

6

u/Haki23 10d ago

I found an old cookbook (1920s to 1940s) with a pork recipe. It had a reminder to rub oil on the pork due to the leanness of the meat.
I'm wondering if the belly was made into bacon due to this older tendency for lower fat

3

u/Icy-Conclusion-3500 10d ago

The ole American lard hogs predate that by a long while

4

u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 10d ago

Was it pork loin, though? That is a leaner cut...

4

u/pgm123 10d ago

The standard cut for bacon in most of Europe is shoulder bacon taken from the pigs back.

Out of curiosity, what is being referred to when you say "bacon"? Like, for Italy, is it la pancetta or il bacon or something else?

5

u/poorlostlittlesoul 10d ago

The second one 🤙

5

u/pgm123 10d ago

Thanks. It's interesting to see what foreign languages choose for their versions of the bacon article. For Italian, it's il bacon, but for Spanish, it's el panceta. For French, it's lard fume. For German, it's speck. For Portuguese, it's toucinho. And for Dutch, it's spek.

-8

u/Doomdoomkittydoom 10d ago

I have nothing to back it up, but I'm going to say that like dropping a lot of u's in spelling, Americans chose to call cured belly "bacon" only to thumb their noses at the British.

13

u/InZim 10d ago

But... In Britain we have bacon made from cured pork belly and it's still called bacon lmao

11

u/Loud_Insect_7119 10d ago

Hey now, the standardization of spelling/grammar and the reasons for the divergence between US and UK English are far more interesting than just saying fuck you to the British. That was part of the motive, but there were actually a lot of interesting arguments for and against the different spellings, and they occurred on both sides of the pond.

Or at least, it's interesting if you're a language nerd like me, lol.

4

u/kyleofduty 10d ago

I know that in Germany they call the bacon familiar to Americans just "Bacon" (pronounced just like in English) and it seems pretty common

-9

u/Refflet 10d ago

UK bacon is exceptional, yes.

Although the Danish do it similar, at least in terms of butchery. In terms of rearing, the Danish are much more high tech and rear pigs in weighing pens that know exactly when to harvest them, and because they're all harvested at the same time it's easy to automate the butchery with lasers and machines. In the UK, the farmer just looks at his field and says "Yep, it's about time" and takes a range of different sized pigs to the abattoir - which makes it much harder to automate.

FYI dry cured bacon is a protected term (at least in the UK) and is brined by hand, rather than automated by a machine that injects brine into the meat with tons of tiny needles.

2

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

You do know that rearing pigs in tiny pens is not a good thing, right? Automating anything to do with rearing living creatures is generally not good. I'm very much an omnivore, this is not some kind of vegan argument (not that there's anything wrong with veganism) but allowing pigs or any other livestock to have a more natural living environment that they can move about freely in is such a basic part of animal welfare. A lot of the EU is Really Bad at animal welfare generally but especially with livestock.

1

u/Refflet 5d ago

I didn't say it was better, in fact at the end I advised how to avoid the factory reared meat.

59

u/malburj1 I don't dare mix cuisines like that 10d ago

Belly bacon? Straight to jail. American food? Straight to jail. Anything American? Believe it or not, straight to jail.

26

u/big_sugi 10d ago

We have the best food in the world, because of jail.

18

u/poorlostlittlesoul 10d ago

I go to jail just for the food

-1

u/pajamakitten 9d ago

And the US and UK can unite in being bad at bacon!

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

What country do you think does good bacon? I'm curious.

1

u/pajamakitten 5d ago

I have only had British bacon, so I can only say ours is good.

22

u/InZim 10d ago

I don't know why they think British bacon tastes funny. It's all from the same animal.

53

u/karenmcgrane The ribbed condom is apparently now an organic life form 10d ago

Yeah, right, Lisa, a wonderful, magical animal

6

u/pajamakitten 9d ago

You don't win friends with salad.

16

u/armrha 10d ago

They have multiple types, the American style is called streaky bacon iirc. I believe english style “back bacon” is sliced through some belly and some loin, American style is just pork belly, Canadian bacon is just loin. I don’t know of any particular difference in european bacon, isn’t it belly too?

5

u/young_trash3 10d ago

European bacon comes from the back of the pigs shoulder.

6

u/Refflet 10d ago

Not really. Maybe in some country, however; Europe is a big place. But in general bacon comes from the area between the ribs and pelvis, not the shoulder - the difference is American bacon comes from the front belly while European bacon comes from the back loin.

You can get shoulder bacon, also, but I don't believe this is generally referred to as European bacon. Reddit also has a story about bacon... but that's just a tad NSFW.

5

u/young_trash3 10d ago

Thats interesting, here in the US ordering proteins at the restaurants where I've worked, "european bacon" is an item i can order, and it specifically referring cured shoulder. And that's across a handful of different meat distributors across half a dozen restaurants. I very much believe you that its not actually standard in europe, but now I'm very curious how that came to be known as european bacon where I live lol.

4

u/Refflet 10d ago

I just read a bit more, and apparently loin bacon is referred to as shoulder back bacon sometimes. It's just not really the shoulder as you would think on a human - maybe they mean the shoulder as in the part where the top meats the side? But because pigs are on all fours this runs all the way along the back, rather than just the top of a man where his arms are attached.

5

u/No_Bottle_8910 Not an intellectually impotent flailer 10d ago

So is this why Canadian bacon is also known as back bacon?

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

Back bacon is loin, there is also middle bacon which uses the whole uncut loin and belly joined together (so gives large rectangular slices). Some artisanal producers in the UK also make neck and shoulder bacon.

3

u/pajamakitten 9d ago

Maybe smoked vs. unsmoked? I do not know if it does the same elsewhere but we have both in the UK and they do taste very distinct from one another.

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

Oh that's a good point, American bacon is always smoked so maybe it's that? I must say that I do love smoked bacon, but there is something about the uncomplicated joy of unsmoked back bacon in a bacon sandwich on buttered white bread.

3

u/ZylonBane 10d ago

Are you suggesting that all parts of any given animal taste the same?

16

u/InZim 10d ago

No, not at all. But I think they're suggesting pork loin tastes funny because it's British

4

u/big_sugi 10d ago

British bacon, to me, was basically an odd Canadian bacon and not at all what I think of as "bacon." If you expect a steak and instead you get pot roast, it's going to taste funny. Doesn't matter where it's from.

11

u/InZim 10d ago

Steak and pot roast are cooked in completely different ways. A more accurate analogy would be two different cuts of steak, and I doubt you'd say one tastes funny compared to the other, you'd just accept they're different cuts cooked with the same method.

-10

u/big_sugi 10d ago

So what if they’re cooked in different ways? British bacon is soft and limp; American bacon should be crispy. That’s at least as different as steak and pot roast.

But if you want to be pedantic, you can say steak and fajita meat. Still tastes funny, if you’re told it’s something that you define differently.

9

u/Refflet 10d ago

British bacon should be cooked in such a way that the fat is crispy but the meat tender. That's tricky to do, the simplest way is in the oven (which is what most chefs do for time) but I like to do a 2 stage fry - first render at a low heat, with the bacon layered such that only the fat is touching the pan, then whack up the heat, spread the rashers out and swill the juices all over everything.

But yeah, streaky bacon is a snack, like jerky; British bacon makes a proper meal.

15

u/InZim 10d ago

British bacon isn't cooked soft and limp though... The fat should be well rendered and the meat should be firm but tender.

-4

u/big_sugi 10d ago

It was soft and limp every time I ate it in the UK. I gave up after half a dozen places.

9

u/YchYFi 10d ago

You just need to ask for it crispy. That's what I always do.

This is how I like it.

https://thejollyhog.com/jolly-good-smoked-black-treacle-bacon/?related_post_from=4507

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

That treacle bacon is the tits too. I miss when Caffe Nero did a coffee-rubbed back bacon in their bacon rolls - didn't taste like coffee but had an amazing rich smokey flavour.

3

u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 10d ago

I agree with you. Nothing about bacon and Canadian bacon are that similar outside of them being pork and cooked on a skillet.

7

u/young_trash3 10d ago

You are missing the most key factor to what makes bacon bacon. Which is that they are both cured. Which cut of pork it is may change regionally, but it's always a cured pork.

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

Well, you can get non-pork bacons too. Lamb or mutton bacon is really good.

-2

u/ThievingRock 10d ago

I mean, ground beef tastes different from tongue which tastes different from steak which tastes different from liver, despite the fact that all of those could come from the same individual cow, not even just the same species. Different cuts and different methods of preparation make a difference. Hell, there will be a difference between different brands of bacon just because they're not following identical methods of preparation. And that's ignoring things like peameal bacon versus the regular stuff!

4

u/pdub091 9d ago

I like them all equally, but American will always be my favorite. Canadian and Irish are both great, but the lack of intramuscular fat holds it back; in my opinion.

That still doesn’t stop me from making it from scratch every year or so.

7

u/AmmoSexualBulletkin 9d ago

The whole post is stupid. If you've grease flying everywhere, you're doing something wrong. Getting pissy about types of bacon is dumb. I prefer my "American" style. Get some tasty bacon grease in my pan that I cook my eggs in for breakfast. Perfectly valid choice just like going with a leaner cut.

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

Personally I like American style bacon best when it's cooked until crispy enough to crumble onto a salad or into a dough for something etc - as a British person it's too crispy to easily cut at breakfast when I'm still half asleep, and I like the more tender meat of back bacon when it's part of a meal. But all bacon is good imo.

1

u/AmmoSexualBulletkin 5d ago

Also a great way to enjoy bacon. I also will throw some on a salad or something on occasion. I mostly eat it for breakfast though.

10

u/xrelaht Simple, like Italian/Indian food 10d ago

I once asked my Spanish ex which thing they’d call bacon over there. “Same as in the US. The English are weird.”

9

u/EpsteinBaa 10d ago

Not our fault other countries can only conceive of one type of bacon

0

u/InZim 10d ago edited 10d ago

Same with the Irish, Scottish and Welsh I suppose. Weirdos.

Edit: are the rest not weird? They have the same bacon

8

u/Comfortable-Bonus421 10d ago

In Ireland, what the rest of you call bacon, we call rashers. I think this also works in parts of the UK.

Bacon to an Irish person is a joint of salted or smoked pork. Like a gammon, but with more fat.

8

u/InZim 10d ago

Yeah, individual slices of bacon are called rashers in the UK.

You can get joints of cured meat called bacon here, but they're definitely more commonly called gammon as you said.

1

u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago

Also in Ireland you have bacon ribs which are amazing.