Favorite Bacon Brand – and Must to Avoid

[weinoo]

I'm a big fan of Neuske's, and I also happen to like Niman Ranch's various bacons as well as Benton's. But I recently split a few pounds of Broadbent's bacon, and it doesn't move me - it's very salty (I know, I know, all bacon is salty but this stuff is over the top) and it cooks up almost too crisp for my liking.

What's your favorite bacon and what brands do you avoid?

Edited January 21, 2014 by weinoo (log)

[btbyrd]

My favorite all around bacon is probably Beeler's. It strikes a perfect balance between smoke, salt, and sugar flavors and cooks up well without much fuss. I prefer it to Niman Ranch's bacon, but I can't find it in my area (I moved recently). Niman's is my current go-to bacon and it's excellent but the slices are a little thinner than Beeler's and it isn't as sweet tasting. Benton's bacon is amazing, but it's more of a special purpose bacon than an everyday bacon. The salt content is pretty high and because of the dry cure I find that it's less forgiving when it comes to cook times. A minute or two too long in the over and Benton's turns into salty shoe leather. But cooked properly, it's fantastic on a BLT or cut into lardons to garnish other dishes. So much smoke flavor, you can smell it through the packaging -- and the box it arrives in! Plus it makes your house smell like a porky campfire when you cook it (a good thing).

[Twyst]

I find Benton's much too salty for my tastes. I like it cooked in dishes, but as far as just eating a slice of bacon I think it's just too much.

My bacon tastes are pretty pedestrian as I'm happy as can be with regular Wright's bacon from just about any grocery store.

[FrogPrincesse]

I like Niman Ranch's as well (they used to sell it at Trader Joe's, but I haven't seen it lately). Benton's is good but heavily smoked, and I am not always in the mood for that.

Most of the time though, I buy bacon from my local butcher shop (they cure and smoke it in house), or use homecured. Much better than most commercial brands.

[robirdstx]

Our favorite is Wright's Applewood. It is a thick sliced bacon.

For us, this bacon has a nice balance of lean meat to fat and just the right amount of saltiness.

Edited January 22, 2014 by robirdstx (log)

[weedy]

I like D'Artagnan's Hickory smoked

[Paul Bacino]

I have a couple local houses...one makes shoulder bacon..it's usually pretty lean ..but makes great sandwiches.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For me it's probably Juris Ahumado as the best of what's available commercially, but the really excellent stuff is made by a German friend of mine who has his own pigs and smoker….

[weinoo]

I have a couple local houses...one makes shoulder bacon..it's usually pretty lean ..but makes great sandwiches.

Is shoulder bacon bacon?

[Paul Bacino]

I have a couple local houses...one makes shoulder bacon..it's usually pretty lean ..but makes great sandwiches.

Is shoulder bacon bacon?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon

Cheers..stay warm. And I hear what your saying

[rotuts]

Nueske's, in the slab:

http://www.nueskes.com/smoked-slab-bacon.aspx

but local 'artisan' bacon is frequently stunning if you area supports the Artisan.

its cured pig, after all. no truffles, etc

Edited January 22, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[Paul Bacino]

Being in the Mid-West!!

I have had many of these guys products and like them alot. Though I have never had thier Bacon

But a good source for this thread!!

http://laquercia.us/meats_cuts_pointer_pig_graphical_index

Paul

[rotuts]

time to give them a try. ask for a 'meaty' slab

site says this:

"" Bacon that can stand the spotlight. Cook less and at lower heat. Use as other pancetta or eat "sashimi" style without cooking. ""

my emphasis. excellent thinking on their part. I used to eat bacon sashimi style way before sashimi was invented.

[annabelle]

I'd like to be able to buy slab bacon and cut it myself. No luck so far.

We are big on the cattle here. Not so much on the swine.

[tim]

Nothing beats my DIL's home cured bacon.

[kayb]

Call me another vote for Wright's. Flavorful, fries up well, not too awfully salty. I also like Petit Jean Meats, a local Arkansas firm; their products are available from their website, here. Their peppered bacon is particularly good. Off topic, but they also make a "peppered beef," which would be pastrami anywhere else in the world, that is To Die For.

[eldereno]

I've most recently been buying Walmart's Value Pack thick sliced bacon. Liking it better than any of the brands I can get at my local Giant. Have ordered Bentons's and find it way too smokey for my tastes. Have ordered Neuske's and it was okay. BUT for the price one can't beat Walmart's Value Pack thick sliced bacon!!! It is the only thing I make myself stop at Walmart for.

[liuzhou]

Recently, I've been able to buy this beautiful smoked bacon produced by a Shanghai company by the name of Taishen (台申). As I mentioned on the breakfast thread, it tastes of pig and smoke and hasn't been injected with water or other obvious nasties. It has been cured in salt, rice wine, sugar, msg, spices, and preservatives.

It is a hundred times better than this one. Maverick American Classic Bacon.from Cofco, China's largest food processing company. The state owned enterprise uses pretty much the same ingredients as above, but the product is far inferior. It leaks a little water when fried, but does eventually crisp up. It tastes very bland. Also it is cut much thinner than I prefer.

Still, it's better than this muck. Elaborate Bacon by Yurun.

Yurun is China's largest meat company and they have an amazing ability to turn out hundreds of different sausages and other meat products, all of which tastes exactly the same, but never of meat.

Their bacon is similarly tasteless and although it doesn't leak water, nor does the fat render out. Getting it to crisp up is impossible. Again, it is cut way too thinly. Truly weird, disgusting stuff. Despite its promise of "Low-temperature wisdom, elegant taste!"

[weinoo]

Nothing beats my DIL's home cured bacon.

I'm sure - but it probably isn't available commercially.

I forgot another one I really like, available here in NYC and, I believe, in other markets, and that's Schaller & Weber. Their double smoked bacon is great, and their slab bacon is one of my faves too.

[Smithy]

I'm another fan of Wright's bacon, when we find it on our travels. Nice flavor, nicely balanced, and their "bacon ends and pieces" boxes fit our bill nicely.

I don't know how widespread Cloverdale is; it may be an upper Midwest thing, but it's another favorite. Tastes like bacon. Hickory smoke, not maple, not too sweet for my tastes. I'm not much for the sugary sweetness of maple curing, nor even (in this context) apple.

[weinoo]

I gotta try to find this Wright's bacon.

[Kim Shook]

Benton's is our favorite, but Wright's is great,too and we can get it at Kroger!

[Shel_B]

We don't eat bacon much, but when we want some, I go to one of three butchers that will cut from a slab to my desired thickness, and often I get some very lean bacon that way, which is our preference. I can also get as many slices as needed - sometimes I only need two or three slices. A couple-three years ago I bought some Niman Ranch bacon, and, while better than supermarket stuff, it fell short of what is available at the butchers.

[LaCook]

Another vote for Wright's. They also have a peppered bacon that I buy sometimes.

[teapot]

My favorite is homemade alder-smoked bacon. But when that's not available, I'm pretty happy with Fletcher's center cut bacon at Costco. To avoid: Hemplers -- it's sour tasting.