Bacon is a type of salt-curedpork[1] made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the BLT sandwich), or as a flavouring or accent. Regular bacon consumption is associated with increased mortality and other health concerns.[2]
Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game, including venison and pheasant, and may also be used to insulate or flavour roast joints by being layered onto the meat. The word is derived from the Proto-Germanic*bakkon, meaning "back meat".[3]
Uncooked cured and smoked side bacon
After being pan-fried
Meat from other animals, such as beef, lamb, chicken, goat, or turkey, may also be cut, cured, or otherwise prepared to resemble bacon, and may even be referred to as, for example, "turkey bacon".[4] Such use is common in areas with significant Jewish and Muslim populations as both religions prohibit the consumption of pork.[5]Vegetarian bacons such as "soy bacon" also exist.
Curing and smoking
Uncured pork belly
Before the advent of cheap and widespread artificial refrigeration in the modern era, the curing of meat was necessary for its safe long-term preservation. However, both the flavour imparted to the meat in doing so and the extended shelf life it offered had become much prized, and although curing is in general no longer necessary in the developed world, it continues in wide use.
Bacon is cured through either a process of injecting it with or soaking it in brine, known as wet curing, or rubbed with salt, known as dry curing.[1][6] Bacon brine has added curing ingredients, most notably nitrites or nitrates, which speed the curing and stabilise colour. Cured bacon may then be dried for weeks or months in cold air, or it may be smoked or boiled.[1] Fresh and dried bacon are typically cooked before eating, often by pan frying. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but they may be cooked further before eating. Differing flavours can be achieved by using various types of wood, or less common fuels such as corn cobs or peat. This process can take up to eighteen hours, depending on the intensity of the flavour desired. The Virginia Housewife (1824), thought to be one of the earliest American cookbooks, gives no indication that bacon is ever not smoked, though it gives no advice on flavouring, noting only that care should be taken lest the fire get too hot.[7]
Bacon is distinguished from other salt-cured pork by differences in the cuts of meat used and in the brine or dry packing. Historically, the terms "ham" and "bacon" referred to different cuts of meat that were brined or packed identically, often together in the same barrel. Today, ham is defined as coming from the hind portion of the pig and brine specifically for curing ham includes a greater amount of sugar, while bacon is less sweet, though ingredients such as brown sugar or maple syrup are used for flavour. Bacon is similar to salt pork, which in modern times is often prepared from similar cuts, but salt pork is never smoked, and has a much higher salt content.[8]
For safety, bacon may be treated to prevent trichinosis,[9] caused by Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm which can be destroyed by heating, freezing, drying, or smoking.[10] Sodium polyphosphates, such as sodium triphosphate, may also be added to make the product easier to slice and to reduce spattering when the bacon is pan-fried.
Cuts
Uncooked strips of side baconUncooked back baconSliced jowl bacon
Bacon type differs depending on the primal cut of pork from which it is prepared,[8][1] which reflects local preference.
Side bacon, sometimes known as "streaky bacon", comes from the pork belly.[8][1] It has long alternating layers of fat and muscle running parallel to the rind.[8][11] This is the most common form of bacon in the United States.[8]
Pancetta is an Italian form of side bacon, sold smoked or unsmoked (aqua). It is generally rolled up into cylinders after curing. Pancetta is known for having a strong flavour,[8][1] and is often used as an ingredient in pasta dishes such as Carbonara.
Back bacon contains meat from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig.[8][12] It is a leaner cut, with less fat compared to side bacon.[1] Most bacon consumed in the United Kingdom and Ireland is back bacon.[8][13]
Collar bacon is taken from the back of a pig near the head.[8][14]
Cottage bacon is made from the lean meat from a boneless pork shoulder that is typically tied into an oval shape.[8]
Jowl bacon is cured and smoked cheeks of pork.[15]Guanciale is an Italian jowl bacon that is seasoned and dry cured but not smoked.
The inclusion of skin with a cut of bacon, known as the 'bacon rind',[16] varies, though is less common in the English-speaking world.
Around the world
Australia and New Zealand
The most common form sold is middle bacon, which includes some of the streaky, fatty section of side bacon along with a portion of the loin of back bacon. In response to increasing consumer diet-consciousness, some supermarkets also offer the loin section only. This is sold as short cut bacon and is usually priced slightly higher than middle bacon. Both varieties are usually available with the rind removed.[17]
Canada
Roasted peameal bacon with a maple glaze at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
In Canada, the term bacon on its own typically refers to side bacon.[18] Canadian-style back bacon is a lean cut from the eye of the pork loin with little surrounding fat.[18]Peameal bacon is an unsmoked back bacon, wet-cured and coated in fine-ground cornmeal (historically, it was rolled in ground, dried peas);[18] it is popular in southern Ontario. Bacon is often eaten in breakfasts, such as with cooked eggs or pancakes. Maple syrup is often used as a flavouring while curing bacon in Canada.
Germany
German Speck, a salted, smoked, and roasted pork fatback or belly cut used as a cold cut
Some of the meanings of bacon overlap with the German-language term Speck. Germans use the term bacon explicitly for Frühstücksspeck ('breakfast Speck') which are cured or smoked pork slices. Traditional German cold cuts favour ham over bacon; however, Wammerl (grilled pork belly) remains popular in Bavaria.
Small bacon cubes (called Grieben or Grammerln in Austria and southern Germany) have been a rather important ingredient of various southern German dishes. They are used for adding flavour to soups and salads and for Speck dumplings and various noodle and potato dishes. Instead of preparing them at home from larger slices, they have been sold ready made as convenience foods recently as Baconwürfel ("bacon cubes") in German retail stores.
Japan
In Japan, bacon (ベーコン)[19] is pronounced "bēkon". It is cured and smoked belly meat as in the US, and is sold in either regular or half-length sizes. Bacon in Japan is different from that in the US in that the meat is not sold raw, but is processed, precooked and has a ham-like consistency when cooked.[20] Uncured, sliced pork belly, known as bara (バラ), is very popular in Japan and is used in a variety of dishes (e.g. yakitori and yakiniku).
Great Britain and Ireland
Back bacon is the most common form in Great Britain and Ireland, and is the usual meaning of the plain term "bacon". A thin slice of bacon is known as a rasher; about 70% of bacon is sold as rashers.[21] Heavily trimmed back cuts which consist of just the eye of meat, known as a medallion, are also available. All types may be unsmoked or smoked. The side cut normal in America is known as "streaky bacon",[22] and there is also a long cut, curving round on itself, known as "middle bacon", which is back bacon at one end, and streaky at the other, as well as less common cuts.[23] Bacon is also sold and served as joints, usually boiled, broiled or roast,[24] or in thicker slices called chops or steaks. These are usually eaten as part of other meals.[6]
The term bacon on its own generally refers to side bacon, which is the most popular type of bacon sold in the US. Back bacon is known as "Canadian bacon" or "Canadian-style bacon", and is usually sold pre-cooked and thick-sliced.[28][29] American bacons include varieties smoked with hickory, mesquite or applewood and flavourings such as maple, brown sugar, honey, or molasses.[30] A side of unsliced bacon is known as "slab bacon".[31]
USDA regulations only recognise bacon as "cured" if it has been treated with synthetic nitrites or nitrates (e.g. sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate). This means that bacon cured with nitrites derived from celery or beets (which has the same chemical outcome) must be labelled "uncured" and include a notice such as "no nitrates or nitrites added except for that naturally occurring in celery". There is also bacon for sale uncured with any nitrites from any sources.[32]
History
Salted pork belly first appeared in China. In Middle English the term bacon or bacoun referred to all pork in general.[33] Before the Industrial Revolution, bacon was generally produced on local farms and in domestic kitchens. The world's first commercial bacon processing plant was opened in Calne, Wiltshire in the 1770s by John Harris.[34]
The United States and Canada have seen an increase in the popularity of bacon and bacon-related recipes, dubbed "bacon mania". The sale of bacon in the US has increased significantly since 2011. Sales climbed 9.5% in 2013, making it an all-time high of nearly $4 billion in US. In a survey conducted by Smithfield, 65% of Americans would support bacon as their "national food".[35] Dishes such as bacon explosion, chicken fried bacon, and chocolate-covered bacon have been popularised over the Internet,[36] as has the use of candied bacon. Recipes spread quickly through both countries' national media, culinary blogs, and YouTube.[37][38] Celebrity chef Bobby Flay has endorsed a "Bacon of the Month" club online, in print,[39] and on national television.[40]Everything Tastes Better with Bacon, a 2002 book by Sara Perry, is a cookbook in which all dishes contain bacon.[41]
Commentators explain this surging interest in bacon by reference to what they deem American cultural characteristics. Sarah Hepola, in a 2008 article in Salon.com, suggests a number of reasons, one of them being that eating bacon in the modern, health-conscious world is an act of rebellion: "Loving bacon is like shoving a middle finger in the face of all that is healthy and holy while an unfiltered cigarette smoulders between your lips."[42] She also suggests bacon is sexy (with a reference to Sarah Katherine Lewis' book Sex and Bacon), kitsch, and funny. Hepola concludes by saying that "Bacon is American".
Alison Cook, writing in the Houston Chronicle, argues the case of bacon's American citizenship by referring to historical and geographical uses of bacon.[37] Early American literature echoes the sentiment—in Ebenezer Cooke's 1708 poem The Sot-Weed Factor, a satire of life in early colonial America, the narrator already complains that practically all the food in America was bacon-infused.[43]
As of December 2016, the U.S. national frozen pork belly inventory totaled 17.8millionlb (8.1millionkg), the lowest level in 50 years.[44]
Streaky bacon is more commonly used as a topping in the US on such items as pizza, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, baked potatoes, hot dogs, and soups. In the US, sliced smoked back bacon is used less frequently than the streaky variety, but can sometimes be found on pizza, salads, and omelettes.
Bacon is also used as an accent in dishes, such as bacon-topped meatloaf,[48]sautéed crisp and crumbled into green beans,[49] or as a crumble in a salad.
Bacon fat liquefies and becomes drippings when it is heated. Once cool, it firms into a form of lard. Bacon fat is flavourful and is used for various cooking purposes. Traditionally, bacon grease is saved in British and southern US cuisine, and used as a base for cooking and as an all-purpose flavouring, for everything from gravy to cornbread[50] to salad dressing.[51]
In Germany, Griebenschmalz is a popular spread made from bacon lard.
Bacon is often used for a cooking technique called barding consisting of laying or wrapping strips of bacon or other fats over a roast to provide additional fat to a lean piece of meat. It is often used for roast game birds, and is a traditional method of preparing beef filet mignon, which is wrapped in strips of bacon before cooking. The bacon itself may afterwards be discarded or served to eat, like cracklings. It may also be cut into lardons.
One teaspoon (4g or 0.14oz) of bacon grease has 38 calories (40kJ/g).[52] It is composed almost completely of fat, with very little additional nutritional value. Bacon fat is roughly 40% saturated.[52] Despite the likely health risks of excessive bacon grease consumption, it remains popular in the cuisine of the American South.[53]
Nutrients
One 10-g slice of cooked side bacon contains 4.5 g of fat, 3.0 g of protein, and 205mg of sodium.[54] The fat, protein, and sodium content varies depending on the cut and cooking method.
68% of the food energy of bacon comes from fat, almost half of which is saturated.[55] A serving of three slices of bacon contains 30 milligrams of cholesterol (0.1%).[55][56]
Studies have consistently found the consumption of processed meat to be linked to increased mortality, and to an increased risk of developing a number of serious health conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.[2][57] As bacon is very high in salt, it comes with all the negative health effects associated with high salt intake.[58]
Bacon can contain nitrites, which can form carcinogenic nitroso-compounds such as S-Nitrosothiols, nitrosyl-heme and nitrosamines. In the United States, sodium nitrite cannot exceed certain levels in bacon. Vitamin C (ascorbate) or sodium erythorbate can be added to bacon, which greatly reduces the formation of nitrosamines but has no effect on S-Nitrosothiols and nitrosyl-heme.[59]Vitamin E (tocopherol) also reduces nitrosamine levels. Bacon fried at higher temperatures potentially has more nitrosamines than bacon fried at lower temperatures.[60]
Several alternatives to and substitutes for bacon have been developed for those who cannot or prefer not to eat standard pork bacon, including beef, chicken, turkey, bison, soy, and coconut bacon.
Chopped, formed, colored, and flavoured turkey bacon strips
Turkey bacon is consumed by some as an alternative to pork bacon for health benefits, religious laws, or other concerns.[1][63] It is lower in fat and food energy than bacon,[1][63] but is used similarly.[63]
The meat for turkey bacon comes from the whole turkey, which is chopped and reformed into strips to resemble bacon, and can be cured or uncured, or smoked.[1] Turkey bacon is cooked by pan-frying.[63] Cured turkey bacon made from dark meat can be less than 10% fat.[64] The low fat content of turkey bacon means it does not shrink while being cooked and has a tendency to stick to the pan.[64]
"Macon" is produced by curing cuts of mutton in a manner similar to the production of pork bacon.[65] Historically produced in Scotland, it was introduced across Britain during World War II as a consequence of rationing.[66][67] It is today available as an alternative to bacon, produced for the Muslim market and sold at halal butchers; it is largely similar in appearance to pork bacon except for the darker colour.[68]
Vegetarian bacon, also referred to as facon, veggie bacon, or vacon, is a vegetarian "bacon" made from plant matter.[69] It has no cholesterol, is low in fat, and contains large amounts of protein and fibre.[69] Two slices contain about 310 kilojoules (74kcal).[69] Vegetarian bacon is usually made from marinated strips of textured soy protein or tempeh (fermented soybeans).
Bacon-flavoured products
The popularity of bacon in the United States has given rise to a number of commercial products that promise to add bacon flavouring without the labour involved in cooking it.
Bacon bits
Bacon bits in a bowl
Bacon bits are a frequently used topping on salad or potatoes, and a common element of salad bars.[1] They are usually salted. Bacon bits are made from small, crumbled pieces of bacon;[1] in commercial plants they are cooked in continuous microwave ovens. Similar products are made from ham or turkey, and vegetarian substitutes are made from textured vegetable protein, artificially flavoured to resemble bacon.[70]
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking. As a processed meat, the term ham includes both whole cuts of meat and ones that have been mechanically formed.
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders.
Chorizo is a type of pork sausage originating from the Iberian Peninsula. It is made in many national and regional varieties in several countries on different continents. Some of these varieties are quite different from each other, occasionally leading to confusion or disagreements over the names and identities of the products in question.
Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Industrial Revolution. Open sandwiches, known as smørrebrød, which in their basic form are the usual fare for lunch, can be considered a national speciality when prepared and garnished with a variety of ingredients. Hot meals are typically prepared with meat or fish. Substantial meat and fish dishes includes flæskesteg and kogt torsk with mustard sauce and trimmings. Ground meats became widespread during the industrial revolution and traditional dishes that are still popular include frikadeller, karbonader and medisterpølse. Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained steadily in popularity since the 1960s.
Pancetta is a salt-cured pork belly meat product in a category known as salume. In Italy, it is often used to add depth to soups and pastas.
A lardon, also spelled lardoon, is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon, or pork fat, used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory food and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by threading them with a needle into meats that are to be braised or roasted. Lardons are not normally smoked, and they are made from pork that has been cured with salt.
Cypriot cuisine is the cuisine of the island of Cyprus.
Charcuterie is a branch of French cuisine devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork.
Bacon Grill is a canned meat product made from chopped and cured pork, seasoned to be similar in flavour to bacon. It is produced by several companies, including Princes for the British market, in the style of Spam and corned beef. Bacon Grill was a standard element of rations in the British Army.
Guanciale is an Italian salt-cured meat product prepared from pork jowl or cheeks. Its name is derived from guancia, meaning 'cheek'. Its rendered fat gives flavour to and thickens the sauce of pasta dishes.
Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that causes food spoilage. Curing can be traced back to antiquity, and was the primary method of preserving meat and fish until the late 19th century. Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, cooking, or the addition of combinations of sugar, nitrate, and nitrite.
Tocino is bacon in Spanish, typically made from the pork belly and often formed into cubes in Spain. In Caribbean countries, such as Puerto Rico and Cuba, tocino is made from pork fatback and is neither cured nor smoked but simply fried until very crunchy; it is then added to recipes, much like the way lardons are used in French cuisine. In the Philippines, tocino refers to sweetened and cured pork belly.
Hungarian sausages are sausages found in the cuisine of Hungary. Hungary produces a vast number of sui sausage types. They may be boiled, fresh or dried, and smoked, with different spices and flavors, "hot" or "mild". Many were influenced by their neighbors and brethren.
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig. It is the second-most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Turkey bacon is a meat prepared from chopped, formed, cured, and smoked turkey, commonly marketed as a low-fat alternative to pork bacon; it may also be used as a substitute for bacon where religious dietary laws forbid the consumption of pork products.
The cuts of pork are the different parts of the pig which are consumed as food by humans. The terminology and extent of each cut varies from country to country. There are between four and six primal cuts, which are the large parts in which the pig is first cut: the shoulder, loin, belly and leg. These are often sold wholesale, as are other parts of the pig with less meat, such as the head, feet and tail. Retail cuts are the specific cuts which are used to obtain different kinds of meat, such as tenderloin and ham. There are at least 25 Iberian pork cuts, including jamón.
Salt pork is salt-cured pork. It is usually prepared from pork belly, or, less commonly, fatback. Salt pork typically resembles uncut side bacon, but is fattier, being made from the lowest part of the belly, and saltier, as the cure is stronger and performed for longer, and never smoked. The fat on the meat is necessary for the curing process as it allows the salt to soak in and preserve the meat. Salt pork is made by layering salt and thin layers of meat, then dousing it in a brine mixture once the desired size has been reached.
Peameal bacon is a wet-cured, unsmoked back bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin rolled in cornmeal. It is found mainly in Ontario. Toronto pork packer William Davies, who moved to Canada from England in 1854, is credited with its development.
Pork jowl is a cut of pork from a pig's cheek. Different food traditions have used it as a fresh cut or as a cured pork product. As a cured and smoked meat in America, it is called jowl bacon or, especially in the Southern United States, hog jowl, joe bacon, or joe meat. In the US, hog jowl is a staple of soul food. Outside the United States, there is a longer culinary tradition: the cured, non-smoked Italian variant is called guanciale.
Speck can refer to a number of European cured pork products, typically salted and air-cured and often lightly smoked but not cooked. In Germany, speck is pickled pork fat with or without some meat in it. In the Netherlands and Flanders, in Dutch, spek means bacon. Throughout much of the rest of Europe and parts of the English-speaking culinary world, speck often refers to South Tyrolean speck, a type of Italian smoked ham. The term speck became part of popular parlance only in the eighteenth century and replaced the older term bachen, a cognate of bacon.
Anderson, H. J., "Bacon Production" in Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences, Editors M. Dikeman, Carrick Devine, 2004, Academic Press, ISBN0080924441, 9780080924441, google books
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
