Bacon

This week's posts are about bacon...delicious, crispy, fatty, forbidden, hipster, expensive, country, bacon.  It seems that plain ol' morning pal of eggs has suddenly turned hip and cool -and expensive.  Due in part to a disease killing piglets in 15 states, the cost of pork belly futures has risen from an already really high $135 per 100 pounds in 2010 to $185 per 100 pounds this month.

But why, you may ask, are pork bellies important to bacon?  Because bacon is made from pork bellies.



After researching this topic a bit, I'll share with you what I learned.  Bacon vocabulary and cuts vary.  We all probably have heard of Canadian bacon.  Many of you have heard of Brits' love for their rashers and streaky.  What's the differences from American bacon?

Well, it turns out that the bellies of pigs are not that different from various couch potato humans.  There is some lean stomach muscle (loin) in there under a thick layer of fatty pork belly.  American bacon is made from the fatty pork belly through a curing process.  Canadian bacon is made primarily from the loin with most of the fat cut away.  The British often use a cut that includes both the loin and pork belly.  The more loin cuts are called rashers while the pork belly cuts (similar to American bacon) are called streaky.  In times past rashers were more popular with upper classes in British society with the cheaper, fatty streaky sold more to working class eaters.

Both orthodox Judaism and Islam ban the eating of pork, but in many secular restaurants pork belly and bacon have recently become something of a foodie rage.  This week we will look at some bacon dishes.