Bacon

Bacon. Let’s talk about bacon. There’s no meat more glorious than bacon. You can add it to pasta instead of cheese. You can stick it in a sandwich, er… instead of cheese.

Rob Manuel

Have you ever wondered where Bacon came from besides your favorite grocery store? Well, have a seat and enjoy the history and recipes.

So, just what is Bacon? It is a salt-cured pork, typically the belly and lesser fatty parts of the back of the hog.

So where did it originate? Some historians will tell you that bacon originated in China. Yes, China. Back to 1500 BCE the Chinese started to salt and cure pork belly, and thanks to the trade market at the time it gained acceptance along the trade route.

Finally landing in Greece then when Greece lost that war to the Romans. Those Romans managed to grab the Greek recipe book containing of many recipes and one was Bacon.  So who did those damn roman soldiers give that recipe book to. Yep, you guessed right if you said Apicius. Damnit, that man haunts me.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29728/29728-h/29728-h.htm

Skipping forward a few centuries, bacon became a poor man’s delight. Bacon or “bacoun” the word comes from the German language as the English work “back”.

Tily: Apicius and the Romans called bacon ‘petaso’.

Over the years the meaning narrowed to only the strips of salty cured meat we have today.

Tilly: Hmm … The word ‘bacon’ historically originated in the modern English language but, like a lot of English words, its etymology is slightly more complicated than that, etymologists are still arguing over its origin. The English bacon tradition dates back to the Saxon era in the 1st millennium AD, bacon (or bacoun as it was spelt then) was a Middle English (11th/14th Century, High/Late Middle Ages) term. In Old High German they called it bahho, which is derived from the Proto Germanic bakkon, in Old Dutch they called it baken and in Old French they called it bacun.

On that North Atlantic tropical Island Tilly lives on you know Great Britain.  John Harris, an Englishman, historically credited to large scale manufacturing. His company was in the village of Wilshire and is still considered the bacon capital of the universe.

Olive “As a Southerner I will disagree with that, obviously John Harris had never been to Virginia Where I am from.”

Tilly: Oops: ‘I’m not anti-American. But I am very strongly anti-American bacon – the worst bacon in the world.’ –  Gavin Esler

Welcome to 1924, the American Company Oscar Mayer introduced the first pre-packaged, pre-sliced bacon to America. Bless him.

Today bacon is eaten all over the world. From Australia and New Zealand to Japan. It is still served in Germany of course Great Britain and Ireland, including Canada and the United States.

Tilly: I think bacon is available in almost every country in the world.

‘I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture is so gratifying and the taste delivers every time.’ 

Alex Guarnaschelli

Just a bit of trivia:

1. Bacon is one of the oldest cuts of meat in history; dating back to 1500 BC.
2. In the 16th Century, European peasants would proudly display the small amount of bacon they could afford.
3. The Yorkshire and Tamworth pigs are bred specifically for bacon.
4. 70% of all bacon in the US is eaten at breakfast time.
5. More than 2 billion pounds of bacon is produced each year in the US.
6. Until the First World War, bacon fat was the cooking fat of choice in most US households, when prepackaged pig lard became commonly available.
7. Bacon is everywhere these days: in ice cream, coffee, cupcakes, and chewing gum, bacon-scented candles, bacon lip balm, and even a bacon deodorant.
8. There’s a Church of Bacon, an officially sanctioned church boasting more than 25,000 members under the commandment “Praise Bacon.”

Tilly: Did you know that bacon grease was used to make explosives during WWII? And that bacon is GOOD for pregnant women! True story. It contains a compound called choline, that aids in brain development of the baby.

Now the best part. “Bring Home the Bacon” is assumed to mean bringing home the money, in fact it dates back to the 12^th century England, meaning the spirit of matrimonial harmony. The English town of Dunmow promised a side of bacon to any married man who could swear before the congregation that he had not quarreled with his wife. A husband who could bring home the bacon was held in high regard by the community

Tilly: I love bacon – provided it is properly cured and not just injected with saline solution and smoke flavour … hate all that milky froth (salt water) in the frying pan or grill. Some suggestions for bacon! Bacon and broccoli pasta; pearl barley, bacon and leek casserole; jacket/baked potato with bacon, taleggio cheese and leeks (love this for a simple supper); pastry roll-ups with cream cheese and bacon, sliced into pinwheels and baked.  Eggs Benedict with pesto and bacon; flageleots with bacon and tomatoes – and garlic. Must have garlic. Bacon, egg and avo andwiches. A salad with crisp bacon, red pepper, shredded raw sprouts and blue cheese.

Then of course, there’s bacon collard greens – surely a steal from the Irish dish of bacon hock cooked with potatoes and cabbage. Has to be …

A bacon joint cooked in ginger wine or ginger beer (must be a good ginger beer, not one of those gassy, sweet numbers. Done in the slow cooker, it is splendid.

Our sons discovered the ‘Elvis sandwich’:  bacon, banana, and peanut butter. I’m not keen on peanut butter – it doesn’t like me and repeats and repeats and repeats – so almond or cashew nut butter works well. And tastes better IMHO.

Very fond of a salad of red radicchio with crisp bacon and blue cheese.

In fact, I can’t think of anything that doesn’t ‘like’ bacon – asparagus wrapped with bacon and grilled; breakfast pots: line muffin pans with bacon, crack an egg in each, a slice or two of tomato, top with cheese of choice, Bake 15-20 minutes. Yum.)

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.’ 

Doug Larson

Post a comment on your favorite Bacon recipe.

Olive and Tilly