Three Little Pigs
It’s no secret that we here at Endless Simmer consider ourselves bacon aficionados. We eat bacon, we drink bacon and even make bacon. But do we really know what it is? Over the years I’ve proclaimed my love of English bacon and boasted its superiority over your traditional American bacon, but we’ve never looked at why that is. I’m no butcher but I’ve eaten enough bacon to have a fair understanding of the different types on offer.
From clockwise left, we have Canadian, standard American and English bacon, cooked in a little oil in a non-stick frying pan. Here’s a quick lesson.
Canadian Bacon as we know it is usually meat cut from the back of the boneless loin, often lean with little fat and pre-cooked when store-bought.
Standard American Bacon is what is more commonly found in the store, identified by the USDA as “the cured belly of the swine,” which basically means it’s the combination of meat and fat from the belly of the pig, which gives it the streaky look that you see.
English Bacon is cut from the loin back of the pig, similar to that of Canadian but with the added fat surrounding the meat. English bacon is often smoked or cured, again similar to that of Canadian, but to a greater extent. Bacon in the UK also comes in a form similar to American, but is actually referred to as “streaky bacon” and is less common.
What are your thoughts on the different types of bacon? Let us know in the comments.
More Bacon: Recipes, raves and other bacon bits in Endless Bacon.
My thoughts on bacon are three:
One. I just fell in love with English bacon.
Two. Must get English bacon.
Three. EB4EVER
The end.
I love english bacon (although we prefer to call it Irish bacon
). Fry 3 slices, put it in between two slices of buttered white bread with ketchup then put the bread in the pan the bacon was fried in a couple of minutes on each side.
Completely unhealthy but the ultimate bacon sarnie!
American bacon has its merits, but without the big medallion of meat there’s something a little unsatisfying about it with breakfast.
Canadian bacon is an American invention that no one in Canada buys because we have peameal/back bacon which is way better.
Love this post & all those kinds of bacon
I’ll take bacon anyway I can get it!
I Love Bacon..thanks for explaining the different types.Any idea of online stores to order the English style bacon?
In fact, back and streaky bacon are pretty much equally common, and it’s more a matter of individual taste. Personally I’d make a sandwich with back but wrap foods in streaky. Other less common English trends in bacon are sweet curing and smoking with heritage woods like oak.
On the other hand, Canadian bacon is a totally alien concept.
You should definitely try bacon that is made in central/eastern/southeastern europe. It’s best eaten raw (only salt-cured and smoked), not fried. Something like this beauty here http://www.mesaradule.com/products-page/product-category/suva-dimljena-slanina/
you so called bacon aficionados dont even know how to cook it the best way. bacon under the grill is a MUST, and judging by the picture it is undercooked, the fat needs to be nrown and crispy not white and slimy
Actually you’re wrong, although it’s eaten in the UK it’s not british bacon it’s danish bacon lol.