Bacon

I only buy smoked if I'm going to use it in a recipe. We favour the Waitrose unsmoked thick cut back bacon, consistently good, although I also like the Lidl unsmoked too, never had a problem with it being salty.

The unsmoked in our village shop was always too salty, so stopped buying it after the third time!

I'm an unsmoked bacon fan (despite Jamie Oliver telling everyone only to use smoked bacon) I'm not fond of smokey/salty things. When we moved here to the East Midlands I couldn't find it but then learnt its called plain bacon here. I now find it, and its very nice in the world famous Melton Mowbray Olde Pork Pie Shoppe (hate pork pies) but they do sell online and by post- the sausages are wonderful too. I bought a pound this morning for £3.50. I find supermarket own bacon and I've tried several disappointing.

I think smoked is even saltier isn't it? Is anything else tasting odd nina? Has anyone else noticed it? I can't comment as I eat it so rarely but DH hasn't complained.

Yes Nonnie DH has noticed too. He doesn't think it tastes as bad as I do though.

I rarely eat bacon although DH enjoys it sometimes. He usually cooks it himself (fried) and has commented on the amount of 'white stuff' that comes out of it which I presume is salt.

I did eat some today, Sainsbury's green back bacon and it was very nice, grilled.
We don't like M&S green bacon as it is far too salty.

We found Asda unsmoked bacon very salty too. We just tried another 'label'.

You get what you pay for with bacon, the white stuff is salt and water put in to plump it up. I never buy Danish or Dutch bacon due to the way they rear and raise pork. Waitrose or M & S unsmoked is good, but decent stuff bought from a local butcher is far better. Ask where it comes from in case they have just bought in the wholesale stuff, if it is local reared and cured it will cost more, but it doesnt shrink isn't over salted and tastes far better.

I usually buy green back, but smoked streaky for use in stew-type things. Must agree, the butcher's stuff is the best.

Buy dry-cured bacon. Most bacon is wet cured, soaked in brine, which makes it swell as well as making it salty, so you pay 'bacon' prices for the extra water.

I get my dry cured bacon from a local farm shop. It is more expensive but as I only need one rasher where before I needed two means that it actually works out cheaper.

One of my first forays into on-line purchasing was bacon, from Jack Scaife... The on-line business was run by two daughters of the family I believe. These days the company and the name have been taken over, but they still advertise their dry-cured bacon - only I don't see it being available on-line, which is a shame.

I agree Flickety, I buy dry cure misshapes from Denhay ( a local producer) , at my butchers, and get about 30 rashers for £4.99- they are lovely

Dry cured from the butcher it is then Thanks everyone.

Dry cured from the butcher, the only way to eat bacon

Would somebody kindly explain to me what a butcher is? They have vanished from my neck of the woods in London. I rarely eat bacon but if I do, it is usually from Waitrose. I was always under the impression that smoked meant more salt so I have always avoided it.

About twice a year I fancy bacon, sausages and black pudding, all from either M&S or Waitrose. Yummy.

Luckily we still have a 'proper' butcher in our area. He provides meat for all our local hotels, as we have a high density of elderly people who still like use a butcher. Especially those people who are now on their own and don't want to buy large portions as one has to in a supermarket. He is always very busy.

Oddly we have a proper butcher quite close. I say oddly because it's in a little shopping centre that is all cut price shops and betting shops, but he seems to do good business. I go there for a decent size joint if I want something to lastfor a few days and he makes good sausages too.

We now only buy unsmoked back bacon from Sainsburys, and it's lovely. All the other stuff we tried was way too salty.

That's the one I mentioned above, roses and, although I am not fond of bacon, I did enjoy some yesterday.

Our local butcher closed just recently, very sad.
We now get our bacon for our Weekend breakfasts at Iceland and very good it is too.

Perhaps not quite the same but this afternoon I went to my local supermarket to find it being blockaded by a particular union, too long to go into.
I went to my local very good corner shop, preWW1 actually, and still in the same family, and bought a packet of top of the range Lardons(bacon bits)
Just cooking them and the amount of water coming out of them is dreadful.
The own brand ones in the supermarket leak hardly any water, is it too much to expect an expensive named brand to be of better quality than an own brand.

I buy lardons from Asda. The basic ones are dreadful, full of water, but the 'Extra Special' are dry cured and delicious. I love a bacon sandwich occasionally, but these days try to be a bit more healthy by choosing Weight Watchers or Mattesson's turkey rashers.
Does anyone else cook their bacon in the microwave? Cover with kitchen paper to catch splashes and give approx. a minute a rasher. It turns out lovely and crispy with no white stuff.

bacon is one of those things on the Xpat 'please bring' list but the last lot a friend brought from Sainsburys was disappointing, a bit wet and fatty.
Got Smoked haddock and pinhead oatmeal arriving tomorrow. For a Scottish dinner in my Church.
Morrisons vaccum packed the haddock for my friend when he explained where it was going. though how asking for 1 small pack of oatmeal transferred into 2 kilos to be used for Cranachan for just 40 people could only have happened in a male mind, no offence Grandpas'. Please don't suggest porridge even the smell makes me sick.
DGS tucking into Macaroni Cheese right now made with Strong Cheddar also brought from UK.

Gill57 I heard on the radio that the Dutch now have better standards of welfare in pig farming than we do. Googling it shows this to be true.

Glad to hear that the Dutch are improving their welfare standards jings. I am not sure about being better than here though, as a lot of our pork is freedom from pigs allowed to wallow and live outside in arks. But great news if the standards are improving.