Bacon

Anya - love it!!!

We love organic Ayrshire bacon from our local butcher in Scotland. Don't know if you can get it South of the border, as we bring it back with us.

x

My experience is that there are no supermarkets (including Waitrose) that sell decent bacon. You need to go to a butcher that prepares their own or buys direct from a specialist producer, a Farm Shop or a farmer's market.

Try and get bacon that is dry cured, that is the curing process is done by placing the meat in dry salt. Most, possible all, supermarket bacon is cured in brine and the bacon absorbs a lot of water from the brine and then shrinks and produces that nasty white foam when cooked.

What interesting websites you find, thatbags There are links on that one to all kinds of articles.

Digression ahead but it might be of interest to some:

Veggies and vegans (since being veggie came up in the thread) might be interested to read this article I came across recently: Should vegans eat meat to be ethically consistent? by Xavier Cohen. I thought it an interesting philosophical viewpoint. I'm a meat-eater but I support Compassion in World Farming for reasons of welfare such that whitewave mentions.

We like Waitrose own bacon (unsmoked for us) too. Waitrose also have other good packaged bacon, e.g. Denhay dry cured.

Waitrose' own. Delicious.

nankate Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe here in Melton Mowbray does mail order and their bacon is very good (I hate the pps but buy the bacon both smoked and unsmoked or plain as they call it).

whitewave I also love meat, but after i realised i loved animals more I decided to give it up. Having been a life-long meat eater, it was honestly a lot easier than I thought it would be and I'm so glad I did it. Not preaching - just a sidenote that it might not be as bad as anticipated

Organic for me has nothing to do with the animals natural foraging habits - well I suppose everything to do with it - but the fact that the animal has not been subject to such intervention as growth hormone and antibiotics - given as a matter if course.

I think that the way we farm and harvest animals is generally a pretty unpleasant practice with no thought given to the animals welfare and every thought given to the quickest harvest.

I know that veggie is probably the way to go but I do like meat. I have reconciled this dicotomy by at least 2-3 days veggie and a couple of fish days.

I'm all for free range, supporting local shops etc...problem is, when Morrisons sell two packs of bacon for £4 and I'm strapped for cash, I can't afford to go to the local butchers!

Be aware bacon labelled outdoor bred or outdoor reared are NOT the same as free-range.

Definitely British free range - but organic quite unneccessary and impossible to guarantee (if pigs are free range they can eat anything that comes their way!). Have a look on line and speak to your local butcher. What you dont want is bacon injected with water to increase the weight then it all comes out in a watery white mess when you try and cook it! PS its not hard to cure your own bacon from pork, and fun!

Yes, free range, organic from a local butcher ideally. Not only will the meat taste better but the animal will have had the opportunity to walk about before being killed. Pigs are delightful animals and the notion of keeping them in tiny spaces, unable to snuffle about as nature intended is too distressing for me to buy anything but free range, organic. Maybe this will be the year I give up meat rather than just being very careful about where it came from and how the animals were treated before arriving on our tables.

Free range organic is the way to go not only is the taste superior but the animal may have had a better existence before death.

Do you buy packaged bacon? We have a local butcher who sells lovely sweetcure bacon which is just mildly smoked. He is willing to sell just two slices if that is what you require. I don't like the prepacked bacon, the slices are too thin.