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I haven't had a bacon sandwich in I don't know how long, until this morning. And I remember why. Flacid, soggy bacon - might as well have been boiled. Who likes it like this? Its not hard to get some colour into it and a bit of crisp on the fat. Disappointed, back to egg and tatty scone.
Why are you accepting flaccid bacon in your butty?
Has to be crisp to get the full flavour combination.
Cook it for longer? 😉
BLT in Lidls low GI bread with a touch of mayo ****ing awesome.
Bacon cooked until it is not quite raw and a brioche bun has been the great find of this week 🙂
Someone I was speaking to professed to hate bacon it took some time but it turns out that they microwave it.
They said this in a room full of people and I swear every head turned and I'm pretty sure I heard a pin drop.
They didn't even think about cooking it any other way.
it turns out that they microwave it.
What kind of a monster are they?!
Cure your own bacon. Favourite is a stout and treacle bacon. Fried until crisp, nice strong coffee served with the sarnie. Never fails.
I saw someone belittle it on here the other week, but streaky bacon, smoked obviously, is supreme especially in a sandwich, you just have to use more of it, at least 6 rashers.
You’re buying the wrong bacon. Dry cured doesn’t have all the water so cooks nice n crispy. Best I’ve found is Co-op. Or Lidl.
When I first moved to the area I popped into the local cafe for for bacon and egg sandwich.
I was alarmed when 2 bits of tissue thin bread appeared, then pre cooked bacon when in the microwave and to further ruin my life, in went a pre cooked fried egg.
I have not returned.
Bacon is definitely best grilled.
Nope, not crispy, I like it the Yorkshire way.
Cure your own bacon.
Peak STW. After first slaughtering the pig with a home made knife, obvs.
On top of the required cooking time in a suitable manner, the right bacon to bread ratio is paramount. 3 rashers of thick cut fried enough so the fat isn't soft with one (yes one) slide of fresh lightly toasted bread of choice (¾ of an inch thick). Maybe even the crust if you are allowed. Bread buttered lightly with brown, red or BBQ sauce depending on stock/taste. Yesterday's even had a thin (ish) slice of extra mature cheddar between 2 of the rashers to get some heat into it to help form it to the other contents.
Back bacon is also the devil's work, streaky or nothing
Bacon is definitely best grilled
+1
Got both back and streaky back 3 curing at the moment, about 4kg worth. Will have to find some good bread in approx 10 days time 😏
Back bacon is fine, after all it's half the constituent part of Ayrshire bacon.
Bread buttered lightly
No, no, no, no, no. I can not let that pass. Never use butter with bacon, ever. It comes with its own delicious fat… what are you thinking!?!?
banana bacon
I can see that working… I’ll give it a go.
Cook it for longer?
It's a fine line. Too long and you end up with little strips of salty hardboard.
Being cured you can actually eat it uncooked, though I don't think it's recommended
Decades ago in my butchery career I worked briefly in a bacon factory, in Auldhouse in Glasgow. Struggling to remember the name of the place 😕 Menzies curers I think it was.
It's the people that cut the fat off....like it makes your bacon Roll healthy fatty. Just get it down ya. This isnae weight watchers.
Bacon is definitely best grilled
Why would you even contemplate any other option?
Microwave? 😳
I haven’t had a bacon sandwich in I don’t know how long
You lost me there
Why would you even contemplate any other option?
BBQ.....quite obviously.
Bacon cooked until it is not quite raw and a brioche bun has been the great find of this week 🙂
BURN HIM!
"black" bacon is pretty good for something slightly different.
Cure your own bacon.
Peak STW. After first slaughtering the pig with a home made knife, obvs.
Bacon is seriously easy to make at home. Try it, you will be surprised how different the result is to generic bacon. It's really low level in the home curing ladder, good effort/benefit ratio.
Being cured you can actually eat it uncooked
I wouldn't, certainly not if it's been packaged sliced. But if you cure your own you can safely eat slices straight off the joint once it gets dry through. Usually gets eaten well before this point though.
Bread buttered lightly
I may just vomit, butter is only allowed if the bread is toasted.
Bread buttered lightly
No, no, no, no, no. I can not let that pass. Never use butter with bacon, ever. It comes with its own delicious fat
Indeed. The bread should be dipped in the fat.
I realise that this may be an unpopular opinion, but I have discovered that the ultimate bacon sandwich is actually made with naan, cream cheese, spicy tomato jam. And a fried egg.
https://store.dishoom.com/bacon-naan-roll-kit
Have always grilled my bacon until about three months ago when I fried it....I'll never grill it again. So much more flavour. Only have bacon once, maybe twice a month so don't care about the slight less healthy fried method.
Don't buy bacon from supermarkets...if you have to go cured rather than the cheap standard stuff, but I just get bacon from the local butchers or farm shop...just in a completely different league to anything you can buy in a supermarket.
Microwaved bacon is actually pretty good. Fat goes crispy in a minute or so. It doesn't work well in a shit microwave and can make a bit of a mess but does actually work in creating cooked bacon with crispy fat all around if that's what you want. It's a good method if you're only doing enough for one person as saves heating the whole grill up.
IMO I'd rather have microwaved bacon than microwaved scrambled eggs. Microwave is hopeless for light fluffy French style scrambled eggs as you can't stir enough and control cooking, and it can't do the chunky style either. Whereas bacon comes out OK, not as good as grilled but Ok.
Smoked bacon, cooked in the Aga is the way forward
Soft mortons rolls and unsmoked streaky. Top class, cannot be improved upon.
No danger.
Crispy over soft.
Never well fired, that shits nasty.
I found a small tub with bacon in the fridge this morning*
There was no bread in the cupboard.
There was however a single raisin and cinnamon bagel and a single egg.
Yes, I did. The bacon was very salty, but it offset the sweetness of the bagel nicely, and the runny fried egg provided the "sauce".
I think I shall do that combo again , it was bloody lovely.
* I have since found out that it was decanted from the big pack of poundshop bacon the wife had bought for the kids to go crabbing this afternoon . Oooops
- Smoked bacon - and I’m bucking some of the trend here, back. Whatever you choose though - don’t get the stuff with added water!
- Leave the rind on and cook in a non-stick pan without oil
- Don’t overcook, but with a nice bit of crispness to the rind
- No butter.
- Dip bread in fat - I’m not fussy, so brown, white, granary - all good
- Brown sauce of choice
- Best with coffee as suggested in a previous post
Soft mortons rolls and unsmoked streaky. Top class, cannot be improved upon.
Of course it can, Ayrshire bacon with home laid eggs. With you on soft rolls though, crispy is second place and I'd just not bother with well fired (aka burnt). If you're in the Brownings supply catchment you can also get sweet rolls. I've never been brave enough for that, weird Killie freaks.
Also picked up salt and pepper on my egg from somewhere, think that's a Lanarkshire thing.
Peak STW. After first slaughtering the pig with a home made knife, obvs.
I thought this too but it does sound lovely and I'm intrigued.
Bacon fried in butter is also very nice ,brings back find memories of a camp side brekkie.
Ayrshire bacon for lunch today (Robertson's)
Btw does The Horn cafe still sell legendary bacon rolls?
@yokaiser it’ll be a sign of end times when the Horn stops serving the plus one bacon roll (order one bring a second roll, there’s plenty for two).
I tried the Horn rolls once. *boke* got a stack of greasy bacon slates I just about broke a tooth on.
Grilling Vs Frying? My mum always grilled bacon and it's good at guaranteeing a crispy rind, but frying gets more colour and flavour into the meat I reckon. Just got to press the fat into the pan to crispen up. Or do it in a flat sandwich toaster for perfectly flat, crispy bacon.
Soft granary roll. Runny fried egg. HP sauce. That's all I ask, can't remember the last time (if ever) this was what a cafe delivered.
I can't imagine how the "chef" cooked that effort yesterday. "Fry until cooked" - ie the meat turns opaque - is just lazy.
Edinburgh / Midlothian folk, recommendations for a decent place to ride to for this?
Got me thinking about home curing too.
I tried the Horn rolls once. *boke* got a stack of greasy bacon slates I just about broke a tooth on.
What did you ask for.....they have two trays of bacon. Cooked and crunchy.
I've never had the bacon slate issue at the horn.
I asked for a bacon roll. I wasn't given an option as to whether I wanted proper bacon or American ruination.
Never supermarket bacon, the packaging is often thicker, although a lot less watery but shares the same levels of shrinkage when heated.
Butcher bacon around here you are hard pushed to get 3 slices in the big pan, only 2 if you want any chance of getting an egg in the pan at the end.
I like to lightly toast the bottom slice to help soak up the fat and keep a stable sandwich.
Another slice in the pan for some fried bread and to clean the pan.
Bit of grated cheese on top.
Had to buy some Porcus dry cured for tomorrow morning.
This is the recipe I've used for stout and treacle. I think someone on here recommend it ages ago.
You don't need the Prague powder really. Just make sure the pork is decent quality. I go for middle, so you get a nice chunk of loin and belly too.
I also ask the butcher who I get the pork off if he can slice it for me once done, in exchange for some rashers. I don't own a slicer and couldn't get my cuts right even with my butchery knives.
grilling is fine if you can’t cook or are hungover and don’t want to risk it, but if you know what you’re doing frying is obviously best!Grilling Vs Frying? My mum always grilled bacon and it’s good at guaranteeing a crispy rind, but frying gets more colour and flavour into the meat I reckon. Just got to press the fat into the pan to crispen up.
A chef once told me that you need to “melt” the fat before crisping it up which basically means putting it on a medium heat until the fat has melted and then turn it up a notch to get it crispy. Takes a bit longer and is best with dry cured from the butcher but the results speak for themselves.
I also ask the butcher who I get the pork off if he can slice it for me once done, in exchange for some rashers. I don’t own a slicer
The local butcher's assistant was fired for putting his "sausage" in the meat slicer. What happened to the meat slicer?
She was fired too.
(Peter Kay, I think)
She was sacked too.
Bacon and mushroom cob is my favourite 'guilty treat'.
The mushrooms must be fried hot and quick with a generous amount of coarse ground black pepper. Soft cob too - crusty cobs have their place, but this isn't it.
After a 100 mile wiggle ride i was hungry amd the smell of f fat coming off the griddle proved too alluring
Can i have a bacon burger in a grilled bap please, i said.
The reply... Whats a grilled bap?
Now try to mansplain to the hapless lass that its a bap tjats been grilled for a few seconds, witjout sounding condescending
Maybe a career in catering wasnt for her
Perhaps it was bap she didn't understand (given regional differences in terminology) rather than grilled.
Toasted?
bacon in the air fryer is the way forward these days. buying better bacon is recommended too.
Bacon and mushroom cob is my favourite ‘guilty treat’.
Jeeso, one problem with not having a bacon sandwich for so long - I'd forgotten bacon and mushroom is THE way to go. Even with a runny egg in there too.
The reply… Whats a grilled bap?
You'e entering a regional minefield there
In Accrington they call them teacakes. WTF is that all about? 😳
south west scotland call a roll a rowie ..... odd folk.
a rowie is not a roll....
a rowie is masses of salt and butter and a wee touch of flour 😀
That map is all bollox
A Vienna?
A morning roll is just a roll, no?
I come from a family of bacon-worshippers going back many generations.
A few people here are right. Most are wrong.
First and foremost:
Never supermarket bacon
Cannot overstate. To explain to cyclists would best compare a sub-Halfords BSO that nonetheless says ‘bike’ on the label - with a hand-built, custom-butted-tubed good quality bicycle that will do the job well.
But it doesn’t automatically follow that all high street butchers stock decent traditional bacon. Many just sell similar stuff to supermarkets.
I don’t eat it hardly ever these days so don’t search, but the last time I chanced upon some decent stuff was 2018. It was that good that I remember the year. It took me back to childhood (the quality, taste and texture and scent of the bacon). It was from a small village butcher in South Shrops. Bought three rashers for about £2. The side was kept on a cold stone and sliced with a slicing machine to my preference and wrapped in paper. Nice thick streaky rashers. (The irony is that bacon like this was as common as Raleigh Choppers when I was a kid (industrial town in West Midlands) and yet now ‘traditional’ quality is viewed suspiciously by most today as if it’s some kind of affectation.
Cooking:
I cooked them on gas in a non-stick pan with no oil.
To do this bring up the heat slowly. They will begin to create their own pool of hot fat if you do it correctly. There is little-to-no shrinkage of good quality bacon, unless you like it very well done then it will shrink towards the end of cooking.
After 5-10 mins of gentle cooking the flat, thick rashers should be sizzling in a good quantity of their own rendered fat. This is all that I want on my bread, ie the ‘bacon dip’
Before loading the (white, farmhouse) bread with the rashers, move the rashers aside in the pan and place bread slices one by one in the pan and cook (what are to be the two ‘inside sides’ of the sandwich) for about 10 secs in the hot fat.
Ideally there will be a very gentle crisping around the edge of the bread crusts. You’re not frying the bread until brown, it’s just a very hot dip so the bread remains soft inside yet takes on the tasty hot bacon-fat as a ‘spread’. Now turn off the heat then load the rashers in-between the bread.
Condiments should be minimal, if at all. I sometimes would put a slug of Daddies or OK, or HP sauce (insert favourite brown sauce) on the plate and dip the butty with alternative bites.
But the key to all of this is simply the rendered fat and the quality of the meat.
- No watery pink plastic packed rubbish (ruins everything)
- No spread (ruins the taste)
- No grilling (dries the meat)
- No rush (ruins everything)
I’d take that once in a blue moon over any frequency of plastic-encased pink watery rubbish.
south west scotland call a roll a rowie ….. odd folk.
I can absolutely assure you we ****ing don't. We have many idiosyncrasies but that's not one of them. Also a roll is a roll (and a toll is a toll) but I bet you know fine and well a buttery isn't a roll. Despite it being on the wrong coast.
@binners that map is utter shite, nobody in Scotland calls a roll a cob (there aren't enough people in sutherland to even have a regional variation) and butteries are an Aberdonian thing. Baps are shitty overly doughy things to put burgers in, not your breakfast.
Bagel.
Kind of ironic but irrefutable.
*Edit
After 5-10 mins of gentle cooking the flat, thick rashers should be sizzling in a good quantity of their own rendered fat. Continue cooking until satisfied with the result
Out on a ride in Yorkshire a few years ago, we stopped at one of those little heritage railway stations, there was a cabin there doing basic food. Chalkboard outside said bacon sandwiches, we were both well up for that.
They put a couple of rashers of bacon into the microwave on a styrofoam tray. We'd already moved to one side by then to allow the next people to order so it was too late to say "actually, NO...!"
It was edible. Just. I think it's the first time I've ever had microwaved bacon, it will definitely be the last. I like nice crispy bacon. 🙂
Baps are shitty overly doughy things made for chip butties, to put
burgers innothing in unless chips and butter and especially not your breakfast.
ftfy
(there aren’t enough people in sutherland to even have a regional variation)
It'll be all the English moving up to get away from it all and open BnBs SK
Yep that map is just wrong. I live in south east Leeds and its breadcake all the way round here, or scuffler sometimes (but thats a slightly different type of breadcake, and usually Wakefield area). Halifax it's teacake, a teacake like everyone else knows it is a 'current teacake'. But they also have chats nights at chip shops, so what do they know.....
I was born in Leicester and I've never heard a bap type thing being called a cob outside of the east midlands, but a round loaf gets called a cob in a fair few other places.
Any way, crispy bacon, mushroom and fried egg with brown sauce on an oven bottom cake is the way to go!
Never supermarket bacon
Not even the likes of Taste the Difference Dry Cured ?
In Accrington they call them teacakes
Teacakes also in Barnsley. If you want currants in them ask for a currant teacake.
That maps sooo wrong.
It's more wrong than right.
Smoked bacon from the butchers.
In the Aga for 12/14 minutes fresh morning roll or proper bread.
Done.
Options to expand include square sausage and or an Egg.
So am I literally the only person on STW that doesn't like crunchy bacon?
So am I literally the only person on STW that doesn’t like crunchy bacon?
Nope, I prefer non crunchy.
binners
Full Member
The reply… Whats a grilled bap?You’e entering a regional minefield there
you call it a bap up here in glesga you'll get looked at funny, it's a roll.
Map is miles oot I'd guess.
So am I literally the only person on STW that doesn’t like crunchy bacon?
I'll answer with pictures:
Bacon: 
Ruined: 
In other words, no. Unless you mean the rind in which case I can take a bit of crunch but, again, not solid.
We call it a breadcake (Rotherham).
That map is all bollox
<zooms in>
Don’t bollocks normally come in pairs?