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I am told that in America, you can buy Canadian bacon if you want the good stuff.
the good stuff
It's a minefield out there.
Whoa, uncured bacon? So just pork slices then?
If you’d be brought up on what passes for bacon around most tables in the USA, you probably would too.
British bacon:
American bacon:
I know which one tastes best just by looking at it 😋
ymmv. <—- The Point.
So if non pork products can be bacon I'm now eagerly looking forward to an example of lamb sirloin or beef gigot.
The curing process is not what makes it bacon, it's simply the name of the end product made from the particular cut of pork (region specific). Beef, lamb or anything else cannot be bacon by the same virtue that chicken cannot be salami. Or pancetta. Your sausage argument falls at the first hurdle because a sausage is a descriptive term for anything that consists of minced or chopped product wrapped in a tubular casing. So as chorizo is to sausage, bacon is to cured meat.
Your sausage argument falls at the first hurdle because a sausage is a descriptive term for anything that consists of minced or chopped product wrapped in a tubular casing.
Not when I was kid it wasn’t. A ‘sausage’ was made from pig meat and bread in a casing made from intestines. Seasoned with pepper, salt and possibly sage or leek. Slight regional differences allowed. This is how you get ‘sausage-flavoured’ crisps. I suppose the case could be made (Boom-cha!) that beef or turkey or garlic was also technically ‘sausage’ but for most British persons a sausage was understood to be pork and only pork.
Beef sausages were the only other things referred to as ‘sausages’ and they were generally viewed with either confusion or suspicion and rarely if ever purchased unless that’s all there was left on the shelf.
Cured ‘sausages’ were foreign, cold and a different classification altogether than traditional English/British sausage. There was also a ‘saveloy’ but it was not a ‘proper’ traditional sausage,
Things/words/definitions change, expand, contract. About 500 years ago ‘bacon’ referred to all pork meat, not a particular cut and/or preparation.
Current definition of bacon
If I was full-on porkist I might argue against definition b in the MW dictionary (See below), but somehow don’t feel the pressure or requirement to. If I was a Nationalist I could claim vociferously/enthusiastically that my country and my country alone makes the best things from killed pigs. But again, not a hill I’d seek to die on.
Definition of bacon (Entry 1 of 5)
1a : a side of a pig cured and smoked
also : the thin strips cut from bacon
b : thin strips of meat other than pork that is cured and smoked
‘Also’ = a/the word that seems to confuse people.
For completists here’s the USDA info (might as well start getting used to it) about various food classifications under, in and around the term ‘bacon’*
BABY FOOD WITH FRESH BACON: Bacon without nitrites must be shown in the ingredients statement as bacon (water, salt, sugar, etc., without nitrates or nitrites). Nitrites and nitrates are not acceptable in baby and toddler foods. (Nitrate is prohibited in all bacon.)
BACK BACON (United Kingdom): Most bacon consumed in the U.K. is back bacon (also called short back bacon). The cut comes from the loin in the middle of the back of the animal. It is a lean, meaty cut of bacon, with relatively less fat compared to other cuts.
BACK RASHERS (Irish): Pork bacon made from the meat on the back of the pig. This type of bacon is part of a traditional Irish breakfast.
BACON: The cured belly of a swine (hog) carcass. If meat from other portions of the carcass is used, the product name must be qualified to identify the portions, e.g., "Pork Shoulder Bacon."
BACON AND PORK SAUSAGE: Product is formulated with a high percentage of bacon (usually bacon ends and pieces) with at least 20% pork.
BACON ARKANSAS and ARKANSAS STYLE BACON: Product which is identified as "Arkansas Bacon" or "Arkansas Style Bacon" is produced from the pork shoulder blade Boston roast. The pork shoulder blade Boston roast includes the porcine muscle, fat, and bone; cut interior of the second or third thoracic vertebra; posterior of the atlas joint (first cervical vertebra); and dorsal of the center of the humerus bone.
For "Arkansas Bacon," the neck bones and rib bones are removed by cutting close to the underside of those bones. The blade bone (scapula) and the dorsal fat covering, including the skin (clear plate), are removed, leaving no more than one-quarter inch of fat covering the roast. The meat is then dry cured with salt, sugar, nitrites, and spices, and smoked with natural smoke.
The meat may not be injected or soaked in curing brine, nor may any artificial or liquid smoke be applied to the meat. Product that is prepared outside the state of Arkansas, but in the manner prescribed, may be identified as "Arkansas Style Bacon." The true product name must be shown as "Boneless Cured Pork Shoulder Butt."
BACON (CANNED - PASTEURIZED): A shelf-stable item, which must have at least 7% brine concentration.
BACON (COOKED): Not to yield more than 40% bacon - 60% shrink required. BHA and BHT may be used as antioxidants in precooked bacon at level of 0.01% individually or 0.02% collectively, based on fat content. TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone) can be used in products as an antioxidant (reduces the damage from oxygen) in combination with the preservatives BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), but it can not be used alone except in cooked bacon.
BACON-LIKE PRODUCTS: Bacon-like products, including poultry bacon, labeled with "bacon" in the name must follow the same requirements as those applied to pork bacon. These requirements include, but are limited to, limits on restricted ingredients and the requirement that the bacon must return to "green weight" (see below).
BACON PRODUCTS: The bacon products intended for further cooking before consumption, i.e., slab bacon for deli slicing, can be labeled "certified," "roasted," or "partially cooked" provided the product is cooked to 148 °F and the labeling clearly indicates the product is intended to be further cooked before consumption.
BEEF BACON: Beef bacon is a cured and smoked beef product sliced to resemble regular bacon. It is prepared from various beef cuts and offered with a variety of coined names, including "Breakfast Beef," "Beef Bacon," etc. A common or usual name is required, e.g., "Cured and Smoked Beef Plate," and should be shown contiguous to the coined name.
CANADIAN BACON: In the United States, "Canadian" bacon is plain lean "back bacon" (see above) made from the loin, and it is trichina treated. It is simply called "back bacon" in Canada, where "Canadian bacon" is traditionally unsmoked back bacon that has been sweet pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. This variation is also known as peameal bacon, because, in times past, a mixture of ground yellow peas was used for coating to improve curing and shelf-life.
CERTIFIED: If pork is treated to eliminate Trichinella spiralis, and the processing company demonstrates that viable trichinae have been destroyed or rendered ineffective in causing infection, the resulting pork can be labeled as "certified pork."
DIXIE BACON or DIXIE SQUARE: Bacon made from cured and smoked cheeks of pork. The true product name, e.g., "Pork Jowl Dixie Bacon, Cured and Smoked" shall appear on the label.
FINISHED WEIGHT: The final weight of cured pork bellies after processing. The weight of cured pork bellies ready for slicing and labeling as "Bacon" shall not exceed the weight of the fresh, uncured pork bellies (green weight).
GREEN WEIGHT: The weight of fresh pork bellies, normally skinned and trimmed, prior to pumping with curing solution.
ORGANIC BACON: Bacon can be certified organic if made from organically raised meat or poultry.
PANCETTA (pan-CHET-uh): Italian streaky bacon, smoked or green (unsmoked), with a strong flavor. It is usually cured in salt and spices and then air-dried. The name is diminutive of pancia, meaning "belly."
POULTRY BACON: Poultry bacon products are acceptable and may be designated as (Kind) Bacon. However, a true descriptive name must appear contiguous to (Kind) Bacon without intervening type or design, in letters at least one-half the size of the letters used in the (Kind) Bacon, and in the same style and color and on the same background. An example of an acceptable designation is "Turkey Bacon - Cured Turkey Breast Meat - Chopped and Formed." The descriptive name can serve alone as the product name. If poultry bacon is cooked and ready to eat from the package, the label will have statements such as "fully cooked" or "ready to eat." If poultry bacon is not ready to eat, it is required to bear safe handling instructions.
STREAKY BACON: The name for North American bacon in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It comes from the belly of a pig and is very fatty with long veins of fat running parallel to the rind. It is also called "streaky rashers."
TURKEY BACON: (see "POULTRY BACON")
‘Beef bacon’ is in it’s own class , ie classified as distinct from ‘bacon-like products’ yet also distinct from ‘regular’ (ie pork) bacon.
That should please everyone? No?
No 🤣
BEEF BACON: Beef bacon is a cured and smoked beef product sliced to resemble regular bacon. It is prepared from various beef cuts and offered with a variety of coined names, including “Breakfast Beef,” “Beef Bacon,” etc. A common or usual name is required, e.g., “Cured and Smoked Beef Plate,” and should be shown contiguous to the coined name.
POULTRY BACON: Poultry bacon products are acceptable and may be designated as (Kind) Bacon. However, a true descriptive name must appear contiguous to (Kind) Bacon without intervening type or design, in letters at least one-half the size of the letters used in the (Kind) Bacon, and in the same style and color and on the same background. An example of an acceptable designation is “Turkey Bacon – Cured Turkey Breast Meat – Chopped and Formed.” The descriptive name can serve alone as the product name.
So they are not bacon.
for most [s]British[/s] English persons a sausage was understood to be pork and only pork.
FTFY
I think I'm seeing the problem here.
Seriously, beef sausages are most assuredly a thing in Scotland, what else do you put into a steak pie (besides the steak)?? As for smoked sausage suppers...
That aside, MW can do one, I'm not American and don't need their revisionist nonsense. According to the Oxford dictionary:
NOUN
mass noun
Cured meat from the back or sides of a pig.‘crisp rashers of bacon’
Origin
Middle English from Old French, from a Germanic word meaning ‘ham, flitch’; related to back.
https://www.lexico.com/definition/bacon
Even it's etymology is clear as day. Bacon is pig.
🤣🤣🤣
You still don’t get it.
No-one here AFAIK is arguing that bacon is pork (as it was 500 years ago) or that bacon is not pork. Everyone agrees that ‘bacon’ is definitively (and etymologically) made from pig-flesh.
Even it’s etymology is clear as day. Bacon is pig.
We know! If you read my last comment I reminded that the word ‘bacon’ was (5 centuries ago) the word used for all of pork.
Slight aside - that begged the question - shouldn’t you ‘anti-revisionists’ be at least consistent and argue that ‘bacon’ should never have been changed from it’s original meaning which was any part/all of a pig and nothing to do with curing, salting or smoking? Why not? 🤣🤣🤣
But anyway. let’s try one more time. One last time.
As Hols2 informs us (even though he/she must have forgotten and so dropped a mic on their foot in some Patridgesque redundant-triumphant gesture!)
Coconut milk is not milk, it’s coconut milk’
Ok? All agreed?
Now...pin your ears back and read it out loud:
Beef-bacon is not ‘bacon‘. It’s known as beef-bacon.
Here’s another one so as it might stick:
Turkey-bacon is not ‘bacon‘, it’s known as turkey-bacon.
Etc.
Understand now? Sweeezus! Wait, what’s that I can hear...?
Beef-bacon is not ‘bacon‘. It’s known as beef-bacon.
A common or usual name is required, e.g., “Cured and Smoked Beef Plate,” and should be shown contiguous to the coined name.
It's marketed as "Beef-Bacon" to mislead unsuspecting customers. It's known as "Cured and Smoked Beef Plate" in the eyes of the law.
IKR? beef-bacon is haram in the eyes of the law! See above pic ^^ for the eyes of the law. See also turkey-bacon. And bac’n-bits.
Now all you have to do is to figure out whether you care or don’t care what the USDA have to say about anything.
But I’m superglad that clear labelling helps people understand that beef-bacon is made from cured and smoked beef rather than pork.
I nearly mistakenly bought dad a bag of ‘chicken crackling’ once. Luckily there was a drawing of a chicken on the front of the bag which gave me pause. Also the word ‘chicken’ before ‘crackling’ helped clue me that something was not quite right. But to be sure, I read the label on the back and it confirmed my suspicions. They were attempting to mislead me.
Sneaky bastards. Tread carefully it’s a minefield out there for the conscientious objector/porkist. Because of Br*xit there will be a lot of sneaky ham?haram? (hamram?) shenanigans coming from foreign meat packers, including (and maybe especially from) Trumpland.
(Puts coconut milk in tea. Spits)
GRARGHH! Is nothing SACRED???
I remember one of the greatest meals I’ve ever had was when I was in China Town (London) for work a long time ago and they had crispy lamb pancakes on the menu. Like duck, but lamb. Oh. My. God. It was unbelievably tasty. Been looking out for it ever since, but never found it. I mean, they had lamb crackling for crying out loud!
I’ve not had it for a while but in my (extensively studied) knowledge of Scottish Chinese takeaways about 1:3 supply crispy lamb...
Its that veggie shock tactic pig slaughtering video. Plus it has a warning on it on you tube for obvious reasons,so I think it shouldn't be played in open forum, when it's already been established some on here are under 18.
Shocking as it is, but actually the guys doing this, look competent to me. They work as quickly as they can and while Mr porkie doesn't like having a rope looped around his snout and dragged out(Choke chains on dogs ???) I doubt they could have easily got the pig out the shed, as it knows whats on the cards.
It was stunned quite effectively(A practiced hand, its a small area to aim for) and bled very quickly after that. Suffering here in my opinion was minimal, and I have done this in Romania, and a cow too. But was the early nineties and we didnt have slaughterhouse facilities. We had a pallet. Well I had a pallet rather 😆 That was a busmans holiday and a half that one.
The cow suffered even less. We shot it.
But to clarify for all -
NOT UK, EUROPE, Or US or ANYWHERE IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD IS THIS HOW BACON PRODUCTION STARTS for the general public. And even the hipster responsibly sourced farms use professional slaughterhouses with vets, welfare officers etc
I mean sure, anyone could post up any video on any subject and claim that is a representation when it isnt. But that isnt obvious to all, and I can quite believe others who arent aware will believe it, then go off and act on those words or implied expectations.
Really mate, I think you should remove or clarify. Lets try to be open and truthful at least.
Any meat can be cured. Beef and pork, these two being the main food animals kept, Pigs root about and look after themselves, cows supply milk.
I mean, they had lamb crackling for crying out loud!
Is not crackling.
It’s marketed as “lamb crackling” to mislead unsuspecting customers. It’s known as “crisped/fried ovine flesh” in the eyes of the law.
Furthermore please consider that any flesh from non-pig animals or is ha(m)ram and should not be advertised, sold or included in recipes in the same way as the One True Meat. It may or may not be your mission to deter or tempt the Faithful but ... words to the wise
*edit
Its that veggie shock tactic pig slaughtering video.
No, it’s not from any animal rights/veggie channel I made sure before posting. It’s representative of the historical beginning of bacon (ie killing a pig)
I also made sure it had the warning on it. Although why under 18s seeing slaughter is a worry I don’t quite get. I was working in a mates dad’s butchers at 16 and killing/butchering wild animals myself some years before that. Animal-farming is not something I’m a fan of these days and I don’t hide that, so let’s let the pig have the last word? We can argue over kill methods in some other thread but as you say - the kill in the video was expertly done.
*doublepost*
... was saying that my (cont’d) parents remember when killing a pig (in England) was done by knife in the backyard. The family pig was at once greatly-respected/ill-regarded as a ‘dirty animal with prized flesh’.
I had a great-aunt and uncle who would keep a ‘family pig‘ in the yard and they would either kill it themselves or have the local butcher round. The ‘value‘ of the animal was at the very least not a shelf/factory commodity like a brick on a conveyor belt.
Here let me try again:
The beginning of bacon is agreed: (sort of!)
(Painting by Pieter Bruegel)
Beef and pork, these two being the main food animals kept,
Chickens are much more important than beef.
<br />Find more statistics at Statista
https://www.statista.com/statistics/237632/production-of-meat-worldwide-since-1990/
please make it stop...
You've all been in lockdown far far too long
please make it stop
You’ve all been in lockdown far far too long
Dude. WTF.
BACON (CANNED – PASTEURIZED): A shelf-stable item, which must have at least 7% brine concentration.
No-one here AFAIK is arguing that bacon is pork (as it was 500 years ago) or that bacon is not pork. Everyone agrees that ‘bacon’ is definitively (and etymologically) made from pig-flesh.
Really? Because you said:
Fruit flesh
Coconut milk
Turkey bacon
Almond milkLanguage is language, hate to burst bubbles!
In response to:
Some rules on food:
1. Bacon is made from dead pigs.
2. Milk comes from animals.
You're inconsistent. If you're trying to pull a Taylforth you're doing a poor job of it.