Bacon: A Major Food Group?

Bacon, in my opinion, should be a major food group in and of itself.   (They should put me in charge of rearranging that stupid pyramid, but we'll discuss that in another post.) We have regular bacon, whatever that is, thick cut, slab, fake, real, flavored, smoked, streaky, green, Irish, Canadian, Italian (pancetta) and even bacon made from parts not from the much maligned pork belly.  A few tips on nomenclature.  Bacon is made from the pig's belly, at least here in America.  Bacon not made from the belly is so labeled, like jowl bacon, which is made from the pig's cheek, also known as guanciale.  Bacon is cured and smoked.  Pancetta is cured and dried---but not smoked. Canadian Bacon is the loin also known as back bacon---not the belly. Irish bacon is  from the loin and is similar to Canadian bacon, but not quite.  Streaky bacon is what folk from the UK call American bacon.---which you really can't find in America. Green bacon is not quite bacon---just cured pork belly---unless it is green Irish bacon, which really isn't bacon at all, as it is the loin and also known as back bacon.  Got that?  Now makin' bacon is easy.  I learned after experimenting with  recipes found in Michael Ruhlman and Brain Polcyn's Charcuterie. It is truly not hard to cure and smoke some of the best bacon you've ever eaten.  Start with a piece of pork belly.  Now if your not fortunate enough to live near an organic pig farmer, don't go nuts looking for it, just head to a local Asian market---but buy the best you can find---nice milky white fat with enough meat to make it worthwhile.  Cut it in 1-2 pounds squares, cure it for 5 to 7 days in the refrigerator and smoke for a few hours and you'll never be burdened with that store bought stuff again.  Now, this sounds easy but there are many ways to cure bacon, with an unlimited array of spices, flavorings, ratios and many more ways to smoke it. Make sure the internal temperature of the belly hits 165 in the smoker and you're all set. Lots and lots of recipes and formulas out there--and there are few limits.   I leave that to folks to experiment with.  My first bacon venture tasted more like a salt lick than bacon, but experimentation and trial and error helped.  Whatever you do, never cook bacon in a microwave---it's just wrong and should be a food based capital offense.

Now if you want to learn about bacon, go here or here or here or here or here, but for $30..00 Charcuterie will teach you all you really need to know.  There  are even fairs, clubs and bacon groupies out there.  Contrary to what a cardiologist may say to you, massive amount of salt and pig fat are good for you. Really. I wouldn't make that up.  Think about it---if cardiologists are so darn smart why is heart disease still the leading cause of death??? Cardiologists are really the folk that could not get into podiatry school. Go ahead eat the bacon, ignore the docs.