Bacon
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Bill Martin
Jul 17, 2016, 5:05:24 PM7/17/16
to smoker...@googlegroups.com, BillsKitchen, Teresa Matuska
I bought some Jamestown bacon the other day at HEB and it was on sale for UNDER!!! $2 a lb, and they are REAL 16 oz packages, NOT 12 oz disguised to LOOK like 1 lb packages. I have bought this brand before, and its OK. Smoked, not overly salty but nicely cured. Out of Virginia. Not a high end brand to start with.
I wanted something pretty cheap to experiment with, (the Ginger Dawg doesnʻt really care!!!), during this flurry of interest about boiling/sous vide cooking before searing in a pan or in the oven at 450F.
I was wondering WHY it was so cheap.
I found out. In small print the carton says: “Irregular Slices”. And that was VERY true. What a mess.
When cooked or raw, the “slices” donʻt come cleanly apart. And they tear apart as you separate them. Just messy!
Almost, but not quite, more trouble than the time I bought the “bacon trimmings” 5 lb package cheap. (all cut up little pieces of bacon in a cryovac package.) Again, the experiment worked out. But the bacon WAS trimmings. Not that good eating.
Well, I did the Sous Vide cook alongside the pork belly strips. Pork bellies went into the freezer for other experiments later on.
So, with the bacon, I tried the oven method rather than the hot cast iron sear on one side method. Had a heck of time fighting to get the slices unglued and untangled from one another and into the parchment papered sheet pan. (Never do that again with super cheap, paper thin bacon!).
Anyway, time them at 10 minutes. Came out perfectly done. Laid them out on paper towels and dabbed them dry-ish.
Ate whatever fell off. (Quality Control!)
Made a tomato/bacon sammy with some french bread and mayo. A bit of fresh ground pepper. Actually the bacon tasted as good as almost any bacon I have ever eaten. And made an excellent sandwich. Fed some to Ginger who approved with gusto!
Iʻll do this again with thick sliced higher end Wrights bacon or similar. But, I think Iʻll try the hot pan sear next time rather than the, still overly messy, sheet pan in the oven method.
Nicely done experiment this morning. And I learned a few things on the way.
Bill
"The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
..................Margaret Thatcher
I wanted something pretty cheap to experiment with, (the Ginger Dawg doesnʻt really care!!!), during this flurry of interest about boiling/sous vide cooking before searing in a pan or in the oven at 450F.
I was wondering WHY it was so cheap.
I found out. In small print the carton says: “Irregular Slices”. And that was VERY true. What a mess.
When cooked or raw, the “slices” donʻt come cleanly apart. And they tear apart as you separate them. Just messy!
Almost, but not quite, more trouble than the time I bought the “bacon trimmings” 5 lb package cheap. (all cut up little pieces of bacon in a cryovac package.) Again, the experiment worked out. But the bacon WAS trimmings. Not that good eating.
Well, I did the Sous Vide cook alongside the pork belly strips. Pork bellies went into the freezer for other experiments later on.
So, with the bacon, I tried the oven method rather than the hot cast iron sear on one side method. Had a heck of time fighting to get the slices unglued and untangled from one another and into the parchment papered sheet pan. (Never do that again with super cheap, paper thin bacon!).
Anyway, time them at 10 minutes. Came out perfectly done. Laid them out on paper towels and dabbed them dry-ish.
Ate whatever fell off. (Quality Control!)
Made a tomato/bacon sammy with some french bread and mayo. A bit of fresh ground pepper. Actually the bacon tasted as good as almost any bacon I have ever eaten. And made an excellent sandwich. Fed some to Ginger who approved with gusto!
Iʻll do this again with thick sliced higher end Wrights bacon or similar. But, I think Iʻll try the hot pan sear next time rather than the, still overly messy, sheet pan in the oven method.
Nicely done experiment this morning. And I learned a few things on the way.
Bill
"The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
..................Margaret Thatcher
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