Andy wrote:
> ~patches~ wrote:
>
>>dwacôn wrote:
>>
>>>My childhood memories were of my dad making bacon.
>>>
>>>He'd go to the butcher for thick cuts of bacon with the rind intact.
>>
>><snip of war zone>
>>
>>Our butchershop has this kind of bacon. It is good stuff! I use it in
>>baked brown beans that I can up for later use. The bacon that comes in
>>those vacuum packs in the grocery store are flavourless and too thin to
>>be of much use, IMO. Other bacon style items our butchershop has - salt
>>pork which is like a 4" block of very salty bacon, unsalted pork back
>>that looks like bacon without the salt - both are great ingredients to
>>cook with.
>>
> We used to order slabs of bacon from a company called (iirc) Spring Hills
> Meats (Tennessee). You could slice as thick slices as you liked and after
> going through two slabs, you had about enough skin to make a football. We
> also ordered their 2 foot long breakfast sausage in a burlap bag.

Gayle's Market on Rt 33 near Massanutten Mountain in Virginia still
carries stuff like that. Huge slabs of dry-cured bacon, hams hanging
from rafters...

They cut the bacon on a band saw. You can buy a hunk or they'll slice it
to suit you. I've had them do some about 3/8" thick which I then cooked
on a rack over a baking pan to catch the rendered fat. 250°F until they
weigh like a feather - an hour or so. Virtually all the renderable fat
is out. Then I covered them with either honey or brown sugar and put
them back into the oven for it to melt in. Yowzah...

Pastorio