Well, to Peter, Boron and others who offered their experiences/advice about
ordering artisanal bacon, I just wanted to say *thank you*.

My husband, Bob, loved his gift of 4 different bacons from various
smokehouses....let's see, there was North Country Cob Smoked, Neuske's
Pepper Bacon, Dan Phillip's secret special brine (or whatever it's called),
and the Cinnamon Bacon that I think is also by Dan Phillips. I was going to
add some Nodine's Applewood Smoked bacon, which I can buy locally here, but
the shop I went to didn't sell it vacuum packed (only loose from the butcher
case), so I decided to get that at a later date (we only need so much bacon
at once).

So far, we've tried the North Country Cob Smoked bacon. Wow, is that smoky
stuff! Very lean, too. You have to cook it pretty slow, because it's so
lean that it's in danger of getting burnt before enough fat renders to cook
it crisp. I would like to try cooking it in the microwave.

We compared it to some supermarket bacon that Bob had bought just before
Christmas (Hormel -- a big 4-pound Costco pack), and the Cob Smoked bacon
just blows the Hormel out of the water. In a side-by-side test, the Hormel
bacon had almost no flavor next to the Cob smoked. Our young children
slightly preferred the Hormel because of that milder flavor and thinner,
crispier texture, but they liked the good stuff, too.

Bob is looking forward to trying the other varieties in his gift pack.
We're going to get some of the Nodine's locally, and some bacon from the
local Amish market and compare them to some of the gift bacon. :-) Fun
stuff.

Oink!

Chris

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 17:06:09 GMT, "Chris" >
wrote:

>Well, to Peter, Boron and others who offered their experiences/advice about
>ordering artisanal bacon, I just wanted to say *thank you*.

You are most welcome. Glad it was a hit.
>

>We compared it to some supermarket bacon that Bob had bought just before
>Christmas (Hormel -- a big 4-pound Costco pack), and the Cob Smoked bacon
>just blows the Hormel out of the water. In a side-by-side test, the Hormel
>bacon had almost no flavor next to the Cob smoked. Our young children
>slightly preferred the Hormel because of that milder flavor and thinner,
>crispier texture, but they liked the good stuff, too.

We have had some interesting bacon from Costco...we bought Farmer's
Hickory brand that is uncured, but apple smoked (don't ask me why
they did not use hickory). Not salty. Very mild, but flavorful
>
>Bob is looking forward to trying the other varieties in his gift pack.
>We're going to get some of the Nodine's locally, and some bacon from the
>local Amish market and compare them to some of the gift bacon. :-) Fun
>stuff.
>
>Oink!

Bacon tastings. My kind of party.

Boron

On Sun 01 Jan 2006 10:06:09a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Chris?

> Well, to Peter, Boron and others who offered their experiences/advice
> about ordering artisanal bacon, I just wanted to say *thank you*.
>
> My husband, Bob, loved his gift of 4 different bacons from various
> smokehouses....let's see, there was North Country Cob Smoked, Neuske's
> Pepper Bacon, Dan Phillip's secret special brine (or whatever it's
> called), and the Cinnamon Bacon that I think is also by Dan Phillips. I
> was going to add some Nodine's Applewood Smoked bacon, which I can buy
> locally here, but the shop I went to didn't sell it vacuum packed (only
> loose from the butcher case), so I decided to get that at a later date
> (we only need so much bacon at once).
>
> So far, we've tried the North Country Cob Smoked bacon. Wow, is that
> smoky stuff! Very lean, too. You have to cook it pretty slow, because
> it's so lean that it's in danger of getting burnt before enough fat
> renders to cook it crisp. I would like to try cooking it in the
> microwave.
>
> We compared it to some supermarket bacon that Bob had bought just before
> Christmas (Hormel -- a big 4-pound Costco pack), and the Cob Smoked
> bacon just blows the Hormel out of the water. In a side-by-side test,
> the Hormel bacon had almost no flavor next to the Cob smoked. Our young
> children slightly preferred the Hormel because of that milder flavor and
> thinner, crispier texture, but they liked the good stuff, too.
>
> Bob is looking forward to trying the other varieties in his gift pack.
> We're going to get some of the Nodine's locally, and some bacon from the
> local Amish market and compare them to some of the gift bacon. :-)
> Fun stuff.

Well, we didn't have *artisanal* bacon. A friend sent us a brunch box from
Swiss Colony that contained smoked bacon, peppered bacon, Canadian bacon, a
small ham, and other goodies. I didn't have a lot of faith in this to
begin with, having been disappointed in Swiss Colony products before, but I
cooked up the peppered bacon this morning and it was really delicious.
Both flavor and texture were excellent.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

"Chris" > writes:
> So far, we've tried the North Country Cob Smoked bacon. Wow, is that smoky
> stuff!

That's my standard bacon, especially since I lve right by their
smokehouse. Although it is so smokey that occasionally it is overkill
for some dishes. I have a giant 5 lb bag of trimmings that I got from
them that I use for soups, beans, and such.

> Very lean, too. You have to cook it pretty slow, because it's so
> lean that it's in danger of getting burnt before enough fat renders to cook
> it crisp. I would like to try cooking it in the microwave.

I never microwave bacon. Depending on what I'm doing, it's either an
ingredient in something, or if by itself, I oven cook it (for large
crowds or sandwiches) or sloooowly fry it.


--
Richard W Kaszeta

http://www.kaszeta.org/rich