Blog

1

Why the hell does the whole foods brand bacon (as well as some others... I don't bother checking the ones over $8) have evaporated cane juice?? And whole foods puts evaporated cane juice and every other toxic ingredient they can possibly find in their kitchen in almost everything at their hot bar. Why? Where do I find bacon? I don't like it enough to spend $12 a package.

flag
My local Whole Foods doesn't have cane juice or toxic ingredients in their hot bar foods. What kind of toxic stuff is in yours? – Kamal♦ Apr 30 2011 at 23:55
4 
 They generally put canola oil in everything in their hot bar, and have not been known to be the best about fully labeling all ingredients. – valkyrie Apr 30 2011 at 23:59
Ah, I see. The only things I've eaten there are chicken legs, cauliflower Indian thingies, and strawberries. It was tough to find anything without nightshades though. – Kamal♦ May 1 2011 at 0:04
3 
 My whole foods has a grain aisle. A GRAIN AISLE! – Forrest May 1 2011 at 0:10
1 
 Why must you eat bacon from a package in the first place? WF sells pork belly...just buy that and you can get it by the slice. – Chris Jun 2 2011 at 22:12
show 2 more comments

7 Answers

8

If you don't like bacon all that much you probably don't want to make your own, but just in case you might want to anyway, it's easy. Just get a nice pork belly from a butcher, grind up a bunch salt, peppercorns, thyme, nutmeg, and juniper berries (that's the hardest part right there) and rub it all over the meat. Put it in a big plastic bag, or a covered non-reactive casserole (Pyrex, glass, ceramic, etc.) and stick it in your fridge for a week. Flip it every couple of days; it'll make a slight amount of brine, and you want that to get everywhere.

When you want some bacon, carve off some slices and fry 'em up. Without nitrates, the whole thing will stay good a couple of weeks, probably longer. If it'll take you longer than that to eat it all, carve it into chunks and freeze them. Use the chunks like salt pork in broths or anything else you like.

Here's what it looks like: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1081508560022.2012985.1295559171&l=7dd6ce15bf

link|flag
1 
 Rose, Your bacon is beautiful. – lunabelle Apr 30 2011 at 23:53
Thanks! It tasted wonderful, too. That was our first one ever; we've tweaked the recipe lots since then -- no sugar, no nitrates, no smoking, etc. – Rose Apr 30 2011 at 23:57
Thanks Rose! I might end up doing this. – Danielle May 1 2011 at 0:18
Looks delicious, and you almost make it look easy enough to do myself. What's with the bags, though? Could I just cover the pyrex dishes with saran wrap, or would I need to encase the belly fully in plastic? If so, do you use any particular type/brand of plastic bags? And do you have a recipe for the exact ingredients/amounts for the rub somewhere? Thanks in advance! :) – Casey Jun 21 2011 at 18:35
LOL -- the bags were my husband's idea, to make it easier to turn the belly over and soak it in the brine on both sides. But we've done it without the bags and it works just fine. The rub recipe(s) come from a book called *Charcuterie*: amazon.com/… We cut back on the salt and nitrates (using the amount of salt they recommend has consistently resulted in waaaaay too salty bacon). – Rose Jun 21 2011 at 19:44
show 1 more comment
7

Bacon is almost always cured with some form of sugar. It's part of the basic recipe that almost EVERYONE uses. Cane sugar is probably the least bad of the things they could be using. Additionally, as a cure, the sugar's main purpose is to draw the water out of the meat before it gets smoked. So I'm not sure how "sweetened" that makes the actual meat. If you are curing only with salt, it makes for a far "harder and drier" product.

link|flag
The bacon is cured as a "slab" or larger piece of meat. Then when its ready the cure gets washed off, then it would be smoked (optional) and then sliced, so it's probably a very nominal amount of sugar. – tartare Apr 30 2011 at 23:32
Exactly - sugar has been used as an effective preservative for a very long time, not just salt, but you are also correct in that it's just part of a marinade or soak, so it can only sink in so far into the meat. The rest is rained away, just like any other marinade or even brine solution. If it was cured in slices, which I think you're getting at, the soak-in rate would be higher, but instead, it's the slab, and the fat probably does a lot to keep it out, unless there is some sort of reaction that takes place between the sugar and fats that increases the preservative power and alters the fat. – Rock_Paper_Shirley May 1 2011 at 3:08
yeah that's exactly what i was getting at, though I am curious just how much gets into the meat, as I use a sugar/salt mix to cure certain things at home, including salmon and most recently, 4 pork livers... will let you all know how that one turned out... – tartare May 1 2011 at 3:19
0

Look again at the label. How much sugar is in one serving? Sucrose isn't that harmful in small amounts, certainly not in the <5g or so that's in the bacon, so go for it. Still, would be nice to have the option to buy it without.

link|flag
0

I get mine at Super Walmart, they carry a brand named Plumrose that is No Sugar and Low Sodium.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plumrose-Lower-Sodium-Sugar-Free-Bacon-16-oz/10292324

link|flag
How much does that cost? – Thomas Seay May 1 2011 at 0:47
It's Super Walmart, LOL, so it's not bad, like $4 for the pound! I know it's cheaper than what I was paying at Trader Joes. – sherpamelissa May 1 2011 at 0:51
0

I buy uncured pork sides (not technically bacon since it hasn't been cured) from Slankers (link)

Not only does it not have any sugar, it doesn't have any preservatives at all. And it's grassfed...and it's delicious. As of now, 11$ a lb.

link|flag
Where the heck do you store it? Do you have a smoker? – Futureboy May 1 2011 at 1:24
In the freezer. Bacon's flat and stackable. My freezer holds about 60lbs of meat. – Forrest May 1 2011 at 1:46
Grassfed? Pigs, like chickens, aren't vegetarians. – jroe May 1 2011 at 2:31
I didn't say they were. – Forrest May 1 2011 at 20:27
0

whole foods black forest rubbed bacon is delicious, i will not complain.

link|flag
0

Chickens and Pigs are Omnivores. Both are opportunistic yet both will graze like a cow.

link|flag

Your Answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.