Ingredient: Bacon
Category: Meat - Pork, Bacon, Ham & Gammons
Season: All:
Bacon is any of certain cuts of meat taken from the sides, belly or back of a pig that may be cured and/or smoked.
Imatation bacon
Meat from other animals may also be cured or otherwise prepared to resemble bacon, such as beef, lamb, chicken, goat or turkey bacon.
Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game birds.
Many people prefer to have their bacon smoked by using various types of woods. This process can take up to ten hours depending on the intensity of the flavour desired.
Bacon may be eaten fried, baked, or grilled.
A side of un-sliced bacon is a slab,
while an individual slice of bacon is a rasher (United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) or
simply a slice or strip (North America).
Slices of bacon are also known as collops.
Traditionally
The skin is left on the cut and is known as bacon rind. Rindless bacon, however, is quite common.
In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
Bacon comes in a wide variety of cuts and flavours.
Bacon made from the meat on the back of the pig, is referred to as back bacon and is part of traditional British and Irish breakfasts.
In the United States
Ordinary bacon is only made from the pork belly, yielding what is known in Britain as "streaky bacon", or "streaky rashers". Back bacon is called Canadian-style bacon or Canadian
In continental Europe
It is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient valued both as a source of fat and for its flavour.
In Italy, besides being used in cooking, bacon (pancetta) is also served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto.
In Korea,
One of the most popular cooked meats is grilled unsmoked pork belly called Samgyeopsal, which literally means "three layered flesh". Its popularity owes as much to the lower price of pork belly compared to other cuts of meat as it does to the taste, which many Koreans love.
Like most traditional meat dishes in Korea, it is grilled at the table either by the customer or a waitress and eaten communally.
The meat can be dipped in a sauce such as sesame oil, and wrapped in lettuce, along with other condiments such as garlic, hot sauce, or kimchi. Usually side dishes of vegetables are served. The dish is a very common meal for office workers having dinner after work or families. Soju is often accompanied.
In Mexico
Bacon is said to be one of the favoured dishes of Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec sky and creator god. Some believe that this Aztec Bacon was actually from the indigenous South American peccary, instead of from the European pig where most other bacon comes from.
Bacon used as a topping:
In the US and Europe, bacon is often used as a condiment or topping on other foods.
Streaky bacon is more commonly used as a topping in the US, on items such as pizza, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, baked potatoes, hot dogs, and soups.
Back bacon is used less frequently in the United States, but can sometimes be found on pizza, salads and omelets.
Bacon bits are chopped pieces of pre-cooked bacon intended to be sprinkled over foods, particularly salads.
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