Bacon Revelations

[TromboneAl]

We recently tried a different brand of bacon. It was just as good as our usual Costco low-sodium bacon, but too salty. So I figured I'd soak it overnight in water to remove some of the salt. I changed the water once.

This morning's result:

The bacon was tasteless! It was almost like eating crispy cardboard. Adding salt brought much of the flavor back. I've often heard that fat by itself isn't that flavorful, but it carries or accentuates other flavors, but I was still surprised.

Here's another bacon revelation that most people don't know. The majority of the fat in bacon is the so-called "good" fat (mono- and poly-unsaturated).

Notice that only 1/3 of the fat in this bacon is saturated fat (and there are no trans fats).

 

[Major Tom]

Here's another bacon revelation that most people don't know. The majority of the fat in bacon is the so-called "good" fat (mono- and poly-unsaturated).

You've made my day Al. How long before we can start the new health craze - "The Bacon Diet"

 

[WB52]

I like the positive press! Bacon gets a bad rap for a product that makes such a tasty wrap.

 

[73ss454]

Notice that the package says 10 servings. That's about one or 2 pieces per person. I have a hard time just eating one or two pieces so I usually just pass on it all together.

 

[Dawg52]

We recently tried a different brand of bacon. It was just as good as our usual Costco low-sodium bacon, but too salty. So I figured I'd soak it overnight in water to remove some of the salt. I changed the water once.

This morning's result:

The bacon was tasteless! It was almost like eating crispy cardboard. Adding salt brought much of the flavor back. I've often heard that fat by itself isn't that flavorful, but it carries or accentuates other flavors, but I was still surprised.

Here's another bacon revelation that most people don't know. The majority of the fat in bacon is the so-called "good" fat (mono- and poly-unsaturated).

I knew I was a healthy consumer.

And in honor of bacon..........

 

[ziggy29]

You've made my day Al. How long before we can start the new health craze - "The Bacon Diet"

It's called "Atkins"....

 

[Major Tom]

Excuse me if I've already described this appetizer here before:

You will need:

A can of sliced water chestnuts
A can of pineapple chunks
A pack of bacon
Some wooden toothpicks

Take a pineapple chunk and a slice of water chestnut (you may need to cut the water chestnut slice down) and wrap a piece of bacon around them (you'll need to cut a small piece of bacon from the slice for this). Skewer the whole thing with a toothpick and put it on a baking sheet.

Make as many of these as you want, then slide the baking sheet into the oven and cook to your taste.

Take out and eat. Very yummy.

 

[braumeister]

Notice that the package says 10 servings. That's about one or 2 pieces per person. I have a hard time just eating one or two pieces so I usually just pass on it all together.

Not a problem for me at all.
I get my bacon from the local butcher shop (they make their own) and I have them slice it to about 10 slices per pound. Two slices is about a perfect serving.

 

[Major Tom]

Not a problem for me at all.
I get my bacon from the local butcher shop (they make their own) and I have them slice it to about 10 slices per pound. Two slices is about a perfect serving.

An extra advantage of getting your bacon from the butcher is that there's no detailed info on the pack, so you don't know how much fat, sodium, cholesterol etc you're consuming

Sometimes, there's just no need to know

 

[Lsbcal]

We recently tried a different brand of bacon. It was just as good as our usual Costco low-sodium bacon, but too salty. So I figured I'd soak it overnight in water to remove some of the salt. I changed the water once.
...

I love to eat salty things so am a bit biased towards the salt-is-OK school of thought. But I'm willing to be swayed the other way. Is salt really bad for you in moderate doses?

As I understand it there are some links to high salt intake and blood pressure. But is there any conclusive studies out there? Do individual tolerances for salt intake vary a lot?

BTW, those BLT sandwiches at Port-O-Sub are wonderful. Probably have at least one per month.

 

[Mulligan]

Notice that the package says 10 servings. That's about one or 2 pieces per person. I have a hard time just eating one or two pieces so I usually just pass on it all together.

Same here... Only go to breakfast buffets a few times a year. I basically eat a plate full of bacon first so I dont waste stomach space on something else. Thankfully I dont cook it at home.

 

[haha]

I love bacon, and I am hungry in the morning so it is very easy and attractive to microwave a few slices while I have a coffee and start preparing the full breakfast.

To lessen salt and other chemicals, I have started at times eating other pork in AM. Sometimes a couple pork chops, sometimes ground pork that I spice myself, sometimes fried side meat. I use a potassium product called Also Salt in most of these. The ground pork is good with Also Salt, coarse ground black pepper, cumin and either some paprika or ground chiles. The side meat must be skillet fried, usually after rubbing some Also Salt and black pepper into it, then I pour some vinegar on it at the table.

When smelt are around I eat smelt with my eggs, and at times other fish but it can get expensive.

I am fairly sure I might live a few extra weeks or months on average if I didn't eat any of this delicious stuff. But as someone said, these tend to be few more months of drooling in your chair rather than a few more months of fun and games. Anyway, it just is not worth it.

Ha

 

[pb4uski]

Notice that the package says 10 servings. That's about one or 2 pieces per person. I have a hard time just eating one or two pieces so I usually just pass on it all together.

Ditto, it is so good it is unfair. My "solution" is to only cook a couple (ok, maybe 3) pieces at a time. Plus, the cook is entitled to the dregs (the little overcooked bits that come ofrm scraping the frying pan - yummy) in our household.

My mom cooks it a pound at a time since it is a bit messy and after it cools stores it in the fridge in a zip lock bag and then nukes it for 10 seconds or so each morning for her breakfast sandwich. Not sure if I would have the discipline to do that and not gobble it up at some point.

 

[rescueme]

Notice that the package says 10 servings. That's about one or 2 pieces per person.

You mis-read it. It actually says 1-2 packages per serving ...

 

[fwest]

My 11 year old son says "for a man, bacon is a RIGHT"!!!!

 

[bssc]

Just finished my Asian Fusion lunch my DW made, Udon woked in bacon gravy. Bacon is good.

 

[donheff]

Reassuring Al. I often have eggs over easy with three or fooour slices of bacon, accompanied with a bacon on toast sandwich with another three slices.

 

[ziggy29]

An extra advantage of getting your bacon from the butcher is that there's no detailed info on the pack, so you don't know how much fat, sodium, cholesterol etc you're consuming

Sometimes, there's just no need to know

At the very minimum, there will probably be fewer chemical preservatives in it, since it's not packaged with the intent of having a "shelf life" of months in the fridge. With a lot of the stuff at the butcher shop, you use it within a couple days or you freeze it.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Peruvian Chicarron (fried pork belly) on a fresh french roll with sweet potato and marinated onions!

 

[73ss454]

You mis-read it. It actually says 1-2 packages per serving ...

I've been known to eat the whole package so I don't start. My Fav is white sandwich bread with mayo, tomato and lettuce. The old BLT just does it for me but not very often. I don't want to go down in the kitchen with a clogged artery.

 

[TromboneAl]

I love to eat salty things so am a bit biased towards the salt-is-OK school of thought. But I'm willing to be swayed the other way. Is salt really bad for you in moderate doses?

As I understand it there are some links to high salt intake and blood pressure. But is there any conclusive studies out there? Do individual tolerances for salt intake vary a lot?

Here's my recent thinking on this. In the past I cut way down on salt for a while, and saw that it had no effect on my blood pressure.

But I've been reading some articles that suggest it is the ratio of potassium to sodium that is important.

Study: Sodium-to-potassium ratio a key to heart health - Los Angeles Times

Potassium - to - Sodium Ratio Affects Overall Health Part 2: Imbalance Often Leads to Hypertension

From the second article:

Passwater: When people say, "I am not concerned about salt because I am not salt-sensitive" or "I can eat all the potato chips I want, and my blood pressure doesn't change; therefore, salt is no problem for me," are they missing the boat?
Moore: Absolutely. It is not simply a question of blood pressure. People can have normal blood pressure and still have serious metabolic problems that result from this potassium-sodium imbalance. In turn, these metabolic problems can lead to any of more than 10 diseases, including osteoporosis, asthma, kidney disease, kidney stones, mental decline, stomach cancer, ulcers and others.
​

So I am currently evaluating whether increasing potassium and decreasing sodium will make a difference.

The painless part of this is that this kind of "salt," potassium salt,

tastes just like regular salt to me. So I use that instead, and it's a win-win. I put lots on my eggs. It's much cheaper than potassium supplements, and I think it's unlikely that I'll get too much. Note: I don't do bananas.

I also add 1/8 tsp of this stuff to my smoothies and they taste better than with no salt.

I may even take some bacon, soak it in water, then brine it with this stuff.

 

[haha]

I may even take some bacon, soak it in water, then brine it with this stuff.

You may be soaking out a lot more than salt. A more direct approach (though it occurs to me that direct is perhaps not what you are interested in) would be to buy side meat, which is pork belly sliced exactly the same as thick-sliced bacon, but fresh-ie, uncured. It won't ever taste like bacon, but you could even smoke it if you wanted to. I used to see fresh ham slices, my Dad ate it all the time. But I haven't seen it in a long while around here anyway.

Ha

 

[Lsbcal]

Al, thanks for the info. I actually skimmed the articles and have concluded I'm probably low risk. Most of the concern is about cardiovascular disease and my running >20 miles/week helps plus healthy Mediterranean type diet helps. Could go on about this but who cares about my case except me.

Will try to up my banana intake in mornings. Problem is bananas are on the "high flatulence" list.

 

[ERD50]

You may be soaking out a lot more than salt.
Ha

Agreed, the nitrates(nitrites?) and the curing process are part of what makes bacon bacon.

Along those lines, we bought 1# of ground pork for a dinner recipe that called for 1/2#. I took the other 1/2#, added 3/4 tsp sage, just 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp Brown Sugar, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, and 1/8 tsp Cayenne. Mixed and made 4 patties and pan fried them. A little spicy, I'd up the sage and cut down the peppers next time. But very easy and has that 'breakfast sausage' taste, w/o much salt and no nitrates/nitrites (I forget which is used in curing). Good fresh breakfast sausage might be more satisfying than some kind of watered down bacon?


NOTE: If you want to freeze these, cook them first. I recall an Americas Test Kitchen episode - in the freezer, cooked sausage won't go rancid as fast as fresh sausage.

-ERD50

 

[deserat]

Oh boy, one of the great things in the USA is our bacon - can't get the good stuff over here in Germany - they just do pork differently. LOVE bacon - salty, crunchy, greasy, meaty goodness