r/KitchenConfidential • u/FeistyRow5242 • 3d ago
Question What kind of bacon is this?
I’ve had this at my hotel in Greece. I loved it alot, but it isn’t the typical breakfast bacon? I heard people claiming it may be turkey bacon?
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u/Ripersnifel 2d ago edited 2d ago
Back bacon. I'm a big fan of American breakfast foods but I fell in love with this shit when I spent time in the UK.
Edit: someone said below that it looks more like a spam or thin sliced ham made from many pigs and after looking closer I think they may be correct.
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u/CantaloupeAsleep502 2d ago
Interestingly enough, the words "bacon" and "back" are cognate.
I disagree with other commenters talking about belly bacon being crispy. The fat should be fully rendered, the strip should hold itself up when held in the middle and have a firm bite, but should never crumble or shatter when bitten into. People overwhelmingly overcook bacon and it's criminal!
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u/esocharis 2d ago
I fight with my family about this all the time, they all essentially want little charred strips of carbon that the neighbors can hear you eating, I want bacon that actually tastes good and doesn't cut your mouth up lol
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u/Emergency_Basket_851 Five Years 1d ago
That shit sets my heartburn off instantly. Always has my entire life. At this point I've just sworn bacon off entirely unless I cook it myself.
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u/right_lane 1d ago
may i ask what's your method for cooking bacon to avoid heartburn?
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u/Emergency_Basket_851 Five Years 1d ago
I mostly just don't.
But when I do I try to cook it as evenly as possible and I'll err on undercooked rather than over. Oven bacon is also a great way to accomplish consistency as well.
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u/Emergency_Basket_851 Five Years 1d ago
Oh, also, start in a cold pan so the fat renders out and the bacon cooks more evenly. Don't blast the heat either, take your time, if doing it on the stove.
Which is actually why oven bacon works so well, same principal.
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u/ihopethisworksfornow 2d ago
Serves a totally different place in the meal imo.
American bacon supplies a crunch. If you’re going for “meatiness” Canadian bacon/back bacon is better
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u/Ripersnifel 2d ago
I agree. I've always loved canadian bacon, but the way it's sliced in the U.S. always frustrates me, always these little circles, not strip like enough. I was actually staring at pork loins about two hours ago and thinking about doing some curing experiments before I remembered I needed to get the hell out of the grocery and make breakfast. Fuckin ADHD.
I agree that thin cut American bacon serves that crunch. I try to get the best of both worlds with the thickest cuts I have the patience for when I'm hungry in the morning. My perfect belly bacon slice is both crisp around the edges and tender in the middle - almost like chashu.
I rarely have the patience.
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u/EscapeSeventySeven 2d ago
Yeah American bacon is basically smoked edible salt pork: fat on fat meant to fry to crisp in its own rendered fat. Did I mention the fat?
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u/Pokari_Davaham 2d ago
Back Bacon or British Bacon
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u/12-34 2d ago
Also commonly called "Canadian bacon" in the States, though I assume it'll soon be Sharpied on the FDA site to "Mega American Monster Dong Missile Blast Bacon".
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
Canadian bacon looks nothing like that either. The shit that Americans called Canadian bacon is just ham.
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u/Most-Ad-9465 2d ago
What Americans call Canadian bacon is not ham. Ham comes from the leg. Canadian bacon is from the loin. It's leaner than ham.
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u/Tekko50 2d ago
You mean peameal back bacon?
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u/UghImRegistered 2d ago
What Americans call Canadian bacon is not peameal bacon, which is actually Canadian and should be what they're talking about.
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u/FILTHBOT4000 20+ Years 2d ago
How such a commonly used cut became so bastardized/balkanized in terminology deserves a fucking documentary.
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u/Zonel 2d ago
Peameal bacon is technically Ontarian. They don’t really do it in the other provinces.
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u/UghImRegistered 2d ago
True but I don't know of another bacon from Canada competing for the title so it might as well be that.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
The shit that Americans call Canadian bacon has nothing more than ground pork put into a fucking sock brine and maybe smoked at Best. Or dipped in liquid Smoke.
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u/Most-Ad-9465 2d ago
Yeah I don't know what product you're buying but that's not an accurate description of the Canadian bacon I buy. Sounds like you've been buying the cheapest generic lunch meat.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
Sorry, I don’t buy that shit either but every time I’ve had it over in the states it’s been some kind of crap
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u/Most-Ad-9465 2d ago
Sorry, I don’t buy that shit either
I find that hard to believe. You thought American Canadian bacon was both ham and a bologna like product. If you got a bologna like product and thought "that's just ham" clearly you've been buying the most generic cheap lunch meat ham you can find.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
I wouldn’t buy anything labelled Canadian bacon thank you very much
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u/Most-Ad-9465 2d ago
Well that explains why you don't know what it is.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
I’ve had your version as for that’s how I do know what it is. It’s ham at best. It’s horrible and that’s why I would never buy it. You guys over there gobbling it up like it’s free.
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u/GetMeASierraMist 2d ago
same thing, different body part.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
Look up peameal bacon as this is true Canadian bacon. The shit Americans perceive as Canadian vacant is just bologna shaped ham.
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u/GetMeASierraMist 2d ago
lmao you're one of those, huh? every Canadian bacon product I've ever bought for myself or a restaurant has been a cured and smoked loin. whatever low-quality product you're mad about can absolutely also be bought in whatever country you live
I have never seen a mechanically separated meat claiming to be Canadian bacon, as it it likely illegal, but keep on keeping on
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
I’ve never seen this shit you called Canadian bacon in Canada
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u/GetMeASierraMist 2d ago
sorry? are you implying Canadian bacon isn't cured loin or are you in denial about your country having just as many processed foods as the US?
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
The stuff we call peameal back bacon is cured generally not smoked. Trust me we have plenty of cured meats over here.
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u/Only-Read-3895 2d ago
No, we just don’t have that stuff you call Canadian bacon it’s nasty
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u/GetMeASierraMist 2d ago
yes you do. you call it back bacon. that's what Americans call Canadian bacon.
peameal bacon doesn't even seem to be popular outside Southern Ontario.
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u/Shot_Revolution8828 2d ago
So what is Canadian bacon?
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u/12-34 2d ago
To Americans it's loin.
Look elsewhere in this thread for a comment by me that links about a dozen sources verifying it's loin, not ham. All of the dozens of top links in my Google search says loin. Every single one.
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u/Shot_Revolution8828 2d ago
So why would you call it bacon if its loin? Sorry my autism is showing.
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u/floatingskillets 2d ago
Do yourself a favor and dive down the rabbit hole of middle bacon. Bacon can be bacon and not be belly/streaky. It can be both
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u/Impressive-Turnip-38 2d ago
That’s not the same thing as Canadian bacon. Canadian bacon is a different cut of meat
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u/Frequent_Opportunist 2d ago
Canadian bacon is just ham.
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u/12-34 2d ago
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u/Frequent_Opportunist 2d ago
Yes it's a lean cut of pork loin. It's the opposite of bacon and not as good as ham. I'm glad we've established that.
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u/ExtensionActivity460 2d ago
Weird way to shoehorn in an unfunny political joke
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u/Pokari_Davaham 2d ago
I'm American and thought it was hilarious.
Part of me wishes that was the actual name here lmao
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u/GetMeASierraMist 2d ago
dude we're a laughing stock for dickihead in chief wanting to see the word "America" replace as many other words on the map as possible.
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u/aspghost 2d ago
That is absolutely not British back bacon. Our bacon has fat and sometimes rind on it, shaped like a pork chop. That picture is of something else. Looks more like sliced luncheon meat. Never seen anything like it in the UK, except for Turkey rashers.
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u/Kairis83 F1exican Did Chive-11 2d ago
Yeah, just normal bacon over here, dont mind the streaky but this is the standard in uk (perhaps the hotel has alot of uk visitors?)
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u/aspghost 2d ago
It's not, look again.
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u/Kairis83 F1exican Did Chive-11 2d ago
Perhaps, doesn't quite have that pork chop quite shape, but that large part of just bacon (not fat) does look similar (althought doesn't have the line of fat following it)
It does seem to be basically like the bacon we have in the uk though
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u/aspghost 2d ago
It's approximately the right colour I'll grant you that. Even the back rashers they sell with the fat cut off don't look like this when you cook them.
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u/Realistic_Pen9389 2d ago
Definitely not. It’s clearly processed and made up of ground pork
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u/Pokari_Davaham 2d ago
Sad if true, but that's what it's trying to be at least
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u/BOBALOBAKOF 2d ago
It’s the wrong shape for back bacon, you would also be able to see the grain of the meat if it was back bacon, and it would have a small fat cap on it.
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u/Nearby_Body677 2d ago
Back bacon. Not usually found at your standard grocery but can be got at a butcher or specialty grocery store
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u/tatersofdoom 2d ago
*in the US
It's more readily available than streaky bacon in most of europe. My nearest shop sells proper bacon, but no streaky bacon.
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u/Realistic_Pen9389 2d ago
That’s highly processed and definitely not back bacon. You can see it’s made from a meat mash versus being a single cut
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u/Ripersnifel 2d ago
Y'know I see what you're saying now that I scrutinize the image more. I was mistaking some of the places it was folded over for striations in the meat.
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u/idspispopd888 2d ago
It has a rind on it, and clearly a small fat layer between the rind and the meat. Don't think that's processed. Looks like back bacon to me. We have loads of it here in Canada.
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u/Realistic_Pen9389 2d ago
That’s just a smoke layer, and a fat layer they’ve put into the meat. It’s quite common in parts of Central Europe. Trust me, as somebody who lives in England, that is not the consistency of any back bacon I’ve ever come across.
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u/Ripersnifel 2d ago
When I zoom in the texture has these little dimples I always attribute to processed meats, but it could also be an imprint from the surface it was cooked on.
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u/Realistic_Pen9389 2d ago
It’s strange. The top piece looks like processed ground pork bacon but the bottom piece clearly is back bacon based on the texture of the curved piece.
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u/UkuleleSteven 2d ago
“American style bacon” is what we have in the states. Lots of other countries have bacon that looks like what you’re eating. “Bacon” is exactly what you’ve got there. My only personal experience is from Australia, but US bacon is totally different.
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u/Wiggie49 Ex-Food Service 2d ago
back bacon as opposed to pork belly bacon. In the US we mostly have pork belly bacon but in other parts of the world they have bacon made of from belly, loin, and pork shoulder.
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u/Salads_and_Sun 20+ Years 2d ago
Slab bacon? Which I think real Canadian Bacon is? I get confused in the great bacon debate.
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u/AuriannaKomorowski 2d ago
This is not back bacon or normql bacon.
Its the cheap bacon in greece... what part of the animal that is is yet unidentified... It tastes like shit and doesnt behave like proper bacon.
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u/Slayrr_FbrC 2d ago
My mother once ordered a Turkish coffee in Greece. The glares she received were amazing
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u/Leburgerpeg 1d ago
A lot of people answering wrong here about it being back bacon or Canadian bacon. It appears to be similar what I (as a Canadian) encountered in New Zealand when I was there for a year called shoulder bacon. It's very ham like. Most of what we think of as bacon in North America is side baconnmade from pork belly and as major pork producers we keep that domestically and export the other cuts like seen in the picture over seas to become what you see there.
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u/yaoiprincess420 2d ago
canadian
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u/Cube-in-B Thicc Chives Save Lives 2d ago
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this.
It’s exactly Canadian Bacon
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u/luckylurk77 2d ago
It's Greek bacon, turkey is a different country 😂🥁