May 12, 2013 - Happy Mother's Day! Big Box Bacon & more

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues on Mother's Day!  All you moms out there - tell your men to go make some bacon and serve it to you in bed.  You deserve it.  A new twist on 'makin' bacon' - you can actually cook food bacon and serve it to her.  In bed.  With her coffee.  Enjoy.

BACON IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK was pretty interesting.  Did you see the story of the 105-year-old woman who attributes her longevity to eating bacon every day?  Awesome.  I think she's on to something, public opinion to the contrary.  Her name is Pearl Cantrell, of Texas.  The article is worth a read.

105-Year-Old Woman Says Bacon Keeps Her Alive

 

On webpronews.com they report that she received VIP treatment from Oscar Mayer:

"It seems that her love for bacon caught the attention of Oscar Mayer. The company decided to take Cantrell’s love of meat to the next level by giving her what every bacon-loving child has ever wanted – a ride in the fabled Wienermobile. She was driven around town in the vehicle while waving to everybody.

A ride in the Wienermobile wasn’t the only thing Cantrell received though. Oscar Mayer also gave her plenty of bacon so she could continue spreading the bacon gospel throughout her hometown of Richland Springs, Texas. 

After the events of the day, Cantrell says that she “will never, ever forget it, as long as I live.” Here’s hoping she lives for many more years so she can continue preaching the joys of bacon."

AND NOW ON TO THIS WEEK'S BACON COOK-UP:

BIG BOX BACON BONANZA

Sam's club bacon and section title, courtesy of loyal reader Glenn Thomas

Glenn was kind enough to drop off a consolidated package with 3.5 pounds of Sam's Club bacon.  It was actually two individual packages of about 1.75 pounds each - a brand called "Castle Wood Reserve" in Applewood smoked and Hickory smoked.  I'll be comparing these to Costco bacon.  Hence, Big Box Bacon!  The label says "OLD WORLD QUALITY" and "LEGENDARY FLAVOR".  Labels like that make me nervous.  Seems phony to me.  But then again, isn't that marketing? (Just kidding, honey.)

Also, when it comes to bacon, the words "reserve" mean to me that it's the leftover stuff they keep in the back for when they run out.  Not exactly like the term "reserve" in wine...  And what's with the GLUTEN FREE labeling on bacon??? Of course it has no gluten!! Silly, silly idea.  Marketing.  The top package in the picture is the Costco bacon.

CASTLE WOOD RESERVE APPLEWOOD SMOKED weighed in at 1 pound 13.6 ounces before cooking and 10.2 ounces post.  A reduction in weight of 65.5% with fat measuring 230 ml.  Out of the package, the scent wasn't very strong at all - if you had me guess at which type of smoking wood was used, I'd have to guess!  (Same was true of the Hickory)  It was very thick - some of the thickest bacon I've tested - but with a consistency in the muscle of Canadian Bacon.... ugh.  There were a few nice succulent parts, with average curl.  The flavor - not sticky sweet like some bacons and had a good fat flavor, not oily.  I think a good everyday bacon - a good buy.


CASTLE WOOD RESERVE HICKORY SMOKED weighed 1 pound 12.5 ounces pre and 9.6 ounces post cooking.  It produced 200 ml of bacon oil.  This one had even less of a wood smoke smell both before cooking and after cooking.  I didn't think it tasted like much of anything.

And check this out - a bad case of quality control. Where I'm holding the bacon, it's less than 1/8 inch thick - down below, on the paper towel, it's more than 3/8ths!  How are we supposed to cook bacon like that?

Cooking, it looked like a big slab of ham - NOT crispy, NOT succulent, NOT recommended.

WHAT??  Not only that, but many of the slices looked like Sea Horses! (My dad would never let me have them... maybe it's a baggage thing.  Click link to order.)  That's not the way bacon is supposed to look, my friend.  I don't want my bacon to look like sea horses.  Next thing you know, we'll find some bacon shaped like the Virgin Mary grilled cheese!

Later, when snacking on this bacon, my wife even said it sucked.

NOW LET'S LOOK AT COSTCO'S BACON. 
I previously evaluated two Costco-purchased bacons.  The first is the standard Kirkland Hickory Smoked; the second is a specialty bacon called Pure Farms...

Both come in bulk packaging (good stuff!) and the price is certainly right! The Kirkland looks like bacon you'll find in the supermarket; the Pure Farms looks special...we'll see.

THE PURE FARMS bacon crisped up nicely, and had only average succulence.  But the flavor was truly outstanding!  It weighed in at a seven ounces, but started at 24 ounces (1 and a half pounds).  It produced 170 ml of rendered fat.  I'd buy this one again and again!   Good thing I have another package.

THE KIRKLAND BACON weighed in at 5.9 ounces after cooking and produced the same amount of rendered fat as the Pure Farms, on 2/3 the original weight.  It had a nice cooked color and a lot of character, but was light and airy, and pretty much flavorless.  NOT RECOMMENDED.

SO THE WINNER IS...Costco - not the Kirkland brand, but the Pure Farms.  But neither Costco nor Sam's Club make consistently good tasting, good cooking bacon, at least not the batches I tried.  While numerically, Kirkland's Hickory Smoked, which looks like repackaged Oscar Mayer, seems to do better than Sam's, it's still not unbelievably outstanding. But I would buy it again.

	Castle Wood Applewood	Castle Wood Hickory	Kirkland Hickory	Pure Farms Applewood
Crispiness	1	1	4	4
Flavor	2	1	1	4.5
Succulence	4	1	1	4
Smell	1	0	0	4
Rendered Fat	Medium	Low	Medium	Low
Overall	2	1	1	4