BACON IN THE NEWS - Consumer Reports comes out with a report on the best bacon, and you can read a synopsis of it here. Amazingly, they agree with me that Oscar Mayer is one of the best! They disagree, however, in saying that Kirkland's bacon is #1 in taste. I really think Oscar beats Costco every time, although the Kirkland brand is very, very good. Read my previous post on both Kirkland as well as Oscar, buy them both, and make your own decision!
ON TO THE COOKING AND TASTE TEST!
I'm cooking up three varietals (using the wine terminology with nose pointed in the air) of Smithfield Bacon. they are all Hickory Smoked, and it appears that the only difference is the thickness.
The "Hometown Original" is classic thin cut, the "Thick Cut" is just that, and "Butcher's Cut" is "Double Thick".
Smithfield is the largest pork producer in the US, and made headlines a few months back because they were acquired by a Chinese company, Shuanghui. The press has beaten this dead pig over and over, so I won't go on about it here. It's an interesting acquisition, and here is an informative article about the implications.
Let's see how they taste.
Upon opening, there was virtually no smell to any of these. I took a shot of the three types on top of each other, just to show the thickness differences.
The Hometown Original weighed in at 15.7 ounces; I was gypped out of .3 ounces! It cooked down to 4.2 ounces and produced 175 ml of rendered fat. Flavor was "light"; wife says it tasted great. Nice and crispy, but overall flavor was pedestrian. I give it above average crispiness, average flavor and succulence. Not impressive, but OK.
The Thick Cut weighed in at 15.9 ounces (shorted again!), post cooking was 4.1 ounces and produced a little less fat liquid at 160 ml. It curled excessively, and had a funny shape. Remember the bacon I cooked a while back that was shaped just like seahorses? This is reminiscent of that day. The hickory sent came through upon cooking but the flavor was weak - we agree it's a little "hammy". Disappointing.
The Butcher's Cut - Double Thick sure was thick. The slabs looked great while cooking, with a little curl around the ends. There's obviously an inverse relationship between thickness and crispiness - this had no crispness, but worst of all, the fat was chewy and almost inedible. I would never turn down bacon, but this stuff wasn't very good at all.
I leave you with a shot of the three types post-cooking. Thinnest at the top, thickest at the bottom.
Overall, I wasn't pleased with Smithfield bacons and I won't be buying them again. One of my friends once told me that Organic meats are the best. Apparently the living conditions result in contented livestock. She says "happy chickens taste good". There may be some truth to that, and in this case, these piggies were pretty unhappy in their lives. Or they just don't like the new ownership.
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