April 6, 2014: Raisin River and another crime involving Bacon

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with a test of Raisin River, and an another interesting criminal story involving bacon. 

And yes, I made jalapeno poppers topped with bacon.




BACON IN THE NEWS is always fun.  I get numerous data feeds about bacon in the news, which makes this job easy.  I just pick the best stories.  Here's a good one for you.  The headline is: 

Police: Suspect breaks in, steals man's bacon

Police said suspect also "Leaving the lights on."

"According to the Kinston Free press, a person living on Hardin Avenue complained to police about the break in and the breakfast food that was missing from the fridge."  

Apparently, someone keeps going over to this person's house, steals the bacon, and departs, leaving the lights on in the house!  I wonder what kind of bacon it is.  If I find out I'll have to try it.  Here's a link to the short news article if you'd like to read it.

THIS WEEK'S BACON IS

RAISIN RIVER Premium Meats & Game Applewood Smoked bacon, distributed by European Imports Inc., Chicago 60647.

European Imports (they go by the initials EI) has a history going back to 1978, and have been successful through acquiring smaller specialty cheese and meat companies.  They were just acquired by SYSCO but still sell retail.  Their website is here.   In addition to the Raisin River brand, they apparently also distribute Nueske.  With this pedigree, I eagery anticipate good things from the Raisin brand.

Unfortunately it was not to be so.

The 12-ounce package netted out to 12.3 oz of bacon - a small bonus! There was a faint applewood aroma to the bacon, not overpowering.  It cooked up in an odd way. 

Remember the bacon bowl?  Well, this bacon seems to curl up lengthwise - let's call it a canoe bowl (close up shot above).  You could put all sorts of goodies in the canoe and eat it with one hand, just like the bacon bowl.  That is, if the bacon is any good, which it isn't.

It had a processed oily flavor, but the worst characteristic was that it was waaaay too chewy.  It took ten minutes to get through a few slices.  Not crispy at all.  Not recommended either.  See you next week.