Why Bacon Is So Much Better

When I retired after 35 years as a product development engineer, I trained with culinary masters

in Italy to learn old-fashioned meat curing techniques, and then at Iowa State University’s Meat

Lab to learn modern commercial bacon production methods. Understanding the differences

between these methods motivated me to make bacon the “old and slow way” like our fore-

fathers/mothers did.

I start with high quality local heritage breed Berkshire pork (pastured on small farms, fed a non-

GMO diet, given no antibiotics). This costs about twice what a pork belly from Costco costs--you

can easily see the difference.

I start by trimming each belly to remove excess fat, “silver skin”, and connective tissues for a

truly lean-cut bacon. Then I cure the bellies using a dry cure method. This is very different from

commercial processing methods. With dry curing I apply spices, flavors, and natural curing

ingredients to the surface of the pork bellies and bathe them in this mixture for about 1.5 weeks

until the ingredients are infused deep into the bellies. Importantly, as part of this, I cure the

bacon with natural ingredients--celery powder--not with added nitrites, nitrates, or preservatives.

This costs a lot more than using chemicals, but making Grandad’s Bacon with natural

ingredients is important to me.

Dry curing enables me to create bacon with great flavors that are marinated deep into the meat,

not just sprinkled on the top. I make Grandad’s Bacon in 6 great flavors--so far. These are

Maple Syrup and Brown Sugar, Bourbon BBQ, Pepper and Garlic, Espresso, Stout Beer, and Hot and

Spicy. If anyone out there in Grandad’s Bacon Nation have ideas for new flavors, please let me

know.

In contrast, today’s mass-produced grocery store bacons are made in a matter of hours by

machines, to minimize the time and cost required to make bacon. They start with pork raised in

large commercial confinement feedlots and fed GMO grains. The pork bellies are first injected

with up to 15-20% water which contains preservatives and chemicals such as sodium nitrite,

sodium erythorbate, and phosphates. The bellies are then put into a tumbling machine (similar

to a cement mixer) and tumbled, to quickly distribute the injected liquid throughout the inside of

the belly. After “curing” for only a few hours, the bacon is heated and either sprayed with liquid

smoke, or smoked in a commercial smoker. The result is GMO bacon containing

preservatives—it is wet and fatty, spatters and curls when fried, and has a taste and texture that

leaves me thinking that bacon can and should be so much better. You will not see different

flavors like Grandad’s from commercial bacons, because their process doesn’t enable them to

do it.

The way I make Grandad’s Bacon takes more time and costs more, but the pay-off for local pork

and the old-fashioned dry curing is bacon that delivers superior taste and texture great that you

just can’t buy in grocery stores.

In my next newsletter, I’ll share results from a test I ran comparing Grandad’s Bacon to the best

grocery store bacon. Spoiler alert--if you’re a fan of Grandad’s Bacon, you already know the

results!

Thanks so much for supporting Grandad’s Bacon!

Grandad