# Bacon Rant



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Ok this morning I got scammed. Felt like having some bacon and eggs so went to the corner store to pickup some bacon Got a package of carvers choice from Maple Leafs. It looked pretty meaty. Get it home and open it up and it had been arranged in a way to show the sliver of meat at the top and inside was 90% fat. Cooked it up and was left with little to nothing edible left. The quality of the food doesn't upset me as much as the effort Maple Leaf went through to deceive me.


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## Chitmo (Sep 2, 2013)

I started buying precooked stuff from costco, got sick of exactly what you're talking about combined with the big ass mess cooking bacon makes.


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## Gearhead88 (Nov 7, 2013)

Most bacon is packaged that way.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I get it at the local butcher, usually for $2.99/lb and sliced thick - just the way I like it.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Pre-cooked bacon? As Moon Unit used to say, "Gag me with a spoon.". For the most part I've found that the less expensive bacon is just as good if not better than the expensive brand name stuff. I do buy slab bacon at times and cut my own slices and it looks just like the pre-sliced bacon. Goes from plenty of meat to plenty of fat. That's the way the bacon slices.




As for the fat in the pan from frying bacon....how else do you cook up your eggs and panfries and bread and make Yorkshire puddings and things like that. Not to mention deep fried pork rind which you seem to be only be able to get from slab bacon or fatback when you slice your own. They seem to trim most of the rind off. If you don't want the fat buy a chunk of Canadian bacon or pork belly and slice your own.
Now I'm hungry.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I also go to the butcher. Not sure what expensive brand name stuff would be.

No hormones or junk and it's about the same price. The fat you render can be used with a bit of confidence. 

I used to render bags of fat for deep-frying, but decided it's not such a good idea health-wise.

So, if it's convenient, find a good local butcher.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

I've visited the butcher a few times for nice cuts of meat to grill and roast but I haven't for my bacon needs, I'll have to give it a try.
I had a pack of Fletcher's Farmers Cut in the fridge this morning so I cooked it up, thanks for the breakfast suggestion. Good bacon, thick and plenty of meat in the end. 
Safeway has something on the shelf that I've tried in the past, very thick slices, name escapes me at the moment,.. Harvest? Good bacon.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

vadsy said:


> I've visited the butcher a few times for nice cuts of meat to grill and roast but I haven't for my bacon needs, I'll have to give it a try.
> I had a pack of Fletcher's Farmers Cut in the fridge this morning so I cooked it up, thanks for the breakfast suggestion. Good bacon, thick and plenty of meat in the end.
> Safeway has something on the shelf that I've tried in the past, very thick slices, name escapes me at the moment,.. Harvest? Good bacon.


TheCo-ops here have good butcher shops, better than Safeways/Sobeys IMO. Most of the instore meat is local. Olymel is a big employer in town and so is Nossack. Some of the meat from the Colonies around here isn't bad but tends to be expensive and in a larger quantity than most people might like.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

I didn't mean I visit Safeway as my 'butcher shop', that's just for off the shelf stuff and groceries, I don't even like their deli.
I have a local place here in the park, ma and pa type, good butcher name,.. Charlie.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2016)

guitarman2 said:


> Get it home and open it up and it had been arranged in a way to show the sliver of meat at the top and inside was 90% fat. Cooked it up and was left with little to nothing edible left. The quality of the food doesn't upset me as much as the effort Maple Leaf went through to deceive me.


Dude, that stuff was cut, prepped and assembled on an automated line. The machine wasn't out to deceive; the quality of pork is just shitty, overly fatty these days when it's factory farmed.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I'm just here to report that I too had bacon eggs (and sausage) for breakfast. Not sure where the diner gets theirs, but it was tasty and "regular" size.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

vadsy said:


> I didn't mean I visit Safeway as my 'butcher shop', that's just for off the shelf stuff and groceries, I don't even like their deli.
> I have a local place here in the park, ma and pa type, good butcher name,.. Charlie.


There a few small 'ma and pa' places with in 1/2 hr of here that are good.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Dude, that stuff was cut, prepped and assembled on an automated line. The machine wasn't out to deceive; the quality of pork is just shitty, overly fatty these days when it's factory farmed.


Because the process is automated you don't think the presentation of how it looks in the package is predetermined and decided by suites and they have reasons for doing it that way? Come on, deception plain and simple. They put lipstick on a pig. Literally.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Supermarket crap is full of water too. Find a local butcher who makes his own. It's worth paying extra because you only need half as much.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2016)

guitarman2 said:


> Because the process is automated you don't think the presentation of how it looks in the package is predetermined and decided by suites and they have reasons for doing it that way? Come on, deception plain and simple. They put lipstick on a pig. Literally.


Yea and those helicopters you hear are out to get you. Nothing on an assembly line is as complicated as you're making it out to be.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2016)

I can remember up till 5 yrs old when my family would drive up to a family friend's farm
and slaughter/butcher a pig twice a year. I even helped my grandfather when he gutted
it. Laws changed and we couldn't do that anymore. I remember the two halves on the 
kitchen table being portioned by my parents. A lot went into the freezer and the sausages
we made and slabs of bacon went back to the farm to be smoked. When we brought them
home and hung them in the basement to cure, it was tough not to cut a thick slice or grab a
link of sausage every few hours because of the smell that permeated the house for a month.
Hmmmmm.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

iaresee said:


> Yea and those helicopters you hear are out to get you. Nothing on an assembly line is as complicated as you're making it out to be.


it's not the guy slicing. it's the people designing the packaging. if you study the way the package is designed, it's pretty clear they are playing up the visual. not that it's surprising or unusual in any way. you've noticed, i suppose, that the lights in your grocer's meat freezer aren't white? or that the store is re-arranged approx every 4 months? business tries to make money any way it can, that's how it works.


when i NEEED to have bacon, i buy this kind, because i haven't found a butcher in my area who's good enough to make their prices worth it. in this area, butcher's like to act boutiquey so they can boost sales by pricing away the commoners. it's not like out in the sticks, where many of the guys on this forum reside










pepper bacon RULES


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2016)

How are the deli's in Kensington market?


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

laristotle said:


> How are the deli's in Kensington market?


Can you still buy a fish to fry? I got hungry enough I just went to the store and bought a 1.5 Kg bag of bacon ends, some cheese and some lottery tickets. Less for the bacon ends than for 375 grams of Maple Leaf. Cooked up about a 1/4 of it and made a very large and very tasty fried bacon and cheese on sourdough bread sandwich. 
I know Red Deer might only have 100,000 people but it isn't exactly the sticks cheezy. Enough butchers and meat processing places around to keep the prices affordable.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

We get bacon at a market on Highway 55 in NOTL that sources it from a farm in St Jacobs.

Fantastic stuff. There's a Montreal Smoked seasoned version that's delicious. They even have a nitrate free version that's a little bland compared to others, but still great.
I'll make a point of noting the farm next time we pick some up.

The last time we went, my cousin from Ottawa was with us and we both stocked up. The owner was in the freezer stocking the shelves and everything he put up, we took out and shouted, "Keep it coming!"

Other than the three pack of the better stuff they have at Costco, I am spoiled for packaged bacon. Most of it uses liquid smoke for flavour...and plays games with the packaging.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Th stuff branded Cherry Pink (sounds like a porn star) is really good. They sell it at Longos and other places I'm sure.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

cheezyridr said:


> it's not the guy slicing. it's the people designing the packaging. if you study the way the package is designed, it's pretty clear they are playing up the visual. not that it's surprising or unusual in any way. you've noticed, i suppose, that the lights in your grocer's meat freezer aren't white? or that the store is re-arranged approx every 4 months? business tries to make money any way it can, that's how it works.
> 
> 
> when i NEEED to have bacon, i buy this kind, because i haven't found a butcher in my area who's good enough to make their prices worth it. in this area, butcher's like to act boutiquey so they can boost sales by pricing away the commoners. it's not like out in the sticks, where many of the guys on this forum reside
> ...


I like that one as well. I like a lot of PC stuff actually.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)




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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Diablo said:


> Th stuff branded Cherry Pink (sounds like a porn star) is really good. They sell it at Longos and other places I'm sure.


If you're in Niagara, you can get right from the factory outlet just off the QEW in Beamsville. Saves a few bucks per pack.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Go back bacon. I know it is not bacon per se but you don't get fooled by the packaging and it is less messy than bacon strips.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

The shitty quality of bacon was one of the things that pushed me into a plant based diet. Since our food laws have been harmonized with the US our food quality has suffered. (IMHO)


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Steadfastly said:


> Go back bacon. I know it is not bacon per se but you don't get fooled by the packaging and it is less messy than bacon strips.


I try not to eat bacon very often. Side bacon is my favorite but I do like back bacon occasionally for a change.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

mrmatt1972 said:


> The shitty quality of bacon was one of the things that pushed me into a plant based diet. Since our food laws have been harmonized with the US our food quality has suffered. (IMHO)


It will take a lot more than shitty bacon to force me to eat plants.


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2016)




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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

guitarman2 said:


> It will take a lot more than shitty bacon to force me to eat plants.


I don't know, a fuzzy green brownie or two or some of Lola's cookies contain plants.


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Bacon = First World Problems


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## markxander (Oct 24, 2009)

According to a friend who works at Maple Leaf, Carver's Choice is just the end cuts that aren't as pretty. He also says its often a higher grade than it's advertised as. I don't eat a lot of meat or bacon, but when I buy it that's what I get. It sure tastes like bacon to me.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)




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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Sure. I'll have a salad.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> TheCo-ops here have good butcher shops, better than Safeways/Sobeys IMO. Most of the instore meat is local. Olymel is a big employer in town and so is Nossack. Some of the meat from the Colonies around here isn't bad but tends to be expensive and in a larger quantity than most people might like.


I know someone who is a butcher/meat cutter for Co-op--he would certainly agree with you.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

zontar said:


> I know someone who is a butcher/meat cutter for Co-op--he would certainly agree with you.


Pays to know your butcher. A while ago I asked the one butcher at the Co-op if they had any beef ribs. He went and cut me 20 from sides. Long ribs with plenty of meat. And if you buy a slab of bacon they will slice it for you at any thickness you want.


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2016)




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## Guest (Mar 9, 2016)




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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> Pays to know your butcher.


Well, I am related to one...


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Morning!


Sent from my Other Brain


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2016)

you bastard!
I only had a bowl of cereal .. so far.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

bzrkrage said:


> Morning!
> 
> 
> Sent from my Other Brain


Not enough bacon for even a small sandwich let alone breakfast.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Electraglide said:


> Not enough bacon for even a small sandwich let alone breakfast.


Round one,now look in the background …


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

bzrkrage said:


> Round one,now look in the background …


Getting there.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

well, i think for lunch i will cook up some pepper bacon, and make a grilled ham & cheez w/bacon on dark rye. i'll garnish my paper plater with doritos, and have a pepsi to wash it down, while watching a taiga drama about toyotomi hideoshi's adopted daughter gou.


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