A few words before you fire up the skillet... You are about to enjoy some of the world's finest smoked country meats available.
So begins the cover letter shipped along with my order of Loveless Cafe's jalapeño bacon variety which later goes on to assure me that their magical bacon has an unrefrigerated longevity of at least three months--relieving as it is shipped all over the country as such. This jalapeño bacon can be purchased at a flat rate of $7.95 per sealed pound. The strips are medium-thick cut and long as can be. Good luck fitting them into a skillet whole. (The pictured strips are cut in half)
So begins the cover letter shipped along with my order of Loveless Cafe's jalapeño bacon variety which later goes on to assure me that their magical bacon has an unrefrigerated longevity of at least three months--relieving as it is shipped all over the country as such. This jalapeño bacon can be purchased at a flat rate of $7.95 per sealed pound. The strips are medium-thick cut and long as can be. Good luck fitting them into a skillet whole. (The pictured strips are cut in half)
My first impression of this bacon was, in a word, smothered; an impression that generally held throughout the experience. In the package the dry cured strips lay absolutely engulfed in seasoning. As they begin to cook, the fat bleeds onto the skillet as a dark liquid that is so adulterated from the intensity of the curing/seasoning process that it never again congeals after the cooking is done. As expected of dry-cured bacon, the shrinkage is minimal and it is cooked to completion quickly even on a proper low heat.
The taste is impossibly strong; far too strong for me, I'm afraid. Instead of the light fresh jalapeno flavor I was anticipating I was greeted with something harsher that I can only describe as unnatural. It is an almost chemical taste you might expect to find lovingly over kettle-cooked potato chips. On quality bacon it is overwhelming and jarring, smothering nearly all of the meat's natural flavor. Without the accompaniment of eggs or toast I found the taste too powerful to ingest. With these complements, it was merely bearable at best.
