Loveless Cafe Hot and Spicy Jalapeño Bacon

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)

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.

http://www.hamsandjams.com/product/Jalapeno_Bacon/ham_bacon

Nueske's Pepper Coated Bacon

In the world of quality smoked bacon, few brands can tout the popularity and reputation of Wisconsin-based Nueske's. Their famous smoked bacon offerings are available for shipping anywhere in the States in 2lb, 3lb, and 5lb quantities, with each pound individually vacuum-sealed. Among their varieties, we have the Pepper Coated bacon. Unlike the original smoked variety, there is no option of cut thickness for the peppered slices. They are sliced with a medium-thick cut from a gargantuan slab, resulting in about 15 extra-large clean strips per pound.

Nueske's website describes its bacon as extra-lean, having little to no shrinkage in the pan. This wasn't quite my impression. While the quality of the meat is unquestionably high its makeup is best described as marbled, having a nice mixture of fatty and lean tissue throughout the slab rather than large concentrated sections of either. This becomes especially obvious as the bacon cooks. Though a copious amount of fat is rendered from each strip it is evenly rendered, avoiding deformation of shape. This fat quickly combines into a pool of grease that practically smothers the bacon as it is frying, ensuring an even distribution of heat and contributing to the final flavor in a way that is usually only achieved on second or third batches, or by beginning with previously saved grease. The strips do certainly shrink during this process, but they start out so large and shrink so evenly that you are still left with large, nicely formed cooked strips.

The taste and texture are surprisingly varied and delicate. The marbled structure of the strips give them the fragility of fatty bacon along with the meaty chewiness of lean. The subtle flavors of tellicherry, applewood smoke and spices seem to play on the tongue in turn rather than ever quite mixing into an indistinguishable amalgamation. All are eclipsed by the light buttery flavor lent by the grease bath and the marble that remains.

http://www.nueskes.com/peppered-bacon.aspx

Meadow Farms Country Smokehouse Famous Double Smoked Bacon

Meadow Farms' Famous Double Smoked Bacon is created in and shipped out of Bishop, California. It is available for shipping to California destinations only in 2lb, 3lb, and 5lb quantities, with each pound individually vacuum-sealed. The pound slabs are cleanly thick cut, dividing out to about 20 perfect strips with no extra tissue.

Though it is wet-cured, this bacon does not shrivel or shrink during slow-frying due to the choice nature of the slabs and the quality and care of the cut. There is just enough fat on each strip to render into a pool for itself, making it easy to cook and distribute the flavor evenly. The aroma released in the process is strong and mouthwatering.

The taste is extremely bold. The double smoking process through which this bacon is prepared pronounces the flavor and produces a wonderfully smoky taste that lingers on and muscles through complementary foods. Eggs eaten along with it seem to be imbued with the essence of mahogany smoke.

http://www.smokedmeats.com/pork-bacon.html