Where Can I Buy QUALITY Bacon?

[Running Arrow Bill]

I know, I know...this is a cattle board...

Given that,

For months I have been trying to buy decent, quality bacon that is NOT 50 to 75% FAT. This type of bacon used to be sold as "backfat" used for seasoning or for people with little money.

Even the so-called quality brands of bacon (in those packages where you can't see the entire bacon is just as poor. I had been buying the thick cut brands with some success. In recent weeks, months even that has been poor. The last package I bought had half-way nice bacon showing on the outside of the package...after taking couple of slices off each side...you guessed it! Poor quality "backfat" only!!

I know the restaurants buy decent bacon SOMEWHERE! (Are few exceptions, though). IMO a good bacon piece should have at least 75% of LEAN meat with the other 25% or so being fat...not the other way around.

Price is no indicator. I've paid $4 to 6 a pound and ended with sorry bacon. Have paid $2 to 3 a pound and lucked out with some good bacon. Over the past year going to different supermarkets, I have only found decent bacon about 10% of the time...the rest of the time I just bought sausage or boneless pork chops.

So...any of you pork eaters out there...WHERE AND HOW can you find and buy decent bacon!

 

[Earl Thigpen]

I don't know what kind of stores you have up there in the panhandle but Kroger and HEB sells Blue Ribbon bacon (amoung other brands) that is pretty good. We get the thick sliced bacon. Every once in a while we will stop at the butcher shop in H'ville and buy 5 or 6 pounds of thick sliced bacon and usually pick it up for a few cents a pound cheaper than Kroger but sometimes we get bacon from an old sow in season. I guess you know what that smells like when you cook it.

 

[TexasBred]

My wife usually does a pretty good job of picking it. She buys nothing but "Wright's" thick cut. Lean and doesn't shrink much. But still you never know what's going to be in the package until you start pealing off slices.

 

[bigbull338]

come on guys yall are making me hungry for some good old fat bacon.but your right bill good lean bacon is hard to find.but i kinda like the bacon that has a good bit of fat in it.

 

[Bez+]

come on guys yall are making me hungry for some good old fat bacon.but your right bill good lean bacon is hard to find.but i kinda like the bacon that has a good bit of fat in it.

You folks are hurting me - I have not had a slice of bacon for nearly 5 months - can't get it here - can't import it and certainly would not consider cooking it in a public place if I could get it.

All cooking in my situation is rather public out here in the sand box.

Bez+

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We get Wright's thick sliced in our area too. Our major supermarket (regional?) chain is United. There is also a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

In our area Sysco is the supplier for most grocery stores as far as I know.

I do know that processors, wholesalers, etc., will sell/furnish "bulk" shipments of bacon or any other packaged food. They will sell the good, bad, and indifferent...it gets rid of the "stash" they are holding. That aside, yes, you need some fat in bacon. But when you cook 4-6 slices and get 3 to 4 ounces of grease...well, that's waste that you don't eat (or drink)...lol.

Guess the bottomline of my "argument" is there appears to be no consistency in the product that ends up at the supermarket level.

I still think that there is "quality" bacon (or other meat products) for a reasonable price that SOME places and/or restaurants get. So...is there a "sorting" game at the processor? Excellent stuff to high end restaurants? Good stuff to prestigious supermarkets? Poor or inconsistent stuff to average or lower grocery stores and/or restaurants? [Even "center cut" bacon seems to be unreliable].

JMO

 

[RTA Cattle]

Hey Bez, What part of the box are in? Iwill bet that I am not far from ya, its not that big of a box!

 

[1982vett]

Brookshire Brothers carries the Blue Ribbon bacon in our area, they also have the Wright's. I like them both, Wright's might be a little cheaper. Sam's Club also has the Blue Ribbon but theirs has a smaller bacon slice and tends to cook away but then it is about $2 a pound cheaper than Brookshire's.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

I buy all my sausage and bacon from a farmer here in tennessee after he has hogs killed at the slaughter house. I reckon you could buy you a pig pretty cheap and feed yourself and then slaughter it. I know that is what we did when I was a kid. Feed em out get em real big and fat then blast em between the eyes with a 22 slice the throat and let em hang.

That's funny...

Not exactly what I had in mind. We raise Longhorns and have one slaughtered each year by local processor. As to pigs...I'll pass...don't need the hassle, mess, tearing up a pen,etc. Also, don't want a "big and fat" pig/hog...that's the problem...too many pig farmers are raising them too fat and that ends up in the "generic quality" bacon at the supermarket.

I'm sure there are some hogs slaughtered (or at least part of the hog) that has some decent ratio of lean pork to fat that can be purchased somewhere. I just know that most of the supermarkets I have been in over the past 5 years or so have systematically had marginal bacon and if you can find a "good" package (for any price) in the entire meat counter on any given visit you are lucky.

The brand names of bacon are no indication of quality. Any given package is often deceptive and the "bad" stuff (including pork chops, beef steaks & cube steaks) is often hidden under "creative packaging" by the meat department's butcher. What you see is not what you frequently get. I also know that when I eat breakfast at a restaurant that the bacon served is above average in quality! Go figure! Yes, I believe there is a merchandising thing going on here and there is preferential treatment given restaurants in meat cuts...not being paranoid...just being realistic from what I've personally experienced.

In sum, I had no intention of my thread going on a rant. I just had hoped that any poster might have some inside or other recommendations where I could purchase quality bacon. On a sidebar, I similarly don't trust even the "best" mail-order meat places...once it's shipped...it's yours...lol.

 

[grannysoo]

That's a tough question.

I buy our bacon from the local Harvey's Supermarket (part of Food Lion). I wait until they are running the thick cut bacon on sale when they will have plenty of it in the cooler. Then... I start going thru it. At times, I don't find a single pack that I will buy. At other times, I may find 10 - 12 packs that are good. When I find it, I buy it.

Probably 9 out of 10 packages are fatback.

 

[Gelbvieh 5]

Go to any local restuarant that you have a relationship with and ask them if they will get you a case of Hormel Blk Label Bacon from their food distributer. It helps if it's primarily a breakfast restuarant, there is a better chance they will know what you are talking about. Expect to pay around 70 dollars for 30 lbs.

You will want one that is sliced 14 /17 per lb

 

[CattleHand]

We buy ours from Slovacek. Not far from where we live. They have a website.

 

[Bez+]

Hey Bez, What part of the box are in? Iwill bet that I am not far from ya, its not that big of a box!

Check PM my friend

Bez+

 

[Lammie]

My wife usually does a pretty good job of picking it. She buys nothing but "Wright's" thick cut. Lean and doesn't shrink much. But still you never know what's going to be in the package until you start pealing off slices.

We buy Wright's and it is better than other brands we have tried but it is still a crap shoot. I haven't eaten bacon in a while because it is so messy to cook and we eat mostly cereal on the weekdays. Bacon has become something I only cook when we have company.

 

[Jim62]

At our local HEB, even the Blue Ribbon and other "premium" bacons are pretty bad lately. Would be nice to see some that is only 50 to 75 percent fat. They seem to get some pretty good bacon every 5 or 6 months or so, and when they do I try to stock up on some for the freezer.

 

[1982vett]

I haven't eaten bacon in a while because it is so messy to cook and we eat mostly cereal on the weekdays. Bacon has become something I only cook when we have company.

Microwave on a plate with 2- 3 paper towels, place bacon on towels and cover with another paper towel. Microwave 1 minute for each slice bacon. Depending on how crispy you like it you will need to adjust time. Beats having it splatter all over a stove and quicker too.

 

[kerley]

Running Arrow Bill, Do you live near Dumas. They have lots of hog farms there. But it is still a crap shoot. Tom :cboy:

 

[fit2btied]

We buy Wright's and it is better than other brands we have tried but it is still a crap shoot. I haven't eaten bacon in a while because it is so messy to cook and we eat mostly cereal on the weekdays. Bacon has become something I only cook when we have company.

If the wife is fixing a half pound or less she nukes it on a microwave bacon rack. If she's doing a pound or two, she puts it in a baking dish under the broiler in the oven, turns it once after a couple minutes. We like ours well-done and crispy but if you don't, just take it out sooner.

 

[TexasBred]

My wife usually does a pretty good job of picking it. She buys nothing but "Wright's" thick cut. Lean and doesn't shrink much. But still you never know what's going to be in the package until you start pealing off slices.

We buy Wright's and it is better than other brands we have tried but it is still a crap shoot. I haven't eaten bacon in a while because it is so messy to cook and we eat mostly cereal on the weekdays. Bacon has become something I only cook when we have company.

Lammie..that's the way we are with baloney.....just baloney 6 day a week but "fried baloney" on Sundays or when company show up. :lol2: :help:

 

[Lammie]

I hate bologna. Now and again, I really want a bologna samich, but not very often. I am more of a Spam gal. myself. Spam n eggs. Maybe with some black olives fried up in there.