If you're an American, when you hear the word "bacon," you typically think of one thing: strips of fatty, salty pork, specifically from the belly of the pig. And if that's the bacon you're most interested in, there are some great options for what to buy at the grocery store. We can tell you the best of the best.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It goes without saying that the best cooking comes from adventurous people trying something
00:05totally different. For example, humans may have started out just eating mashed or roasted
00:10potatoes, but then someone went and sliced them thin and fried them in some oil. What
00:16about the genius idea of the molten chocolate lava cake with chocolate oozing out of the
00:20center? Thanks to a curious and gutsy pastry chef out there somewhere, we now get to enjoy
00:25its ooey-gooey deliciousness with every forkful.
00:29Even foods that would normally be considered mundane are elevated by cooks and chefs testing
00:34the limits of ingredients. You may think of bacon, for example, as a fatty meat that comes
00:38from different parts of a pig. That basic definition hardly begins to describe the bacon
00:43varieties found all over the world and used in an array of recipes. Given all the variety
00:48that's out there, selecting the best kind of bacon is that much more challenging.
00:53Fortunately, some pork belly enthusiasts are up to the task of declaring the best bacon
00:58brand.
00:59Arguably the most critically acclaimed bacon firm is Applegate, which has received many
01:05glowing reviews online. Allrecipes names Applegate's uncured Sunday bacon as the ultimate brand,
01:11and they're not alone. Echoing their pork-filled sentiment is Food & Wine, which describes
01:16Applegate's bacon as sweet with a meaty flavor, and also joining the Applegate fan club is
01:22Southern Living, which singled out Applegate as a quality organic bacon.
01:27And it's kind of easy to see why. The company has more than 30 years of experience in food
01:31production. Applegate keeps its bacon free from antibiotics and artificial preservatives,
01:36as well as nitrates, nitrates, and phosphates, which can be harmful to humans, and the ingredients
01:42listed on Applegate's Sunday bacon product page are simply organic pork, water, and sea
01:47salt with a little bit of organic cane sugar and celery powder. Such attention to detail
01:53with the ingredients is likely to influence the taste and quality of Applegate's bacon.
01:58It's all natural. Are you?
02:01Of course.
02:02Really?
02:03A close contender for the bacon crown is Oscar Mayer, which has far more experience in meat
02:09production than Applegate. Oscar Mayer was founded on the north side of Chicago in 1883,
02:15and anyone looking for a great all-round bacon doesn't need to look any further than
02:19Oscar Mayer Naturally Hardwood Smoked Bacon. While Oscar Mayer's long history proves that
02:24it knows bacon, it's worth mentioning that they're not going for high quality so much
02:29as mass appeal. It should also be noted that some bacon reviewers positively shunned the
02:34Oscar Mayer brand, which helped us decide to give Applegate our accolades. In fact,
02:39this-not-that lists Oscar Mayer among the bacon brands to avoid. Why? It's pump-cured,
02:46where the meat is injected with brine. Some consider it an unforgivable sin, while others
02:51consider it a shortcut necessary for mass production. So how much you like Oscar Mayer
02:56depends on where you are on the scale.
02:59It's also worth mentioning that most inexpensive grocery store bacon is made this way to dramatically
03:05reduce curing time, and pumped bacon doesn't imply poor flavor.
03:10While selecting the best bacon, we limited our consideration to mainstream brands widely
03:14available in supermarkets. But if you really want some good bacon and your search knows
03:19no borders, then some premium options become available. For instance, The Manual likes
03:24Benton's Country Bacon, which is most definitely not pump-cured. Benton's bacon is hand-rubbed
03:31and takes weeks to cure, then gets smoked for 48 hours per side.
03:37It's also worth considering that once you get outside the borders of the U.S., the term
03:40bacon takes on a whole new meaning, and that brings us to the best of the best. For the
03:46creme de la creme of the bacon world, we turn to pancetta, which is Italy's version of bacon.
03:53Pancetta isn't smoked, so it's not bacon-flavored in the American sense, although it is salty
03:58like bacon because it is cured. For some of the best pancetta you can find, try Pancetta
04:04di Calabria from Southern Italy. It's so good, it should be enjoyed with a full-bodied red
04:10wine, not scrambled eggs and hash browns.