‘BACON’
Catering using Bacon at one of our functions and feel that sweet smell of bacon wafting through the air on a beautiful Sunday morning or any other morning to be exact.
Yes, you guessed it today’s topic is BACON !! & I’ll be sharing some history, interesting facts & serving suggestions for BACON.
For starters did you know ‘bacon’ dates back thousands of years to 1500BC where the Chinese were curing pork bellies with salt thus creating an early form of bacon, although pigs(swine) were domesticated in China in 4900BC & were also being raised in Europe by 1500BC?
The history of bacon is an International Affair with many countries throughout history have cooked slices of salted/cured pork & called it bacon, but it was the British that brought bacon to the forefront & elevated bacon to an art form.
The word bacon can be traced back to the Saxons era in the 1st millennium AD.bacon or bacoun as it was spelled back then was the term used by the British to refer to a traditional cut of pork meat known as ‘back bacon’ also around this time bacon was known by the Germans as ‘bakkon’,the Dutch ‘baken’ & the French ‘bacun’.
Catering using Bacon at one of our functions, also did you know that ‘bacon’ is one of the oldest cuts of meat as it was an inexpensive cut of meat resulting in being part of the diet at that time?
Before the industrial revolution, most bacon was produced on local farms & it was also very commonly produced at home by your family
The commercialization of bacon began in the 1770s by Englishman John Harris (the forefather of large scale bacon manufacturing) in the town of Caine in Wiltshire & with its secret brine & curing solution,a method referred to the ‘Wiltshire Cure’ produced a low salt sweet bacon that is still sought after all over the world today & why ‘Wiltshire’ is considered the Bacon Capital of the World.
Let’s face it Bacon is everywhere these days so here are some kooky facts about Bacon,
1 you can find it in icecreams, coffee, cupcakes, jam & chewing gum.
2 you can have bacon-scented candles, lip balms or even deodorant.
3 ‘bringing home the bacon’ goes back centuries to the 12th century England where the church (once a year) would award a ‘flitch’ (side of bacon) to any man who swore before God that he & his wife had not argued for a year & a day, so men who ‘brought home the bacon’ were seen as exemplary citizens & husbands but in today’s terms it refers to money.
4 it helped make explosives during WW11 as households were encouraged to save & donate their leftover bacon grease to the war effort as rendered fat created glycerin which inturns created bombs, gunpowder & other munitions.
5 there is an annual ‘Camp Bacon’ in Ann Arbor Michigan.
6 bacon is addictive.
7 bacon has a ‘Patron Saint’ yes it’s TRUE !!
Saint Anthony the Abbot is the patron saint of pigs & other animals.
8 the first meal on the moon was you guessed it bacon.
9 bacon condoms !! originally an April Fools day stunt & yes they are made of latex & are coated with a unique bacon water-based lube, oh yeah they have that as well ?
10 bacon has its own International day September 3rd.
11 bacon has a world record with a guy eating 182 slices in 5 minutes.
12 almost half of the worlds pork production comes from China.
So to finish up here are some serving suggestions for ‘Bacon’.
1 the traditional full English breakfast w/fried eggs, sausages, back bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread & slices of black & white pudding sometimes known as a ‘fry up’ or a ‘greasy spoon’.
2 a traditional Scottish breakfast ( same as English) with the inclusions of Lorne sausage & tattie scones.
3 great in omelets.
4 yummy on bacon & egg rolls.
5 tasty in fried rice.
6 fantastic in quiches.
7 bringing out the flavors in soups.
8 great in pasta dishes.
9 filet mignon beef or chicken.
10 great in dumplings like bacon & leek dumplings in a beef stew.
The list goes on !!!!!
Catering using Bacon at one of our functions, icon ?? What are your favorite bacon dishes ?? Feel free to leave a comment.
Fell that Smell the Bacon, Bacon recipes
At A Class Catering we use Bacon in many of our dishes, if you would like to organize an upcoming function, please feel free to take a look at our website
A Class Catering
Chef Steve
