Posted by Larry Hoover on May 29, 2006, at 8:30:38
In reply to I don't get the picture, posted by Joan797 on May 29, 2006, at 7:37:44
> I can't even tell what it is. Rolls of meat? Bread?
>
> What's it all about Alfie?It is something like a ham, but it is made from whole boneless pork loins. That pink circle is a cross-section of the eye of the loin from some obviously well chosen pork loins. Those are huge, as loins go. Those are premier quality sweet pickled boneless pork loins, also known as back bacon, also known as Canadian bacon.
It is almost an irony. The American meat market had a great demand for pork bellies (still sold on the Chicago commodities exchange), to make the sort of bacon that you think of when you think bacon. The bacon with the sizzle and the stripes of meat and fat.
The loins were actually a left-over of meeting that demand. Sort of like, "We fooled those 'Mericans. Got them to pay top dollar for the belly meat, and we got left with all these loins. Might as well make bacon from those!"
It is back bacon because it's from the back of the pig. As compared to side bacon, which comes from its flank. When people are living "high off the hog", they are literally eating meat from the back (loin), as compared to all the other bits.
I hope that wasn't too much information.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:650023
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060527/msgs/650035.html