Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Introductions and chatter

Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby yotmon » Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:57 pm

As the weather's been in the mid 80's f. for the last week or so, Iv'e been reluctant to buy pork to cure for bacon, don't really fancy trying to smoke it in a south facing garden at these temps !
So, seeing as we are fresh out of the good stuff, the OH picked up a double pack of smoked back bacon from Lidl. I opened one yesterday which had 5 slices in. The first thing that I noticed was that the bacon was wet, The plastic container actually contained liquid. After wiping them with paper towels, I placed two of the rashers into the frying pan as it wouldn't have fitted three, that's until I started to cook them that is ! They very quickly gave up their water and proceeded to shrivel to nothing ! The poor things just literally 'boiled ' as they swam in the water which had to be poured off to give them any chance of crisping up. Taste was bland and slightly bitter from the residue catching the pan.
This morning I decided to finish off the last three rashers. I had left them open in the fridge for 24 hours to dry them out. Wrong ! I weighed the rashers and they were 116g and proceeded with my experiment. Out came the water which was quickly poured down the sink and then back onto the heat to crisp up. Before reluctantly eating them I placed them back on the scale. Now down to 55g ! So, The bacon lost more than half its weight once cooked, surely this isn't right. Does anyone know if there is a maximum amount of water that can be added to bacon ? I imagine that these pigs are being slaughtered, chilled and injected with brine as a quick cure and then sliced and packed before any water can escape. Why does the general public put up with such practices ! Shame on you commercial Bacon curers for ruining what was a staple and iconic dish. Roll on the cooler weather......
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill
User avatar
yotmon
Registered Member
 
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:07 pm
Location: North west England

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby BriCan » Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:21 am

yotmon wrote:. Why does the general public put up with such practices !


Cuz they want things cheep and are not willing to pay a decent price for a quality product .... :(


Shame on you commercial Bacon curers for ruining what was a staple and iconic dish.


Some punters are way too greedy :cry:

But some ov uz make farthings compared to the big guys :shock:

I do av some proper bacon if you like :wink:

Image
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby RodinBangkok » Fri Jul 25, 2014 9:07 am

pumping or enhancing is the in thing with the rapid escalation of meat prices. Their pumping everything these days in the states and spinning it as enhanced. The equipment manufacturers are loving it, they used to sell injection systems only for hams and such, now their selling them for chicken, and other non cured meats. As far as standards, the FSIS and FDA publish standards on water content, depends on the product, not sure about EU or UK standards. The FSIS or FDA highest are around a little less than 20%.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
_____

Rod
RodinBangkok
Registered Member
 
Posts: 343
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:55 am
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby wheels » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:35 am

I may be wrong, but IIRC, in the UK anything above 10% added water has to be declared on the ingredients.

This can be seen here:

http://groceries.asda.com/asda-webstore ... uct/485432

The meat is only 87% of the product.

I did similar with some bacon from ALDI, I'm not sure whether I weighed it correctly, 'cos my home made dry cure lost more weight! :oops: :oops:

Phil
User avatar
wheels
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 12890
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:29 pm
Location: Leicestershire, UK

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby johngaltsmotor » Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:00 pm

I've never seen a statement about water added on bacon (but to be honest I haven't looked). I know when I read Marianski's Quality Meats and Sausages I was shocked to learn the differences between Ham, Ham Product, Ham water added, etc. I never would have thought you needed such names, but when you can sell water for $7/lb... (although some of this "artisan" water at $2per 0.5L is just as crazy)
Pigs are magical creatures.... they turn vegetables into BACON!!
johngaltsmotor
Registered Member
 
Posts: 304
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:26 pm
Location: NW Ohio, USA

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby yotmon » Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:29 pm

I think we all know that water has traditionally been used in the curing of bacon (brine) for a very long time and I don't have a problem with it, as long as the bacon is allowed time to mature and regain its structure. A bacon made following the 'Wiltshire cure' method would never end up like this. The housewife used to be fearful of buying fat, feeling that she wasn't getting value for money, but at least it was visible unlike the stealth of the water tap ! I honestly feel that products like this shouldn't even be allowed to be labelled 'bacon', make them call it by another name - faux cured pork would be a better description !

Brican, that back bacon looks great - do you know what price does it sells for retail ?

Wheels - the asda bacon is selling for £3.78 kilo, yet Morrisons are selling fresh belly pork @ £3.74 this week, so I know where I will be going tomorrow. Maybe by the time its cured, this heatwave will have moved on...

ATB Ste.
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill
User avatar
yotmon
Registered Member
 
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:07 pm
Location: North west England

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby RodinBangkok » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:59 pm

FWIW I've seen the same thing here with the regular store type bacon, which we don't use, all our own, and as far as accepting it, I guess is supply and demand, if people want to pay for pumped and water logged crap then why not sell it? For me comes down to the dumbing down of the consumer, if they continue to purchase crap then that's what will become the norm. I don't think my mother would ever have purchased more than one pack of that crap today, and if more people did that then the quality might improve, but of coarse the price will go u also. Info Link:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsi ... y/ct_index
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
_____

Rod
RodinBangkok
Registered Member
 
Posts: 343
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:55 am
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby BriCan » Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:15 am

yotmon wrote:Brican, that back bacon looks great - do you know what price does it sells for retail ?


Nods head wisely :)

Retail over this end the stuff I make ... with no added water :wink:

21.4486 GBP a kg
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby BriCan » Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:19 am

yotmon wrote:Maybe by the time its cured, this heatwave will have moved on...


Any time I'm up that end (when home)its bl*ody cold and p*ssing it down no matter wot time ov year :(
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Very wet bacon ! (rant)

Postby yotmon » Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:46 am

Thanks for that RodinBangkok, quite informative. I think if my Mother had bought such a product, then she'd have been straight back to the butchers shop and slapped him about the face with it ! (God bless her).

BriCan wrote:
Any time I'm up that end (when home)its bl*ody cold and p*ssing it down no matter wot time ov year :(
Been hitting 30 degrees c. for the last few weeks so plenty of thirst quenching beers have been consumed. Blame global warming. Going to Portugal next month to cool down !!
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill
User avatar
yotmon
Registered Member
 
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:07 pm
Location: North west England


Return to Chatter

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests