American bacon — pork belly cured with salt, sugar, and sodium nitrite, then smoked over hardwood — is the most consumed cured pork product in the United States, present at every American breakfast and worshipped with a cultural devotion that borders on religion. The American bacon tradition differs from British bacon (back bacon — leaner, from the loin), Canadian bacon (peameal bacon — loin, cornmeal-rolled, unsmoked), and Italian pancetta (cured belly, unsmoked). American bacon is specifically belly, specifically smoked, and specifically served in crispy strips. The thickness of the slice determines the texture: thin-cut crisps completely; thick-cut (butcher-cut) retains a chewy, meaty centre beneath the crispy edges.
Pork belly cured for 5-7 days in a mixture of salt, sugar (brown sugar or maple sugar), and curing salt (sodium nitrite — provides the pink colour and the characteristic "bacon" flavour). After curing, the belly is rinsed, dried, and cold-smoked over hardwood (hickory is the American standard; apple, cherry, and maple are alternatives) for 4-12 hours at below 65°C. The smoked belly is chilled and sliced. Cooking: laid flat in a cold skillet or on a sheet pan in a cold oven, then heated gradually — the slow render produces flat, evenly crispy strips with rendered-out fat.
1) The cure must contain curing salt (sodium nitrite) — it produces the pink colour, the specific "bacon" flavour, and inhibits *Clostridium botulinum*. Without curing salt, the product is salt pork, not bacon. 2) Cold-smoking — the belly should not cook during smoking. The smoke flavour penetrates the cured belly; the heat is kept below 65°C. 3) Cook from a cold pan — starting in a cold pan and raising the heat gradually renders the fat evenly and produces flat strips. Starting in a hot pan curls the bacon and cooks it unevenly. 4) Oven-baking on a sheet pan at 200°C for 15-20 minutes produces the most consistently flat, evenly crispy bacon with the least effort — the method preferred by restaurants and by anyone cooking for more than two people.
Allan Benton's bacon (Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams, Tennessee — same producer as the country ham AM5-07) is widely considered the finest artisan bacon in America — dry-cured, hickory-smoked, with a depth of flavour that commercial bacon cannot approach. David Chang, Sean Brock, and chefs across the country use Benton's as their bacon standard. Bacon fat — the rendered fat from cooking bacon — is the Southern cook's second-most-prized cooking fat after lard. Save every drop. Cornbread (AM6-12/LA3-12) fried in bacon fat is cornbread at its highest expression.
Starting in a hot pan — the bacon curls, the fat renders unevenly, and the thin parts burn while the thick parts are still raw. Too much smoke — bacon that tastes like a campfire has been over-smoked. Under-curing — the bacon tastes like seasoned roast pork, not like bacon.
Michael Ruhlman — Charcuterie; Ronni Lundy — Victuals (for Benton's)