Burgers' Pepper Bacon - Mar 2008

Last month, I complained about having difficulty differentiating all the varieties of bacon we've received. This month, we received a "pepper" bacon, so I was hopeful that it would stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, we weren't able to detect much pepper flavor in the cooked bacon. Nevertheless, the bacon was nicely balanced, and made some very nice BLTA's. Burgers' Pepper Bacon also made a nice addition to a pasta dish with brussel sprouts and pine nuts.

Bacon ranking:
1. North Country Cob Smoked Bacon (Oct 2007)
2. Vande Rose Farms Applewood Smoked Bacon (Dec 2007)
3. (tie) Hudson Valley Smokehouse Smoked Country Style Bacon (Feb 2008)
3. (tie) Burgers' Pepper Bacon (Mar 2008)
5. Jim Oliver's Hickory Smoked Bacon (Jan 2008)
6. Tripp Country Bacon (Nov 2007)

Hudson Valley Smokehouse Smoked Country Style Bacon - Feb 2008

I apologize for this extremely late post (so late that the March bacon has already arrived). This is in part due to a bit of a problem with my hard drive this week (i.e., it completely failed and had to be replaced). TIP: Backup your hard drives frequently!

Anyway, I'm beginning to regret my decision to rate the bacons as it's starting to get hard to distinguish all of the selections. (Michelle suggested we save a slice or two of each one to test them all side-by-side. Unfortunately, I completely ignored her suggestions, although in my defense, this would not have been a fair or scientific comparison since freezer-burn appears to happen relatively quickly in our freezer.) In any case, the Hudson Valley bacon was remarkably similar to Jim Oliver's Hickory Smoked Bacon. Amazingly, it came in even longer and thicker slices than Jim Oliver's, but fortunately, the salt was much more well-balanced. Otherwise, it did not really offer anything distinctive in the way of flavor.

Bacon ranking:
1. North Country Cob Smoked Bacon (Oct 2007)
2. Vande Rose Farms Applewood Smoked Bacon (Dec 2007)
3. Hudson Valley Smokehouse Smoked Country Style Bacon (Feb 2008)
4. Jim Oliver's Hickory Smoked Bacon (Jan 2008)
5. Tripp Country Bacon (Nov 2007)