Rations

[Charles Heath]

Re: Coffee: Green or Roasted

I understand that it is widely accepted, my question is what is this based upon? Is it advertisements, or is it the fact that someone found that one could purchase these goods from an earlier period living history supplier, thought it neat, and it becoming a trend.

For many years people had trouble finding green coffee beans in small quanitity, but this is no longer a problem, and they no longer have to be purchased in 50 or 100lb sacks. It may be based more upon numerous individual soldier accounts via letters and journals which back up period cooking chapters in manuals of the time rather than newspaper requests for bid advertisements.

A number of events have featured green coffee, and roasting (with various degrees of success) based on period letters for a specific unit in a specific location. If memory serves me, the background information provided for the Harrison's Landing event featured such a letter, perhaps from a fellow in the 83rd PVI, as just one example. Look for comments about kettles in journals and letters, and soon or later the writer will comment on the burned coffee beans from inexperienced cooks cooking them so fast the oils burn quickly and impart a bitter taste.

As a hint towards using packaging as a guide, coffee referenced in bags tends to be green, and coffee in barrels tents to be roasted. As always, there are exceptions, and the various OR citations Hank mentioned are a good place to start your research.

Charles Heath

[Sprowls]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.

Yes, definitely give them a call.

A few months ago they were experiencing some computer difficulties
and the best way to contact and do business with them, at that time,
was by phone. Anyway, that was my relatively recent experience.

Chuck Sprowls

Why not give them a call? This phone number may or may not still be current: (309) 353-2414.

Charles Heath

[Agate]

Re: Coffee: Green or Roasted

Thanks for the replies, very much appreciated.

I think the best place for further research on this would be a look for records of procurement in the Serial Set.

I should explain that I've run across at least thirty-five or forty advertisements placed by the department, and have just not found a record of their advertising for green coffee other than as a sample of quality.

Had Mr. Trent not provided something of authority, would not have much choice but to somewhat question this.

This advertisement business certainly doesn't mean they didn't purchase it, very much agree, as it is after all an advertisement, and not a record of procurement. Hopefully more will be shed in the records of the Congress. If the interest is there, will report back if anything is found.

Regards,

John

John Sarver
Cincinnati

[RebelReefer]

AOT rations

What were normal rations issued to a private in the Army of Tennessee? I've read that Rebs in the west were not issued salt pork nor hardtack, so what were they issued? Cornmeal and beef? Am just trying to find "safe" authentic foods that i can bring to an event that won't spoil in a haversack over a weekend.

[markmason]

Re: AOT rations

What were normal rations issued to a private in the Army of Tennessee? I've read that Rebs in the west were not issued salt pork nor hardtack, so what were they issued? Cornmeal and beef? Am just trying to find "safe" authentic foods that i can bring to an event that won't spoil in a haversack over a weekend.

For starts find a copy of THE LIFE of JOHNNY REB by Bell Irwin Wiley and
read....

Another source to try is Sam Watkins CO. AYTCH

[FederalDrummerBoy]

Re: AOT rations

Ethan,
I reccomend SOLDERING IN THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE.

_______________
Alex Kuhn CCFD

[Charles Heath]

Re: AOT rations

You may find this of value as an example of one such regiment:

http://members.aol.com/cbbelt/Food/

The part about "blue beef" is interesting. At one time, a handy Florida beef producers website had a brief article on the topic of blue beef.

Charles Heath

[Amtmann]

Re: Can Openers

Russel & Irwin Catalogue 1865. Can knives. Anyone interested can email me for a scan.

[deaj02]

Re: Coffee: Green or Roasted

"The coffee was sometimes issued to the companies from the Commissary Dept., green and unground and then ground up in coffee mills by the cooks, but as a general thing it was issued ground as we received it from our stores at the present time." [Pvt. Ryan, in Barnard, Campaigning with the Irish Brigade, pp. 74-75, 28th MA, no date or location]

[RebelReefer]

Bacon preservation in the field.

I've been racking my brain to think of a way to keep bacon from spoiling in the field for a weekend. I know salt pork was what the U.S. Army was issued but the modern version you can buy at the grocery store is unauthentic, so what do i use? My first choice would be bacon, but what else? Also how could i safely carry it in my haversack other than deep freezing it and cooking it all on friday night?

Ethan, please check this thread http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2560&highlight=bacon. It should answer your question. Please use the "search" feature prior to asking questions as the topic may have been discussed. Thanks - Mike Chapman

[Charles Heath]

The Weekly Bacon Question

Forgive me for posting this yet one more time. Keep in mind this is The Sinks, and this has been reposted a zillion times by everyone and his brother anyway. I was going to post this to this week's bacon question, but it was already closed, homogenized, pasteurized, simonized, and treated for lice.

Bacon, More Than You Want to Know

This is a test of the Emergency Bacon System. The following information should only be used in a real bacon emergency.

Bacon is cured and/or smoked hog meat from the pig belly. Bacon produced at home, is typically dry-cured with salt, nitrites, sugar, and spices for a week or longer. Because of concern over N-nitrosamines, the use of nitrates for bacon curing is not allowed commercially (USDA FSIS 1997c). Home preparations, such as Morton Smoked-flavored sugar cure, contain nitrates and are recommended by the manufacturer for the use in bacon curing (Morton Salt Co.1996). Some ethnic bacon (Canadian bacon and Irish bacon) is made from leaner cuts. Pancetta is Italian bacon that is not smoked.

Real Bacon: The meat is first rubbed down with two kinds of salt and two kinds of brown sugar, to a traditional recipe. The meat is placed for a few on trays to allow the juices to drain, then hung for a week or thereabouts. It is then bone dry containing only meat. Often oak chippings are used to smoke bacon, giving them a distinctive flavour.

Non-Bacon with a Baconish Label & Vague Baconish Flavor: Large scale factory processors inject their meats with a saline solution by pumping the meat with hundreds of needles. The solution also contains monosodium glutamate, which is an artificial flavour enhancer, needed to cover the injection of the water and salt solution. This process often doubles the size of the meat to increase profit margins. Pork can contain up to 35% water naturally. Saline injection methods can increase the water content to a staggering 65-70% The white glue-like liquid and water that comes out of rashers when cooked is the water and monosodium glutamate, causing your rashers to shrink watching them fry or grill. Traditionally cured bacon only loses 2-3% when cooked

Don't try this at home.

Haversack bacon is considered a hazardous substance by OSHA and is regulated through the EPA as well as some state and local agencies. If you drop cooked or raw bacon at a living history, that site may eventually become as polluted as Love Canal in New York, and be listed as a Superfund Site. Be very careful with bacon or else you will become very familar with the Center for Disease Control's protocol for bacon transporation, storage, and preparation.

Before handling bacon (always wear your hazmat suit, neoprene gloves, and respirator before entering the bacon contaminated area), it is advisable to read the following material for a better understanding of the potential dangers, and what specific actions should be taken if any meat escapes the bacon containment area:

Alden L. 2001a. Bacon Glossary. The Cooks Thesaurus. Available from: http://www.switcheroo.com/MeatcureBacon.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

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Alden L. 2001c. Bacon Glossary. The Cooks Thesaurus. Available from: http://www.switcheroo.com/MeatcureSausage.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Alexander MA, Stringer WC. 1993. Home Curing Bacon for a Mild Flavor. Columbia, MO: Missouri Cooperative Extension. Available from: http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplo...sci/g02528.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Andress EL. 2001. Should I Vacuum Package Food at Home? Athens, GA: FACS Extension University of Georgia. Available from: http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/PDF/FDNS-E-46.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Associated Press. 1997. Tainted ham suspected in deadly bacteria outbreak. Atlanta, GA: Cable News Network. Available from: http://www6.cnn.com/HEALTH/9711/07/salmonella/. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Borchert LL, Cassens RG. 1998. Chemical Hazard Analysis for Sodium Nitrite in Meat Curing. Madison WI: American Meat Institute Foundation. Available from: http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~meatsci/borca2.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Bruhn, C. 1997. Consumer Concerns: Motivating to Action. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 3. No 4. P511-515.

Busboom J. 1997. Curing and Smoking Poultry Meat. Pullman, WA: Washington State University. Available from: http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublicatio...60/eb1660.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Campbell T. 2001. Secrets of Salt Curing: The Oldest Food Preservation Technique. Burbank, CA. ABCNews.com. Available from: http://archive.abcnews.go.com/sectio...eek990610.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1987. International Outbreak of Type E Botulism Associated With Ungutted, Salted Whitefish. MMWR 36(49)ec 18. Available from: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/fishbot.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1994. Clostridium perfringens Gastroenteritis Associated with Corned Beef Served at St. Patrick's Day Meals Ohio and Virginia, 1993. MMWR 43(08);137 138,143 144. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00025191.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1995. Outbreak of Salmonellosis Associated With Beef Jerky New Mexico, 1995. MMWR 44(42):1995 Oct 27. Available from: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/jerky.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1997a. Foodborne Botulism From Eating Home Pickled Eggs Illinois, 1997. MMWR September 01, 2000 / 49(34);778 780. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4934a2.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1997b. Outbreak of Staphylococcal Food Poisoning Associated with Precooked Ham Florida, 1997 . MMWR December 19, 1997 / 46(50);1189 1191. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00050415.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1997c. Vibrio parahaemolyticus Infections Associated with Eating Raw Oysters -- Pacific Northwest, 1997. MMWR June 12, 1998 / 47(22);457 462. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00053377.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Condon S. 1999. Enhancement of the quality and safety of fermented and other acidified consumer foods through the interaction of nitrite and acid. Cork, Ireland: University College. Available from: http://www.ucc.ie/acad/faculties/foo...alupdate47.htm Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Corlett Jr. DA. 1998. HACCP User=s Manual. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publications. p37.

Cowen RW. 1999. The Importance of Salt. Davis, CA: University of California. Available from: http://geology.ucdavis.edu/~GEL115/salt.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Cutter C. 2000. Proper Processing of Wild Game and Fish. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University. Available from: http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/test/p...ldgamefish.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Doyle ME. 1999. Use of other preservatives to control Listeria in meat. Madison, WI: Food Research Institute. Available from: http://www.amif.org/Listeria%20Preservatives.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Eden T. 1999. The Art of Preserving: How Cooks in Colonial Virginia Imitated Nature to Control It. Eighteenth Century Life 23(2):13 23. Also available from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eightee.../23.2eden.html Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Epley RJ, Addis PB, Warthesen JJ. 1992. Nitrite in Meat. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Extension Service, University of Minnesota. Available from: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...on/DJ0974.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Feng P. 1995. Escherichia coli Serotype O157:H7: Novel Vehicles of Infection and Emergence of Phenotypic Variants. Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol.1 No.2 April June. Available from: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/feng.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Hilderbrand K. 1999. Smoking Fish at Home--Safely. Pullman, WA: Washington State University. Available from: http://eesc.orst.edu/AgComWebFile/EdMat/PNW238.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Hilderbrand K. 2001. Fish Smoking Procedures for Forced Convection Smokehouses. Newport, OR: Oregon State University. Available from: http://seagrant.orst.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs/i01001.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Hoyle EH. 1999. Preserving Game Meats. Clemson, SC: Clemson University. Available from: http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3603.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Kassem CL. 2001. Smoking Fish at Home - A Step by Step Guide. Blacksburg, VA: Commercial Fish and Shellfish Technologies Program, Virginia Tech. Available from: http://www.cfast.vt.edu/publications/smokefish.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Kendall P. 1999. Botulism. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. Available from: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09305.pdf. Accessed 2001 Oct 7.

Krizner K. 1998. Researchers Look to Heat Treatment to Keep Sausage Pathogen Free. Chicago, IL: Meat Marketing and Technology. Available from: http://www.meatingplace.com/articles/m1084.asp. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Lin K.W., Keeton J.T., Craig T.M., Huey R.H., Longnecker M.T., Gamble H.R., Custer C.S. & Cross H.R. 1990. Dry cured ham processes which affect Trichinella spiralis: Bioassay analysis. Journal of Food Science, 55: 289 298.

Lombardi S, Redding J. 1995. Pennsylvania Firm Recalls Lebanon Bologna Nationwide. Release No. 0717.95. Washington DC: USDA. Available from: http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/1995/10/0717. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Luick B. 1998. Smoking Fish at home. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska. Available from: http://www.uaf.edu/coop-ext/publicat.../FNH-00325.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Mack L. 2001. Food Preservation in the Roman Empire. Chapel Hill, NC. University of North Carolina. Available from: http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/...eservation.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Mandeville Co. 2001. Curing Products. Minneapolis, MN: Mandeville Co. Available from: http://www.mandevillecompany.com/ssng_curing.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Marchello, M. and J. Garden Robinson. 1998. The Art and Practice of Sausage Making. Fargo, ND: North Dakota State University. Available from: http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/yf/foods/he176w.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Marchello M, Beck P. 2001. Wild Side of the Menu No. 3 Preservation of Game Meats. Fargo, ND: North Dakota State University. Available from: http://www.abs.sdstate.edu/flcs/food...c/wildsid3.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Marriott NG, Graham PP. 2000. Some Solutions To Difficulties Of Home-Curing Pork. Blacksberg, VA: Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech University. Available from: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/458-872/458-872.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Marriott NG and Kelly RF. Revised 1998. Dry-Curing Virginia style Hams. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Cooperative Extension. Available from: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/458-223/458-223.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Mead PS, Slutsker L, Dietz V, McCaig LF, Bresee JS, Shapiro C, Griffin PM, Tauxe RV. 2000. Food Related Illness and Death in the United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol. 5. No. 5. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no5/mead.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Michigan State University Extension Service. 1999a. Smoking Fish. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. Available from: http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/01600579.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Michigan State University Extension Service. 1999b. Smoking Fish in a Smokehouse. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. Available from: http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/01600580.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Michigan State University Extension Service. 1999c. Cured Herring or Alewives. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. Available from: http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/01600590.html. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Miller BF, Enos HL. 1998. Smoking Poultry Meat. Fort Collins, CO: Cooperative Extension, Colorado State University. Available from: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09325.pdf. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Mississippi State Extension Service. 2000. Curing and Smoking Poultry. Starkville, MS: Mississippi State Extension Service. Available from: http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/smoking.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Morton Salt Company. 2001. Morton Salt Meat Curing Products. Chicago, IL: Morton Salt Co., Inc. Available from: http://www.mortonsalt.com/recp/speb1recp.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

NY State Agriculture Commissioner. 2000. Recall of Fish Sausage. Brooklyn, NY: State Agriculture Department. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls...usage9_00.html Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

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Price RJ, Tom P. 1995. Smoking Fish. Davis, CA: University of California. Available from: http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/Pubs/smoking.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food Safety and Inspection Service. 1999. COOK IT!
Cooking Temperature. Washington DC: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Available from: http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/fs-cook.html. Accessed 2002 Sep 30.

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Zarnke RL, Gamble R, Heckeret RA, Ver Hoef J. 1997. Serologic survey for Trichinella spp. in grizzly bears from Alaska. J Wildlife Dis. 33(3):474-79.

As a minimum, the above light reading will prepare you for actual bacon contact. Just about anyone can make a nuclear bomb, simply by going down to the local library and finding the right materials. Making bacon is somewhat more difficult (Did Einstein or Fermi try to make bacon? No. I rest my case.) for the average budding Nuclear Physicist, but here's a clandestine recipe.

Try this at home:

Home Curing Bacon for a Mild Flavor
By Maurice A. Alexander and William C. Stringer, University of Missouri-Columbia

"Most people eat bacon because they like it, not for its nutritional value. Country-cured bacon is usually more salty and less desirable than commercially prepared bacon. This guide will outline procedures for curing bacon to get a mild flavor. When production of bacon depends upon natural conditions for refrigeration, pork bellies should be placed in cure during December through February. The risk of spoilage is greater during the warmer seasons of fall and spring.

Product

To successfully home cure bacon, begin with fresh bellies that have been chilled to about 42 degrees F within 24 to 30 hours after slaughter. If the fresh bellies are purchased from a commercial source, they have been properly chilled. If the source is farm slaughter, take care to chill them rapidly. Do not stack warm bellies during the chilling process. Trim the bellies to desired shape and apply cure within 48 hours after slaughter. Bellies prepared from skinned carcasses may be cured successfully in the same manner as those from scalded carcasses.

Curing ingredients

Salt is the primary ingredient. Sugar is added to offset some of the salt's harshness. A combination of 3 pounds salt and 1-1/2 pounds sugar, either white or brown, is a basic mixture. There are several commercially prepared cures comprised of this basic mixture. Some have added spices and flavoring to give a characteristic flavor, aroma or appearance.

A cure mixture that performs well under home curing conditions consists of 7 pounds meat curing salt, 4 pounds sugar (white or brown) and 3 ounces of nitrate (saltpeter — optional). This cure produces a milk-flavored bacon.

Applying cure

If commercially prepared cure is used, apply according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you prepare your cure according to the suggested recipe, apply the cure at rate of 1/2 ounce per pound fresh belly. If you cannot weigh the ingredients and bellies, you can put the cure on by sprinkling the skin side and by rubbing the sides and inside well with the cure. Hold the belly on edge and tap gently on table to remove excess cure. The amount applied will equal about 1/2 ounce per pound.

Curing time

Stack the bellies crisscross no more than four layers deep on a table that is tilted to allow the moisture to drain away. Plywood on a set of sawhorses works well. Place the bellies in a well-ventilated, odor-free room and allow to cure 7 days. If the bellies freeze before 7 days, allow them to defrost and add one day to cure for each day they were frozen. After curing, the product should be smoked.

Preparation for smoking

Wash the bacon in warm water, hang in the smokehouse with door open and allow to dry. This may take two or three days. The meat will not take smoke until the surface is dry. If the meat is smoked when still damp, the smoke will be smudgy and the meat will not taste as good. When the bacon is dry, apply the smoke and allow about 36 to 48 hours to complete the smoking. Add sawdust or wood as needed during the smoking.

Smokehouse

A smokehouse may be constructed using three pieces of tempered masonite, stove pipe, a 30-gallon drum and frame lumber.

The outside dimensions are about 2 feet wide, 4 feet deep and 8 feet tall. This will smoke the bacons and jowls from five hogs.

Smoke from burning sawdust in the drum is vented into a lower corner of the smokehouse, then vented out the opposite corner near the top of a flue.

The drum should lay on a metal base with about 2 feet of 3- or 4-inch vent pipe to the smokehouse. Air vents should be made in the drum on the side opposite the vent pipe and about one-fourth the distance up from the bottom. Cut a hole in the top to allow filling with sawdust.

Start the smoke generator by putting crumpled paper in the lower vents, piling sawdust on the paper and lighting the paper. Leave enough room for air to get in as the sawdust burns. The sawdust should smolder and give off smoke. If it flames, dampen the sawdust with water.

Bacon hangers

Bacon hangers can be made of non-resinous wood material about 2-inches wide, 1/2-inch thick, and 12-inches long. Space four or five No. 6 galvanized nails along the board, make a hanger from No. 9 galvanized wire and fasten to the middle of the board.

Source of wood for smoke

Use only hardwood sawdust or chips for smoking. Resinous evergreen wood will impart an undesirable flavor. Sawdust from a stave bolt mill or sawmill where no resinous lumber is cut will be fine. Since most home smokehouses are designed to give a cold smoke, drying and smoking will take longer than at a commercial facility.

Handling the finished product

Bacon cured and smoked in this fashion is perishable and needs to be frozen or stored in a refrigerator until eaten. Remove the rind if it is not removed during slaughter, slice, wrap in freezer paper and freeze. The sliced bacon will retain its quality 2 to 3 months in freezer storage. If more bacon was cured than the family will eat in two to three months, wrap and freeze in chunks. Bacon will keep its fresh flavor longer during freezer storage if it is not sliced."

Source: Copyright 2000 University of Missouri. Published by University Extension, University of Missouri-Columbia.

This is a handy website:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_meats.html

This website is very handy, and portions have been quoted above:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_toc.html

Evidence our allies, the Brits, have the same problems with the dreadeed bacon as us Yanks:

How often do you breakfast on truly crisp, flavoursome bacon? Ask anyone what they think of bacon today and they will voice the same complaints. Why does it shed a pool of white milk when you fry it? Why, instead of crisping up, does it resolve itself into something with the texture of boiled cardboard? Unfortunately, 50 years of food science have failed to ensure a standard of excellence.

The bacon industry always insists that the product on the shelves is what the average person wants. And, they add, it is all the average customer is prepared to pay for. Bacon is not seen as a gourmet food because, traditionally, it has been the food of the poor - pigs being convenient scavengers to keep around the cottage or farm.

But the Great British breakfast deserves better bacon - and now we can thank the organic movement for a revival of interest. The Prince of Wales has been the main instigator. The organic bacon launched by his company, Duchy Originals, has been trotting off the shelves since the end of last year, though it is hardly cheap at £3.99 for a 184g pack. The company also produces free-range bacon and these sales are booming too, not simply because it comes from the Duchy, but because it's so good. It's certainly the best I've eaten.

The Prince's Highgrove estate has some 125 sows, producing no fewer than 2,500 piglets a year. Its organic hams were selling well and it decided to use the 5,000 pork loins to create another organic product: bacon. However, Duchy wasn't in a position to manufacture the bacon itself, and so it looked for a producer. A big factory could easily have done the job, but Duchy didn't want a factory finish. It wanted bacon that tasted the way it used to: a dry-cured product that wouldn't leach milky water in the pan.

One of Duchy's press officers, Fiona Gately, previously worked with Food From Britain, an agency that supports small producers. She approached the best curers and, after many trials with different cures, commissioned Denhay Farms in Dorset. Denhay is owned by George and Amanda Streatfeild, who are renowned for their prize-winning West Country cheddars and air-dried hams. But could they bring home the bacon too? Because of their judicious mixture of old and new techniques, the answer was yes.

I took the train to Dorchester to see for myself. Amanda Streatfeild drove me through Bridport and on to Marshwood Vale, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, where they farm an estate of 1,850 acres. They have 950 Friesian and Holstein cows that provide the milk for the prized cheese - a by-product of which, whey, is an essential part of the diet of their own pigs.

As soon as I met George Streatfeild, there was one question uppermost in my mind that I had to ask: why should his bacon cook perfectly when so much factory bacon exudes a milky sweat?

"Ah, the white stuff," he replies. "When I exhibit at trade fairs, I'm tempted to put up a sign saying 'No White Scum Here'. It's because producers put too much water into the meat. If your integrity lets you sell water instead of bacon, that's what you do."

How do you fill bacon with water? "You inject it with brine and polyphosphates - gelling agents that hold the water in." It occured to me that I had heard of polyphosphates before. George jogged my memory: "They use them in wallpaper paste."

In the traditional cure that George uses, salting and drying result in a 30 per cent weight loss, so the bacon is reduced to 70 per cent of its original weight. "Most factory bacon is 110 per cent of the original weight," he remarks with a smile. "That's the added water." The wet cure, it seems, is very wet indeed, hence the nefarious white residue. But most so-called dry-cured bacon isn't much better. George has a theory that this is because of the factory practice of compressing and freezing the dry-cured sides of bacon to -15?C so that they can be sliced on heavy-duty industrial cutters. "I think this process must break down cell walls, with the result that liquid runs out when you cook the bacon," he says.

How did we let our bacon go to the dogs, I ask. Government food policy? "It's easy to lay blame," George says, "but you must remember that during the war we failed to feed the nation (we lost merchant ships as our food convoys tried to break the Atlantic U-boat blockade). We decided never again to be held to ransom."

As he shows me round, I'm amazed to learn how simple it is to make good bacon. Even so George benefits from the advice of Tim French, a former Bristol Meat Research Institute scientist who was around in the Fifties, when they made bacon properly. Both Denhay Farm's organic bacon (from Highgrove) and its free-range line (from farms in Norfolk) are made the same way. De-boned and de-rinded, they are massaged with a precise blend of salt, sodium nitrite and organic sugar. A 10kg side will use no more than 33g of cure. "We are parsimonious with salt," says George.

The meat is laid in plastic boxes with drainage holes - to allow the juices to run off - and then hung for two days to drip-dry. After being chilled to -2?C, the sides are transferred to the cutting room to be sliced on two Berkel cutting machines, made in about 1950 and known as 'the old ladies'. The bacon is then simply trimmed and vacuum-packed and that's the end of it.

For George, however, it is far from the end of the matter. Organic pork has some way to go yet, he says, and we must return to the beginning if we want to improve on its flavour. "The fat isn't firm," he explains. "It's lacy, which is due to the feed. Up until the war, pigs were slow-growing and heavy, fed on mangolds, fodder beet and barley. Today's feeds contain maize, which was hardly known 50 years ago. We need more research."

If George thinks it's worth the trouble, then so do I.

Source: Waitrose.com March 2000

Don't try this in cold weather unless you want shrinkage:

"Modern bacon is generally extremely disappointing. "Standard" bacon is pumped full of salt water during the curing process. This reduces the curing time, and stops mass from being lost, which means that shops make more money from the same haunch. However, as soon as you cook it, the muscle fibres in the meat contract and squeeze out a flood of water and yucky white foam. Very disappointing.

Most butchers, and some supermarkets, will be able to sell you "dry cured" bacon. In theory, this is bacon cured the old-fashioned way, by covering it in salt and allowing osmosis to take its natural course. No water is added. In practice, the label "dry cured" means different things to different people, and the quality of such bacons varies greatly between brands and shops. (Safeway's dry cured bacon, for example, only produces marginally less foamy liquid than their standard variety.)

And then there's the "extra lean" bacon. Bacon without all the fat, rind, and, er, flavour. Folks, if you're considering low-fat bacon, do yourself a favour and don't buy it at all. Have a banana instead.

We have just adopted a new bacon policy: henceforth, we will only be buying absolutely the cheapest bacon we can find in our local supermarket's meat department.

Why? Well, if we're going to put up with water-cured bacon, we might as well pay as little as possible for it. A 300g pack of super-cheap-ultra-value bacon costs about a pound. A comparable pack of "branded" bacon will set you back two or three. Secondly, cheaper bacon is fattier bacon. Guess where bacon's flavour comes from? It's the fat. Fatty bacon just tastes better.

I think it was at World Science Fiction Convention in 1995 Joe Haldeman explained his technique for cooking perfect bacon: cook it in the nude. He reasoned that standing naked over a hit stove forces you to cook the bacon slowly, over a low heat, so that it doesn't spit and spatter all over the place, speckling your delicate milky flesh with gobbets of hot grease.

I have tried this. It does work, provided that you get top-quality bacon that is really dry-cured, rather than just "dry-cured". If you use cheap, fatty bacon, however, you need to modify the technique slightly. First of all, toss it in a frying pan and give it a good hard blast on a very high heat. This makes the meat contract very quickly, expelling most of the stored-up water right up front. Pour off this water. (Don't wait for it to cook and bubble away--you'll just boil the bacon.) Then, you can either continue to fry, grill, or oven-bake the bacon as you would normally."

Finally, this secret goverment site tells you more than you want to know about the Rasher Ridge Bacon Massacre in Idaho:

http://meat.tamu.edu/bacon.html

What was the question?

Yup, real dry cured bacon will last a year or more in your haversack if kept in a cool dry place. The fake stuff will spoil in less than a day.

Portions of this post were tongue (not peppered and smoked) in cheek (not jowl) for those with little or no sense of humor. Other portions are as real as it gets, and may be marginally educational."

================================================== =====

Again, my humble apologies, but the weekly bacon question drove me off the deep end once again. :D

Charles "Duroc" Heath

[dusty27]

Re: The Weekly Bacon Question

Charles,

Uh, thanks?

Deep End? I'll say...............

[Jim Peterson]

Re: The Weekly Bacon Question

Guys,

Could Paul take Charles' post on bacon and the other 19 most asked questions on this board and put them in a folder? Make it so that new members to the board would have to open the folder and click/view each subject before they can make their first post. Can the software do that? Something like than could cut down on the posts.

Jim Peterson
33rd NC and RP

[Gallinipper]

Re: The Weekly Bacon Question

Charles,
I'm sure I speak for many others when I say I knew most of that already. How about posting some new info on the subject? :D
Rich Croxton

[ephraim_zook]

Re: The Weekly Bacon Question

Charles,

You have entirely too much time on your hands. :sleepy:

Ron Myzie