I picked up a 1.21 pound package of Creston Valley’s Fine Meats Shoulder Bacon on Saturday morning. I hadn’t tried it before and have been loving the shoulder style cut (more meat). This isn’t to say I don’t love the standard American streaky bacon with its 80% fat to 20% meat ratio. Hell, how would we make cornbread without it? But after trying A&B Meats’ version, count me in to the shoulder bacon.

The frozen package weighed in at 1.21 pounds, that was 13 dollars. My expectations for the bacon just doubled and being frozen wasn’t helping matters any. When I got home, tossed the package in to the fridge and figured Sunday’s breakfast would be a great time to try it. After all, you cannot fry frozen meat and if you do? Spank yourself with a wooden spoon. Tell you what, I’ll freeze you. Then, without warning, toss you in to a fry pan and see what you have to say about it. Or? Would you rather spend your time at a comfortable temperature, then slide in to a hot tub? It’s your choice you know. Don’t hate your meat, show it love and it’ll reward you.
I removed the package from the fridge and noticed it had the look and feel of pastrami, sort of. I sliced the package open and good thing it was on the counter and not over the floor. A goodly amount of water flooshed out. I checked the label and it’s water cured, huh. So, I’m paying for water too? Hmmmmm. In any case I warmed up the cast iron skillet to medium and laid in enough bacon to cover the bottom. The meat really pulled to pieces, really dainty stuff and felt very raw and floppy. It smelled like bacon though and the label said it had maple sugar in there. Even a medium heat the water made it tough to brown the bacon. Although, given the fat content of shoulder bacon, you just can’t get it crispy like the fattier type. To get your meat crispy, you need fat.
I cooked the first batch a little on the hard side, just to see. Sure enough, it was kinda tough. But that was my fault. What was odd was the fact that my lips were going numb. The smoky flavor was light and I wasn’t able to find any sweetness. So, I did up another batch and cooked it lightly. This means it’s still floppy and with this bacon, a considerable amount of water in the pan.
My lips were going numb. The lighter cook was definately a hit, for texture. Then Mama mentioned her lips were going numb. I didn’t say anything to her, wanted to see if she got the same feeling or lack thereof. She rolled her eyes a bit and grabbed a pinch of salt with a grind of pepper and said it was much better. But our lips were numb and as I’m writing this 40 minutes later? My tongue is all numb and feeling funny.
While I’m sure it’s good pork, I’m not a fan of this much water curing. I pulled out my solid copper fry pan to see if the water would evaporate a little faster, it did. But the bacon still made our lips numb.
Flat watery flavor that makes your lips numb and the fact you have to add salt & pepper to jack up the action scares me, especially if you’re eating bacon.
I cannot recommend the Crestin Valley’s Fine Meats Shoulder Bacon, nope.
Biggles