Review of What the English Call Bacon
Last week I traveled to England for my brother’s wedding. I had never been there before and was not sure what to expect. I knew they drive on the left side of the road, call police Bobbies, and eat beans for breakfast, but I didn’t know the answer to the most important question of them all. What is English bacon like?
When I checked out the local cafés and pubs I found something that you never seem to find in the U.S. There was bacon everywhere: bacon and eggs sandwiches, BLTs, bacon baguettes, bacon flavored crisps, and bacon and toast. My mouth was watering just looking at the menus.
I went to a café for my first taste of English bacon. I got the classic English breakfast that consisted of: 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 strips of bacon, beans, black pudding, toast, and a cup of tea. The waiter set it down in front of me and my heart sank. There next to my eggs were two large strips of what can only be described as ham. That’s right, it was none other than the dreaded back bacon.
I couldn’t believe it. I asked some of the locals about this and they told me that back bacon was “proper bacon.” To which I said “there is nothing proper about this.” It was like I was in my own private hell. So I went on a quest to find pork belly.
I went to a bunch of different places and with each order my hatred for the England grew. But the thing that pushed me over the edge was when I ordered a BLT. It came with lettuce, tomato, and two large slices of back bacon. When I started to force it down, I realized it was missing one key ingredient, mayonnaise.
I walked up to the counter and asked for some and was told that they didn’t have any. All they had was ketchup and brown sauce (a blown liquid that tastes like a sweet A1 sauce that the Brits seem to put on everything).
As I think back to history class and the reasons for the American Revolution, (oppression, and taxation without representation) and can’t help but think I was lied to. The real reason the states wanted to break free from British rule was pork bellies and mayo. No longer did the colonies want to eat mayo-less back bacon sandwiches. As I did more research into the subject I found that the original plan for the Boston tea party was to throw pigs overboard to show their outrage. But it was decided that the pigs never did anything to harm them and it would have been a waste of precious pork belly. So they decided that since only Brits, women, and girly men drank tea (real men drink coffee) they would use it to get their point across and the rest is history.
I did come across some real bacon over there but it was somewhat disappointing. It was a single chewy not fully cooked strip wrapped around some green beans.
Other than the lack of real bacon the trip was great and if I ever go back I’ll be sure to hide some Hickory Smoked in my carry-on.
By Sean Brett
You need what the Brits call ’streaky bacon’.
I suppose that had been a disappointing experience on England bacon. Good that the trip was good in general!
wow… ya’ll should do some research and let us know what other countries have real bacon or ham. It’d make an awesome bacon travel guide.
British Bacon is the same as Danish and Irish. I guess you might compare it to Ham, but for us in the UK its very different. Ham in the Uk is quite thin compared to the UK version of Bacon and we wouldn’t fry our version of Ham. I am looking forward to trying some proper american bacon on my trip over.
Thankfully, we Brits aren’t stuck in a world of back bacon – next time you’re over here, ask for streaky bacon instead, which is the good stuff. (Most BLTs here use streaky – I’m sorry you happened upon an aberrant version.)
If you find yourself in a British supermarket, keep an eye out for dry-cured smoked streaky (available pretty much everywhere), or my favourite, a wet-cured treacle one from Waitrose. Lots of butchers cure their own too; the situation is not as dire as you think!
One difference I have noticed is that bacon in the US is more likely to be cooked to a crisp. Here in the UK, we seem to tend towards a crisp edge, but don’t crisp the whole slice. It’s still wonderful stuff.
Hey,
I’m from the UK, but am traveling the states at the moment and have to say that I much prefer our British bacon. American bacon is far more fatty-looking and you get way less bacon for your buck compared to back home.
Bread is a weird one here too. It’s all very sugary tasting. Some other things I’ve noticed include:
American biscuit = British scone (but a savory version)
American zucchini = British courgette
American cilantro = British coriander
That’s all!
Ed.
Actually the wierdest thing about cheap/average priced american bread is how long it stays fresh without going moldy… bread in the US can last 2-3 weeks, bread in the UK is likely to last 5 days in comparison.
If you are a brit looking for Back Bacon, then try Fresh and Easy… they are located in CA and AZ but are expanding.
There website is http://www.freshandeasy.com/
I’m sorry for the experience you had. However, it is always proper to know the terms the locals call things. Back bacon IS bacon in the UK and streaky bacon is what the UK calls our bacon. I personally prefer theirs and wish I could find it locallly. UK culture is different than ours. We are an I WANT IT MY WAY society. Maybe we should learn to have it their way when we are in their country. BTW: The tea party was over taxation, not culinary preference. Next time you go, maybe you should seek out a Buger King and have it your way.
Cheers.
In the upper midwest we have lots of hogs and great “streaky bacon”. Most of our groceries also feature Canadian Bacon, which looks and sounds like the bacon of Britton.
Dear Sean
I’m sorry you didn’t like our bacon. Clearly you need to develop better taste buds. Our bacon is lush. You can only eat yours when it is burnt to a crisp as it is virtually all fat. Now eating fat has its place (if you come back ask for a bag of pork scratching) but you can’t beat a nice piece of smoked bacon. And no it doesn’t taste like ham at all, which is best boilet (in coke) and then roasted) yum. Oh and Liz when you say that most places here use streaky bacon for BLT’s that is simply not true. There may be a small amount of fat on the bacon but not to the extent you get it in the US. I would agree though that mayonaise does taste good on BLT’s
Does anyone know why bacon smells so good??
Carmel
My mouth waters just looking at the picture. English bacon is vastly superior to American bacon.