Facts about Bacon
The Origins of Bacon
• The practise of salting pork and other meats dates from the early periods of civilisation • Salted pork was enjoyed by the Greeks and Romans • The Saxons kept large herds of pigs in England’s extensive woodlands • There are references to ‘bacon’ in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the works of Shakespeare • 1560… earliest reference to bacon served for breakfast (by a London Cheesemonger)
Bacon Folklore
• ‘Bringing home the bacon’? From the 12th century, the priory of Little Dunmow in Essex awarded a ‘Dunmow Flitch’ to any couple who could swear and prove to a jury that they spent 12 months and a day without ‘having a household brawl or wishing themselves unmarried’ … only 8 flitches were awarded between 1244 and 1772 • ‘Chewing the fat’? In the 16th Century, European peasants could only sometimes afford pork which made them feel quite special. When visitors arrived, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could ‘bring home the bacon’. They would then cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit round and ‘chew the fat’
Danish Bacon in Britain
• Danish Bacon has been a British favourite for over 150 years. The first shipment of Danish Bacon reached these shores way back in 1847 • Bacon and pork are Denmark’s largest and most important exports, sold around 140 countries the world over • Launched back in 1972, around 90% of consumers in Britain recognise the Danish ‘sizzle’ • Around a quarter of all bacon eaten in Britain is Danish
Bacon Today
• Around 90% of British people eat bacon and it is the nation’s most frequently eaten meat • British shoppers spend over £1 billion on bacon every year • Over a third of bacon is still eaten at breakfast, but it is becoming an increasingly popular meal ingredient throughout the day • Surveys have shown that the nation’s favourite sandwich is the BLT • Bacon is a favourite hangover cure – many revellers opt for a cooked breakfast or a bacon buttie as a way to soothe sore heads after a night of indulgence
Bacon Cures
• Bacon is cured pork. The curing of pork into bacon with salt gives it such a distinctive taste. Modern curing methods have enabled the producers to reduce its salt content significantly over the last 30 years
* Wiltshire: * Dry Cure: * Mild Cure: * Sweet Cure:
a traditional cure, originating in Wiltshire a traditional cure using dry salt a traditional cure using around 2.5 % salt a cure in which sugars or syrups are added
Smoked or Unsmoked
• Over two-thirds of bacon is sold as unsmoked or sometimes known as ‘green’ bacon
• Sales of smoked bacon are growing. After curing, the bacon is smoked using wood chippings or other smoking processes. Smoking gives the product a distinctive flavour and a slightly brownish appearance
Bacon ‘Words of Wisdom’
• ‘I’ve long said that if I were about to be executed and were given a choice of my last meal, it would be bacon and eggs’. James Beard • ‘Life expectancy would grow in leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon’. Doug Larson • ‘I have never regretted Paradise Lost since I discovered that it contained no eggs and bacon’. Dorothy Sayers • ‘We plan, we toil, we suffer – in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol’s eyes? The little deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no… … simply to wake up just in time to smell coffee, bacon and eggs’. J.B. Priestley