STEP 6: COTTAGE BACON

Let me introduce you to cottage bacon.

If you're in America, you're already familiar with what we consider 'regular' bacon, which is made from pork belly and is streaked with fat. There are a lot of different types of bacon that are basically different cuts cured and brined in similar fashion; for example, back bacon (aka Canadian bacon) is made from the loin and is very lean.

Cottage bacon is made from pork shoulder and is also lean, while still having some fat. My sister-in-law Robin from Troubled Acres suggested we get as much of the pig processed in this way as we could. So needless to say we were excited to break into our first pound.

(For the record, we got plenty of good old-fashioned American bacon too, and I plan to do something ridiculous with some of it in the spirit of bacon mania. Like a bacon sombrero filled with cocktail weenies or a Bacon Explosion or something)

But on this day it was just good old breakfast for dinner: pancakes from the griddle and cottage bacon in a cast-iron pan.

Cottage Bacon

Ingredients:
Cottage bacon

Instructions:
Seriously? Am I going to do this recipe format EVERY TIME? It's bacon. Cook it. If you can't master bacon technology, you sure as heck couldn't have found this site on the AOL Internets.

The story, in pictures:
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I may have hallucinated a little bit in the middle there from the smell of frying bacon, although the part where Robocop rode in on the unicorn and killed the dragon was just SO vivid.

Anyway, the bacon was as delicious as advertised. Very meaty, more tender than a hamsteak but less crisp/crumbly than normal bacon. I daresay it was addictive. Shannon, after commenting that she loved the taste, noted "It's really filling. I'm finished." I immediately noticed that 'finished' apparently meant 'finished putting it on her plate' and not 'finished eating it.' I had to keep sliding the serving plate further from her side of the table to preserve any for leftovers:

It was the meal so nice we had it twice. Next time I may have to try some grilled cottage bacon, tomato and cheddar sandwiches... mmmmmm!