Bacon

I can't count how many times my husband has complained about the bacon in the States. It seemed like his disappointment would somehow disappear each time he ordered bacon at a restaurant. The bacon would inevitably appear in front of him and his disgust would magically reappear. "What is this?"... "This isn't REAL bacon!" And all other of his ex-pat friends wholeheartedly agreed.

He's been soooo excited to be back in the hemisphere where people eat "real bacon." So excited that we've eaten more bacon in 2 months than we ever have. I'm exaggerating there. But we do eat it a few times a week, for sure.

I don't share in this excitement. I really want to understand his glee, but I'm just not seeing the glory of the bacon here. It's much larger, no doubt. And thicker. But you see, here's the problem...for me, anyway. The excitement of American bacon lies in the fat. I know, fat is gross, and on 99% of occasions, I would agree. But that is the whole point of bacon. It's meant to be consumed as a whole.

For me, it has to be crispy or I can't eat it. Fat is, indeed, gross. So the problem with the large, thick bacon here is that when you try to cook it crispy, it just doesn't work. It's not designed to be crispy. It turns out tough and hard to eat. It's more like a piece of thin sliced ham, with fat on it. So you (or maybe it's just me) end up just eating the meat and leaving the fat for the trash can.

So if this is how it's going to be, you might as well just buy thin sliced ham and fry it up. Then you don't even have to deal with fat.

Just a thought...