I have reached my limit on Bacon. Not bacon, but Bacon. The desserts, the coffins, and festivals (where chefs have bacon shipped in and then trendify it) — all of it. The part that it is meant to commemorate, bacon, is all but eliminated and, in its place, gluttony has been substituted. When I see bacon on a menu item, it is simple to distinguish whether it is added to create balance and harmony or to advance and encourage gluttony. Not that gluttony doesn’t have any place at the table, there will always be special meals where indulgences occur, but the pride associated with the excess is what has gotten so deeply under my skin.
I hear your thoughts, “Isn’t this a blog about bacon? Hell, it is in the title.” Well, it is in the title, but it has not been about bacon for some time and as time passes, it will be even less about it. Bacon will still be made and I will still let you know if I uncover a particularly interesting or great slice. In fact, I have had this bacon from an amazing breed of pig for over a month and have been reluctant to post about it for the simple reason that I am sick about hearing about Bacon (capital B) and did not want to add to the detritus.
Møsefund Farms breeds a specific type of pig, the Mangalitsa, that is famous for their wooly hair and luscious marbling of fat that comes from their lineage from wild boars and lard pigs that are genetically connected to the famous pata negra. According the their website, “the Mangalitsa at Møsefund are free range, raised outside all year, with access to fresh water, feed and run-in shelters. They graze on chicory, clover, and varieties of local nuts, and finished on a barley mixture for a minimum of 60 days. This diet gives their fat an amazing quality and consistency — high in monsatuarated fat, but low in polyunsaturated fat.” The care that goes into raising these hogs is shown very well in a video located here.
Just looking at the packages, it is clear that eating more than a slice here or there would clearly venture into gluttonous territory and that if I let out screams of joy like I heard upon entering Baconfest 2011, I would be both hypocritical and hypertensive, so I cooked up just a slice for me and for a fellow taster.
The bacon is made to showcase the Mangalitsa. This is not Benton’s where the smoke and salt create something altogether different from anything else that I have tasted, but rather, the smoke and salt simply provide elevation to the spectacular pork. The fattiness is visually arresting, and two slices offload a quarter cup of mangalitsa fat into the pan, but it really comes into play with the amazing texture. The pork flavor was equally strong. I would bet that this pork, while delicious as bacon, would really set itself apart in the long curing arena where it would be safe from dessert, coffins, and other silly trends that shift the focus from deliciousness to something unrelated to flavor.
I’m with you on the riiculousness of Bacon & gluttony for the sake of gluttony
Interesting you should post about Mangalitsa pigs today. Michigan has passed new laws banning such heritage breed pigs in an effort to eliminate feral pigs. The laws went into effect April 1.
Rather than define “feral” as a condition of confinement, they have created a list of characteristics that would include nearly every heritage breed pig in one way or another, but particularly Mangalitsas.
Of course this is heavily supported by the confinement pork industry…
Oh my gosh, that’s one of the saddest things I have heard. What are people in MI saying? Is there and uproar? I’m suppose to go to Grand Rapids for a wedding in November…maybe I’ll boycott?
I don’t really feel qualified to speak on that other than it is happening. Some would say that farmers are getting worked up over nothing, but the government has lost the trust of farmers and the language says what it says. This is a more authoritative summary of what’s going on: http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/michigan-dnr-going-hog-wild.htm
Unfortunately, the general public is unlikely to ever be informed of the nuances of this sort of thing by mainstream media, so I doubt many Michigan people think it’s anything but feral pig control.
I absolutely agree about bacon & gluttony and how it is out of control. We are lucky enough to get Mangalitsa pigs in Seattle and I’ve had many parts of it (including the lard), but not bacon! I’ll have to ask for it at the farmer’s market next time. What kind of revolt do we start? It can’t be an anti-bacon revolt because that defeats the purpose. It’s too bad chefs are starting to define themselves by how many things they can add bacon too. The answer is a lot, bacon is great, now let’s move on…
it’s certainly a bit precious, but hardly gluttony. I think bacon is just more ubiquitous than it once was. actually, bacon was quite ubiquitous before, it’s just now been embraced by the health conscious, urban set in a way it wasn’t 15 years ago.
as someone new to smoking, curing, making food at home, etc.., i’m a fan of this blog. but it’s a bit disconcerting to see some people in the food world adopt the same sneering posture as people in the music world. at least with music, I sort of get the instinct: it’s personal and intimate and, to some people, deeply intertwined with who they are. that’s certainly been the case for food historically, but is hardly the case anymore. and the “new food” movement or whatever you want to call it seems to be very explicitly about encouraging the kind of production, preservation, and food consumption of the past.
in that sense, I think baconfest and its ilk are encouraging. and ready availability of pork belly, however uninspired on restaraunt menus, is also a hopeful sign. afterall, it’s bacon we’re talking about not the Fall.
While I really like your point regarding the recency of preserving, both food and tradition, I just can not get on board with separating the roots of bacon by making it a mascot for something altogether different. If Baconfest featured chefs making their own bacon or, as it has in the past, had demos of how to make bacon, I would suspect that I, and others with similar viewpoints, would soften a bit about the festivals strong shift towards gluttony. As it stands, it is clear that by the proliferation of photos of participants laid out in a “bacon coma” that things have gotten worse, not better, since last year. I would venture to guess that, in general, the crowd at Baconfest cares little about home preservation, slow food issues, or traditional foodways as it seems as if the main goal is to consume as much as possible as quickly as possible.
You are right though. It is all in good fun and not like worrying about something real, just something annoying.
Unless you’re like me and think the fall begins with a maniacal casting-off of mindfulness and gratitude. Crowned with a heaping helping of Oscar Meyer…
In that case, do not google videos for Baconfest.