Comments on: Beating the Back Bacon Burger Bind

By: Daniel Young

Daniel Young — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:26:24 +0000

In reply to Burgerac. Burgerac - I deserved that. You made important additions to the discussion that I failed to properly acknowledge. At the soonest opportunity I will follow your advice and try grilling my bacon.

By: Burgerac

Burgerac — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:18:33 +0000

Thanks for the patronising response! Hopefully you got the point though that the thinner the bacon (streaky or otherwise), the more likely it is to ‘bite’ easily – something vital in a burger context. I happen to prefer grilling to frying bacon as it ends up more texturally pleasing to me. Each to their own though.

By: Daniel Young

Daniel Young — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:31:24 +0000

In reply to Burgerac. Burgac - Pancetta is Italian cured streaky bacon. It's only thinly sliced if you buy it that way.

By: Burgerac

Burgerac — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:55:06 +0000

For my homemade burgers I can’t help get more than a little poncey and buy pancetta – which tends to be thinner cut than most ‘streaky bacon’ rashers. I would never fry the bacon to use in a burger – ALWAYS grill it. That way the flesh stays fleshy while the fat goes nice and crispy – which is what I want whenever I’m having bacon. For burgers though, I’ve found over cooking the pancetta so it’s all crisp works perfectly. Crisp, salty, melt-in-the-mouthy. Right, I’ve talked myself into an early dinner – please excuse me…

By: sam b.

sam b. — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:23:17 +0000

Agreed! My unshakeable accent and slavish devotion to the streaky variety are the two factors that will ensure my never being able to fully assimilate over here 😉

By: Daniel Young

Daniel Young — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:16:44 +0000

In reply to Rachel. Rachel - Coming from you that's very kind. Your photos on your blog are superb.

By: Daniel Young

Daniel Young — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:14:13 +0000

In reply to sam b.. Sam - Must try the turn-early-and-often method. But suspect I'll be returning to streaky.

By: sam b.

sam b. — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:08:59 +0000

Nice article Daniel. As another member of the ‘from-across-the-pond’ brigade, all of my first experiences with pork + burger were of the streaky variety, and one I am quite loyal to.

That said, being over here for so long I do now sometimes use back bacon in my burgers. With streaky, I fry them in a very hot pan with the golden rule being Turn Early and Often, flipping them over at about 30 second intervals (even more frequently as they approach optimal crispy levels).

So I decided to apply a simliar rule to back bacon, and it worked very well indeed, the only addition being a weighted metal tray on top of them to ensure the fatty edges that curled up were properly crisped as well. A bit more laborious, as I had to continuously remove the pan/weight to flip them, but the results easily passed your crispness litmus test.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:49:48 +0000

Oh my giddy aunt. All that bacon and cheese is making me dribble with excitement. Thanks for the mouth-watering photos and the bacon tips!