Rasher Bacon?


 
M

Maxwell G.

New member
I always thought a rasher was a measure of quantity. An acquaintance of my wife says it is a type of bacon popular in Britain. I Goggled "rasher" and behold, something I had never heard of. It appears to me to be pork loin with the bone removed and few inches of belly still attached. Canadian bacon and American bacon combined. Has anyone made bacon using this cut? I don't know that the cut has a name. I plan to describe it as best I can and see if my butcher can hook me up. Is a dry cure what's called for here or is brine a better choice? Any thoughts and/or advice appreciated. Max
 
The cut we can buy here in Norway as "Ribbe" is usually a combination of the upper belly as well as a area with the ribs.

I suppose you will find this cut very similar to a part of the loin with the ribs removed. The meat structure, as well as the meat/fat content and distribution is not very different, I would have great problems to tell if a piece was made of loin or a belly.

Now, these obervations is using Norwegian pig meat/cuts, and the meat might be quite different elsewhere.
 
Very common in Australia as well... I bought it all the time when I was there. It's odd to cook though (as they cook differently) and typically I would separate the sections.

If your local butcher isn't aware of how to do it I would suggest looking for a butcher who possibly grew up in either country.
 
I was brought up in New Zealand and have craved those big, yummy rashers ever since leaving. Finally a WSM has materialized on my deck and bacon nirvana is now within my grasp. I plan to smoke a hunk of "middle bacon" pretty soon, and will photograph the results. I'm buying my cut from the Asian market, where they have skin on pork and Mexican butchers who will cut to order while you stand there pointing and explaining with your hands.
 
My butcher was able to bone out a rib roast and by leaving what he called "the tail" on the loin it is a close approximation of "middle bacon." It doesn't have as much of the belly as I would like or as much cap fat as appears in most of the pictures I've seen. Still, it will do for a first effort I think. Curious to know what the traditional cure would contain besides salt and pink salt. I've included maple sugar and cracked pepper for this attempt.
Jennifer K, really looking forward to your pics. Maybe I'll post some too if I can figure out how to do it.

Max
 
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