Bacon is one of the most adored additions to a burger. There are a few types of bacon, and none of them are bad. While the typical American-style burger favours streaky bacon, you are more likely to see middle bacon in an Antipodean burger.
Bacon is simply cured meat from a pig – most often coming from the belly, but it can also come from the shoulder, loin, or loin and belly together. The meat is either brined or packed in salt to cure it, then smoked, with or without heat. It is then normally baked, grilled or fried before it finds its way into a burger.
Cheaper bacon can often be pumped full of water, which leaks out during cooking and can tend to make it soggy. As with all ingredients, for an utterly delicious result, I would suggest purchasing the best that you can find and afford. In Australia, slices of bacon are often called ‘rashers’.
Bacon is currently a very popular ingredient, and has made its way into a lot of sweet dishes recently – bacon jam, chocolate-covered bacon, bacon ice cream, and our own bacon maple milkshake syrup.
Now for a quick look at the different tasty types of bacon.
Kaiserfleisch (streaky bacon): This is bacon from the belly. It is called streaky bacon because of the lines of meat and fat along it. Most of the fat renders during cooking and the meat becomes crispy. In the United States bacon is generally cooked until it is very crisp; personally, I like it a little softer.
Kassler (Canadian) bacon: This bacon is cured and then hot-smoked, and usually made from the loin or neck. The advantage of this cut is that it is quite lean, but because of this it can dry out a little.
Middle bacon: This is quite popular in Australia and New Zealand, and consists of both the loin and the belly. Some might say it is the best of both worlds.