Serious bacon problem

PatrickO

PatrickO

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Whenever I cook bacon I get water and a sort of white stuff coming out of the bacon. What am I doing wrong?

Am I cooking it too hot or too cool? Too much oil, not enough? Or is it just cheap supermarket bacon and there's no way round it?

The end result is ok, but often end up pouring water out of the pan or mopping out the white stuff with kitchen towel.
 
PatrickO said:
Whenever I cook bacon I get water and a sort of white stuff coming out of the bacon. What am I doing wrong?

Am I cooking it too hot or too cool? Too much oil, not enough? Or is it just cheap supermarket bacon and there's no way round it?

The end result is ok, but often end up pouring water out of the pan or mopping out the white stuff with kitchen towel.
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Cheap bacon old chap ;)
 
You are not doing anything wrong. It is linked to how the pork is cured.

Curing the pork quickly uses a brine solution that is injected into the meat. This makes it weigh a bit more and allows the cured pork to get the supermarket shelves very quickly.

Dry cured bacon doesn't have this problem and I've found that some of the usual bacon brand found in the shops appear to have less watery residue than others.

Dave
 
Does smoked bacon have less water in or does it not make any difference?
 
Tringa said:
You are not doing anything wrong. It is linked to how the pork is cured.

Curing the pork quickly uses a brine solution that is injected into the meat. This makes it weigh a bit more and allows the cured pork to get the supermarket shelves very quickly.

Dry cured bacon doesn't have this problem and I've found that some of the usual bacon brand found in the shops appear to have less watery residue than others.

Dave
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So if I look for dry cured bacon it will be better? Any particular brand you prefer?
 
As has been said this I'm afraid it's a sign of watery cheap bacon. Go and support your local butcher or farm shop. It might cost a bit more but it'll taste better as well. :thumbs:
 
crofter said:
Best buy a pig and carve lumps of it as required.
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:plusone: Try and leave the legs till last though as they have a habit of falling over.
 
Delta Skies said:
As has been said this I'm afraid it's a sign of watery cheap bacon. Go and support your local butcher or farm shop. It might cost a bit more but it'll taste better as well. :thumbs:
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that

cheap bacon (indeed cheap meat generally) is bulked up with water - best off buying from a butcher or a farm shop - if you really can't avoid buying supermarket , buy the "finest" or whatever range , not the value stuff
 
big soft moose said:
that

cheap bacon (indeed cheap meat generally) is bulked up with water - best off buying from a butcher or a farm shop - if you really can't avoid buying supermarket , buy the "finest" or whatever range , not the value stuff
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Or beer......Giggling muckily :lol:
 
PatrickO said:
Whenever I cook bacon I get water and a sort of white stuff coming out of the bacon. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

I've noticed this as a worsening problem too!
Even the less cheap stuff from escrot does it :(
 
PatrickO said:
Whenever I cook bacon I get water and a sort of white stuff coming out of the bacon. What am I doing wrong?

Am I cooking it too hot or too cool? Too much oil, not enough? Or is it just cheap supermarket bacon and there's no way round it?

The end result is ok, but often end up pouring water out of the pan or mopping out the white stuff with kitchen towel.
Click to expand...

To answer you in full http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jul/27/water-in-bacon-new-rasher-regulations
 
viv1969 said:
Or beer......Giggling muckily :lol:
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I like a girl who giggle muckilly ;) - indeed cheap beer likewise, although at least cheap beer doesn't usually ouze salty gunge (well not till the morning after anyway)
 
Dry cured is the answer to the problem - as said (and repeated) above, cheap, wet cured bacon is the problem. Much so-called smoked bacon these days is simply injected with smoke essence along with the curing brine. IF you can find it, proper dry cured smoked bacon should solve the problem. A good butcher will be happy to sell you a rasher at a time to test it - but then again, a GOOD butcher will hold no truck with flaccid, oozing slices of watery gack!!!
 
Nod said:
Dry cured is the answer to the problem - as said (and repeated) above, cheap, wet cured bacon is the problem. Much so-called smoked bacon these days is simply injected with smoke essence along with the curing brine. IF you can find it, proper dry cured smoked bacon should solve the problem. A good butcher will be happy to sell you a rasher at a time to test it - but then again, a GOOD butcher will hold no truck with flaccid, oozing slices of watery gack!!!
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Yip - Wiltshire dry cure bacon is delicious.
 
A lot of butchers just open packs up, so ask first.
 
If you're ever passing up the M6 past J10 turn off and visit this small butchers shop.

Co-ords +52° 35' 2.06", -2° 1' 26.46"

Make their own unsmoked bacon and proper smoked bacon. Sides of bacon hanging in the shop drying. Looks like something from the 70's. Also does great pork pies :love:

You'll often find folk from all over the country in there.

No connection to me incidentally, just an interesting place I occasionally pop into.

Russ
 
Buy it from a butcher, we get 12 rashers from a farm that's literally around the corner, smoke cured for around £4 - you can tell the quality as the meat is more dry compared to supermarket bacon.

You should see what those swines use to inject into chicken breasts! The rule of thumb for a supermarket is weight, so they get around this by using cheap meat and inject it to bounce the weight up to meet the regulations :(
 
Flightphoto said:
You should see what those swines use to inject into chicken breasts! The rule of thumb for a supermarket is weight, so they get around this by using cheap meat and inject it to bounce the weight up to meet the regulations :(
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I was wondering if this thread had got mixed up with the 'Josie Cunningham' thread.
 
A few months ago my son was horrified by what he found out. His exact words where......... "What? they kill pigs to get bacon?"

He's 19 for crying out loud.
 
:lol:
 
KIPAX said:
A few months ago my son was horrified by what he found out. His exact words where......... "What? they kill pigs to get bacon?"

He's 19 for crying out loud.
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:)
Reminds me of something which Paul Gascoigne was supposed to have said:

While staying in a New Zealand hotel, was told there was no bacon for breakfast. Replied, "What, all the sheep in this country and there's no bloody bacon!"

;)
 
KIPAX said:
A few months ago my son was horrified by what he found out. His exact words where......... "What? they kill pigs to get bacon?"

He's 19 for crying out loud.
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Priceless! Thanks for the giggle :lol:
 
I wondered if you could make bacon from venison

then I realised it would be too dear
 
If it was full groan it wouldn't need to be two deer...
 
My local butcher is actually cheaper than the supermarket rubbish. I get the smoked stuff cut there and then to a thickness I can decide and it tasted excellent with not of that white ooze :thumbs:
 
This thread prompted me to try bacon from a butchers myself because my Asda bacon had the same symptoms as the OP. I went to an award winning butchers yesterday and bought 12 rashers of the finest bacon he had. So this morning I put it to the test, appearance wise it definitely looked better and yes there was no white liquid oozing from it as it cooked, however the taste was certainly no better than the supermarket stuff :( so probably back to Asda I'm afraid.
 
If you grill it, it's healthier, and you don't get this problem :)
 
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You can make bacon from venison and do the equivalent of parma ham. Both delicious. The local hunters showed me how to do it.
 
Swissy said:
If you grill it, it's healthier, and you don't get this problem :)
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I would gently question how it could be considered healthier.

With grilling, (I would assume), the water in the bacon vaporises so a dryer finish is experienced. However, the salt that oozes out during frying is retained in the bacon, so it can hardly be healthier as it does mean a high salt content, although the taste may be improved of course.

Incidentally, I went to our local, highly respected butcher at the weekend and bought the best (ie. most expensive) dry cured back bacon he had and it shed water and salt-ooze just like the stuff from Tesco - didn't even taste better either, so I need to check out some more local suppliers it seems.

Anthony.
 
Just tried an experiment. I usually fry bacon mainly because a frying pan is easier to clean than a grill pan.

Yesterday tried grilling it (with foil over pan to make cleaning easier) and hey presto!...much less water and no white oozy stuff.
 
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