Crispy-skin Bacon?

[mneeley490]

A few weeks ago I ordered a skin-on belly to make a porchetta. The one that arrived at the butcher shop was too small to make an adequate one (only about 5 lbs.), so I went to a different butcher to buy another. But I still have the smaller one in my freezer. This got me thinking about a time, many years ago when I was a little kid (1960's), and my mother somehow got ahold of some sliced, rind-on bacon. I don't know where she got it, and I'm sure she wouldn't remember something as obscure as that. Pretty sure it had to have come from a grocery store. But the taste and texture of that bacon with the extra crispy edge somehow stuck in my memory to this day.
So I started searching here, and based on a few posts by our beloved, departed friend and mentor Pops, it seems that skin-on, or rind-on bacon was not so uncommon back in the day. But we all here sort of take it for granted now to remove the skin, either before or after smoking.

I still have about 35 lbs. of smoked skinless bacon in the freezer that I have to slice. That's a several hour job, that I may be able to get to this weekend. But after that, I think I will try to recapture the skin-on, bacon experience. So my question is, does anyone else remember eating bacon with the the rind attached? And what did you think of it?

 

[goldxp]

Rind adds amazing texture, I personally don't have childhood memories with this type of bacon, but do as of late. A local butcher started carrying it. I love just frying it in a pan, don't mess with poking holes or cutting. Curious to hear others' opinions!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Never had it but curious...JJ

 

[TNJAKE]

Rind on bacon is still a pretty common thing down here in the south. Same as normal bacon with a thin rind aka cracklin. It's tasty and can get it on a biscuit at alot of old school stores in the morning. Taste is same but be careful with your teeth. It gets extremely crunchy where the rind is

 

[olaf]

In the 70's when I grew up we got our bacon from a butcher and it was always skin on. It was never cooked up crispy so I just remember pulling off this rubbery rind and chewing on it separately. We never bought that much bacon back then it was probably too expensive.

 

[tanglefoot]

I remember as a kid, Dad used to buy side pork (skin-on uncured pork belly) a lot. We would cut off the rind, finish our breakfast, and gnaw on the rind afterward.

 

[SmokinEdge]

In the 70’s we used to get bacon from the local grocery store that also had a full service butcher. Pretty much all the slab bacon was skin on. We would slice under the rind a ways then slice off our bacon leaving the skin kinda as a cutting board. Sometimes we would just slice all the way through and essentially deep fry the thick slices bacon creating that cracklin attached to the bacon. Was the best of both worlds.
The rind piece once empty of bacon, was saved for the bean pot! I still occasionally cure picnic hams rind on just for that rind for beans. I wish I could find a supply of skin on belly, but it’s all skinned here.

 

[daveomak]

If you can get the skin crisp enough when cooking, it's easy on the teeth....

 

[mike243]

My grandpa would slice it off and save it for me as a snack, when he had enuf he would fry it up, it was great, bought some jowl this week that still had it on, brought back memories from 50 some odd years ago

 

[forktender]

My Gramp's bacon always has rind on it I remember it like it was yesterday I loved that crunch.

 

[Millberry]

I remember as a kid, Dad used to buy side pork (skin-on uncured pork belly) a lot. We would cut off the rind, finish our breakfast, and gnaw on the rind afterward.

YES!!!!!!!!!! I remember knawing on the rind.

 

[Millberry]

Are we talking about what we call "Streak of lean"?

 

[Inscrutable]

I used to love with rind on ... haven’t seen it in a while.

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

I've bought it at a meat market near Houston.

if you have a "Restaurant Depot" near you, they carry skin-on bellies, and during pandemic have been allowing sales to the public without membership.

 

[mneeley490]

I've bought it at a meat market near Houston.

if you have a "Restaurant Depot" near you, they carry skin-on bellies, and during pandemic have been allowing sales to the public without membership.

I have an RD membership, but the box of frozen skin-on bellies I bought there were very thin, and poor quality. Wouldn't try them there again.

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

I have an RD membership, but the box of frozen skin-on bellies I bought there were very thin, and poor quality. Wouldn't try them there again.

they were out when I went to buy - so I have no idea. Thanks for the heads up. I'll stick with the Costco bellies I've been getting.

 

[mneeley490]

So I finally got around to trying this experiment.
The piece of belly turned out to be odd shaped, and not very lean at all. It would have made for a very poor porchetta. But I cured with my usual dry brine and smoked in the MES40 with apple wood in the mailbox mod. I had to yank them out a bit early, as I saw the smoker temp had shot up, and found I had a creosote fire in my mailbox. Fortunately I got it out in time, and it didn't affect the taste. The only odd thing is that even though I used the same % of salt that I usually do, this one seemed saltier than usual. I also noticed that after curing there was no liquid left in the bag. Usually there is a teaspoon or two.

Tried to fry them up crispy (as my wife likes it), it came out pretty well. The skin gives it just a little extra crispy/chewy texture, and I think it is a nice change up. I may do it again, sometime.

Plated. Over-easy eggs didn't turn out too pretty, but it tasted good. I guess I need a new "non-stick" pan.

 

[Inscrutable]

I always preferred the rind-on slab bacon, but never seem to see it anymore.