The Best Mail-Order Bacons for Your Buck
By Geoff Dougherty for SAVEUR.com
There's a plethora of bacon options at any grocery store, but unless you happen to live near an artisanal curing facility, the best stuff you're likely to find will come to you via the good old fashioned United States Postal Service. (Or, okay, FedEx.) We fried up rashers of almost every mail-order bacon available; in this Five to Try, we're highlighting our favorites.
1. Benton's Hickory-Smoked Bacon (423/442-5003; bentonscountryhams2.com)
Tennessee's Allan Benton produces the grand-daddy of dry-cured bacon. You smell the hickory before you open the box.
Try your hand at DIY Home Cured Bacon »
2. Dreymiller and Kray Beer Bacon (847/688-2271; dreymillerandkray.com) A pale ale brine, followed by applewood smoking, yields a nutty flavor and a sweet finish to this Illinois-made bacon.
12 Bacon Wrapped Goods »
3. Nueske's Wild Cherry-Smoked Bacon (800/392-2266; nueskes.com)
The Nueskes, smoking bacon in Wisconsin since 1882, skip the cure for this mellow bacon.
Recipe for Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs »
4. Broadbent's Pepper Bacon (800/841-2202; broadbenthams.com)
Dry-curing with black pepper makes for a distinctive, piquant bacon from this Kentucky producer.
5. S. Wallace Edwards & Sons (800/222-4267; virginiatraditions.com)
This Virginia family has been curing bacon for 85 years; experience shows in their balanced, hickory-smoked slab.
RECIPE FROM SAVEUR.COM:
Seared Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
You can easily substitute bacon in this perfect party appetizer. Serves 6
Ingredients
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
36 thick spears asparagus, trimmed
18 slices prosciutto
3 tbsp. butter
Salt
Instructions
1. Put vinegar into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced by about two-thirds and slightly syrupy, 8-10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside to let syrup cool.
2. Meanwhile, steam asparagus in a steamer basket set over a pot of boiling water over high heat until just tender, about 4 minutes. Set asparagus aside to let cool.
3. Lay 1 slice of prosciutto on a clean surface with one of the narrow ends closest to you. Put 2 asparagus spears on end closest to you, perpendicular to prosciutto, with tips facing in the same direction, then roll up prosciutto around asparagus and set aside. Repeat with remaining prosciutto and asparagus.
4. Working in 3 batches, melt 1 tbsp. butter in a large cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add 6 of the asparagus-prosciutto bundles, judiciously season with salt, and cook until browned on each side, about 45 seconds per side. Transfer to a large warm plate. Repeat process twice with remaining butter and asparagus-prosciutto bundles.
5. Drizzle some of the vinegar syrup on each of the warm plates, then divide asparagus-prosciutto bundles evenly between plates.
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