601860 Sat Mar 07 10:59:50 -0800 2009 38 3 California 0 4482508 Just got done having our first pkg of bacon from the Linkery, and all we can say is WOW. By far the best bacon I have ever had. Lightly smoked, plenty of actual meat, complex flavors from the honey and smoke...outstanding! I usually get the bacon from Siesel's, and like the bulk applewood smoked bacon from Vons, but the Linkery stuff blew us away. Anyone else try it yet? FWIW, here is how I have been cooking the bacon lately: Heat the oven to 375-400F, place the bacon on a wire cooke rack, place that on a cookie sheet (with walls), and cook about 15 minutes without flipping. The elevated rack enables the fat to render and drip away, and both sides crisp so you don't have to flip. Healthier than pan frying, but just as tasty, and the best part: no grease splatter! Sat Mar 07 10:59:50 -0800 2009 91897 MrKrispy 1 4482576 That's exactly how I cook my bacon. You also end up with flatter, more symmetrical bacon. And each slice is evenly cooked and crispier. As for restaurant bacon, The Big Kitchen in South Park is the only restaurant I've been to that got it right. I asked for very crisp, almost burnt, and they got it right. Thanks, Judy!!! Sat Mar 07 11:31:52 -0800 2009 4482508 166787 beth1 1 4482632 Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad has great bacon. Sat Mar 07 12:03:03 -0800 2009 4482508 253863 SDGourmand 2 4489702 Tip Top Meats is one of my regular stops when I'm passing through the Carlsbad area because I love the fact that they're an old fashioned family owned German butcher shop which does everything right on site. Their bacon is top notch, thick cut, and they have some creative flavors available too if someone is looking for something different. Mon Mar 09 21:30:28 -0700 2009 4482632 101252 oerdin 3 4489970 Tip Top's double-smoked slab bacon. Tue Mar 10 01:04:17 -0700 2009 4489702 106260 trentyzan 1 4482654 Has anyone tried their country ham? Is it anything like Smithfield ham? (not the brand, but the ham from Smithfield County, Virginia) Sat Mar 07 12:16:09 -0800 2009 4482508 115590 jmtreg 1 4482941 You should look into the chacuterie book from Ruhlman. It is quite easy to make your own bacon which gives you also the chance to play around with different ingredients/taste profiles and gives you also the best control about the meat source itself. My wife and I are just in the process to start to explore the world of homemade chacuterie and cheese. Bacon will be one of our first projects. Sat Mar 07 14:39:39 -0800 2009 4482508 13239 honkman 2 4483433 I absolutely agree - both on the Charcuterie rec and on making your own bacon. Pork belly is inexpensive and reasonably easy to get - we've been happy with bellies from both Siesel's and Ranch 99. Even better - get some jowls from Da-Le Ranch at the Little Italy Farmers Market and make your own Guanciale... Sat Mar 07 19:10:06 -0800 2009 4482941 115989 menuinprogress 1 4483239 I know this may sound like sacrilege, but we get our bacon from the meat counter at Albertsons - in fact, it's usually the only reason we shop there. Generally runs about 3.29/lb. The bacon has plenty of fat but doesn't shrink down like packaged bacon. And it's about half the price! Sat Mar 07 17:05:44 -0800 2009 4482508 10943 mimosa 2 4484484 I agree with Albertson's. Not really "gourmet" bacon, but so much better than the packaged kinds. Also, nicely smoked, and sliced thick. Much easier to run to Albertson's for a quick bacon fix. Sun Mar 08 10:47:29 -0700 2009 4483239 191058 JesterSD 3 4625005 I picked up some Albertson's bacon after a visit to O'briens a week ago or so. Definitely better than any of the packaged bacon but I didn't find it as interesting as the stuff from Vons (and nowhere near the LInkery bacon). Nice option though if you are getting stuff at Albertsons Fri Apr 24 09:37:08 -0700 2009 4484484 91897 MrKrispy 4 4627595 I try to get the butcher to slice it thick for me or at a minimum, I'll but pre-cut thick smokey bacon that I bake in the oven with cracked pepper. I don't like that paper thin stuff that you can see through. Sat Apr 25 08:10:28 -0700 2009 4625005 149836 cstr 1 4484915 I remember cooking bacon in the oven a long time ago when I had a large number of unexpected guests for breakfast. It works, but if you want perfectly flat bacon with the appealing texture that comes from weighted cooking (as in chicken under a brick), use a cast-iron bacon press, available at many kitchen-supply stores. Mine -- which I purchased either at Kitchen Fantasy in Temecula or at Surfas' in Culver City -- just fits inside a 14" cast-iron skillet with straight sides and produces great results every time. Sun Mar 08 14:03:27 -0700 2009 4482508 77350 sbritchky 1 4484951 Yes, I say, yes. I am eating a BLY made with the Linkery bacon and it is the best BLT I've ever had. The stuff's not cheap, but it is delicious. Sun Mar 08 14:18:53 -0700 2009 4482508 149239 juantanamera 1 4485215 Bacon being the best food item in the world (it should have its own section in the Food Pyramid), it is worth a little more $$$. I have been wanting to make my own for years but I don't have a way to smoke it. We aren't allowed to smoke foods due to the proximity of the neighbors in our complex, per HOA. Bummer. Sun Mar 08 16:07:30 -0700 2009 4482508 91897 MrKrispy 2 4485349 It's also really difficult to find non-commodity pork belly in San Diego. I imagine Da-Le would be a possible source, but buying from Siesel's or Ranch 99 means using commodity pork, and is therefore kind of pointless (IMO). Sun Mar 08 16:59:14 -0700 2009 4485215 10809 Josh 3 4486205 Isn't most of Iowa Meat Farms umm meat from small farms? Sun Mar 08 22:42:41 -0700 2009 4485349 91897 MrKrispy 4 4486217 I don't believe it is, no. Sun Mar 08 22:49:46 -0700 2009 4486205 10809 Josh 5 4486266 You don't believe so or it isn't? I thought I read somewhere once that they don't sell commodity beef. Sun Mar 08 23:29:28 -0700 2009 4486217 72231 DougOLis 6 4486273 I guess it was a Naomi Wise article that I was reading about it. I'm not exactly sure what they actually sell but it sounds like it's slightly better than commodity beef (Brandt level?) but definitely not grass fed/pastured (reasons why not given in the article). http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2008/nov/05/live-butchers-live/ Sun Mar 08 23:36:34 -0700 2009 4486266 72231 DougOLis 7 4486297 Iowa Meat and Siesel's are old-school shops, like Tip-Top Meats, that earned their rep by selling grain-fed, feedlot meat. I wasn't trying to say one is better than the other in terms of taste, etc. - my point originally was that the followup comments to the original post about Linkery's bacon, about making your own from meat purchased at 99 Ranch or Iowa, were missing a big part of the picture. Part of what makes the bacon at Linkery so good is the quality of the meat itself, and that quality is hugely impacted by the diet of the animal. Mon Mar 09 00:15:42 -0700 2009 4486273 10809 Josh 8 4487299 But not necessarily in terms of pork at Iowa. They get at least some of their pork from one of the farms (Eden Farms) that the Linkery uses as well. Meaning that even though they might not sell the cut you're looking for directly, they probably have access to it and can get it for you. Mon Mar 09 10:00:01 -0700 2009 4486297 72231 DougOLis 9 4489493 Depends on the pork product at Linkery. I know that for the pork sausages, at least this is my recollection, they don't use pastured product. The bacon, ham, and other cured meats do use the pastured stuff. Maybe Jay will chime in and confirm. Mon Mar 09 20:04:22 -0700 2009 4487299 10809 Josh 10 4489847 All the beef, goat, and lamb at the North Park Meat Co (the Linkery's cured meat shop) are 100% pastured and grassfed. Pork isn't a ruminant, so the pasture/grass issue is a little different...All pork at the NPMC shop is from individual farms (as opposed to co-ops) where the farmer raises the pigs outdoors, and gives the pigs no subtherapeutic antibiotics at any age. At the Linkery, all beef, goat and lamb is also 100% pastured and grassfed, and the pork comes from a wider variety of sources (all independent family farms, but each with different pig raising practices). There's more information on my blog, for the (probably rather few) who are interested in the tiny details. Mon Mar 09 22:43:04 -0700 2009 4489493 10720 jayporter 3 4486260 Iowa Meat Farms at least gets some of their pork products from Eden Farms that is natural Berkshire pork. I don't think they sell pork bellies from there normally but I'm sure they could procure them if you ask. Sun Mar 08 23:25:14 -0700 2009 4485349 72231 DougOLis 4 4627655 Where is Linkery? I live north of S D so I am there often Sat Apr 25 08:45:39 -0700 2009 4486260 285942 imhungry_gene 5 4627965 3794 30th St at North Park Way in North Park Map: http://tinyurl.com/c8jzk6 Sat Apr 25 11:25:11 -0700 2009 4627655 113696 nileg 5 4633074 they aren't open for lunchtime during the week, not sure if the Meat Co is open during the day although I hope it is. Mon Apr 27 12:39:39 -0700 2009 4627655 91897 MrKrispy 6 4633326 For now the Meat Co is open afternoons Fri-Sun only, and every night after 5, but in the future (sometime later this year) it will be open every day at lunch. Mon Apr 27 13:44:37 -0700 2009 4633074 10720 jayporter 1 4960776 Anyone know where in San Diego to find so-called Pink Salt (not the Hawaiian stuff, the sodium or potassium nitrate) used for curing bacon? I was given a bag a long while back, and have run out. The only thing I have found is Morton's Tender Cure at Siesel's, but that has regular salt and sugar mixed in...and it is $10 for a small bag. Wed Aug 19 18:12:51 -0700 2009 4482508 91897 MrKrispy 2 4960834 I was looking also for it some time ago to make my own bacon and in the end ordered it online. Wed Aug 19 18:32:01 -0700 2009 4960776 13239 honkman 2 4961095 I posted this question as a thread a month or so ago with the intent of making pastrami and got no suggestions. Wed Aug 19 20:17:50 -0700 2009 4960776 23771 JRSD 2 4963648 yeah, I looked at a few different grocery stores, a Whole Foods, Iowa Meat Farms, and Siesel's. The Morton's Tender Cure would probably work but I haven't read a lot about it specifically used for bacon. What is a good online store? Thu Aug 20 15:03:52 -0700 2009 4960776 91897 MrKrispy 3 4963657 We get ours from sausagemaker.com. Thu Aug 20 15:06:59 -0700 2009 4963648 115989 menuinprogress 4 4963663 Yep. That's where I also get mine. Thu Aug 20 15:07:49 -0700 2009 4963657 13239 honkman 1 4964042 @mimosa--You wanna talk sacrilege? The best I've found was a package of bacon ends at California Produce. It sounds odd, even aweful, but true. The pieces were thick and meaty. Not too smokey or salty. Best of all, it was a 1.25 lb package for just a little over $2. Thu Aug 20 17:33:33 -0700 2009 4482508 166787 beth1 1 4967208 Not to toot my own horn, or anything, but the best bacon I've had in San Diego is home-smoked at my house. Make it yourself. Homemade bacon makes any purchased bacon seem rather pale in comparison. (You can get the raw materials at Iowa Meat Farms or Ranch 99). Fri Aug 21 19:02:17 -0700 2009 4482508 1084841 Indirect Heat 1 4984223 If people are going to put in Albertson's bacon then surely a mention of Niman ranch is not out of line. Either the cured or non cured are both smoked and delish. Easily available at the trader j. P.S. Albertson's fried chicken is very tasty. Thu Aug 27 17:28:32 -0700 2009 4482508 49292 SeanT 2 4993986 Basically the only bacon I eat in san diego is on the BLT at gourmet bagger. By far my favorite sandwhich in San Diego and the crisp bacon is amazing on it. Mon Aug 31 15:20:27 -0700 2009 4984223 120651 lovesfood11