BACON!

[burbgirl]

I'm looking for some good, thick-sliced, local, REALLY GOOD bacon. So far, I haven't found bacon that compares to Nodine's Smokehouse in CT, but I'd love to find a local shop to feed my bacon cravings!

When I say local, I mean within the general eastern portion of PA. I'd prefer all-natural (antibiotic, nitrite, preservative free), but it's not a necessity. Overall flavor and quality is the most important thing.

I'd be willing to drive somewhere in the general Philly vicinity or order online. Any suggestions?

[Kater]

Take a drive out to Ilg's in Chalfont. You can select your bacon and they slice it to order. Also they will give you the rind for soup.

[caga tio]

For what it's worth, nearly all bacon contains nitrates, even the ones that say they don't. Celery, beet and certain other vegetables contain lots of nitrates and are almost always part of "nitrate free" cures.
See Michal Ruhlman's blog here for a fuller explanation:
http://ruhlman.com/2011/05/the-no-nit...

[wphillyeater]

Okay, Fair Food actually carries 4 different types of bacon, 3 frozen, 1 fresh, all local pastured. Cottage Bacon, Nitrate free hickory smoked heritage breed and cant recall the the 3rd. The fourth, the in the fresh case, the double smoked from Green Meadow, is A-freaking-mazing and beats the pants off the other locals stuff and that chef-darling competitor that begins with a B from Tenn. Get the double smoked and your search is done.

[Den]

Ever thought of making your own bacon? It's not difficult if you cook at all. You can get bellies at any butcher and depending what burb you're in they might have curing salt (pink salt) which you'll need. I get mine at Illg's off County Line Road. It takes about a week to cure the pork belly and you'll have some of the best bacon you've ever tasted.

[teddybare]

Blooming Glen Pork Products on Rt 113 in Blooming Glen. They will hand cut to any thickness you want. http://www.bloomingglencatering.com/R...

[FriedClamFanatic]

Although it's a bit of a Drive for me, I have stopped there several times and been impressed by the bacon, some of their other stuff, and the service. In the Spring, they had a BBQ offering going on the friont lawn that was outstanding!

[JohnnyKBar]

Blooming Glen's bacon is good, but for a real treat try the pork roast. It's butterflied pork tenderloin wrapped around a core of country or hot sausage, with bacon wrapped around all of it. My mom compared it to a great book that you just never want to finish.

[cwdonald]

Blooming Glenn has BBQ every sat, April through October outdoors, and does catering too.

[teddybare]

I was there this morning. The pit was closed today because f the weather. Next Saturday Nov 5th is the season closing for the pit

[barryg]

Also try Marshall Green's (chef from Cafe Estelle) bacon. It's for sale at Green Aisle Grocery on Passyunk Ave in South Philly, not sure it's available anywhere else besides the restaurant.

[Bigley9]

I just tried this last week and really liked it!

[asmith]

The Fair Food stand at the Reading Terminal market has amazing nitrite free bacon. I second Hendricks and Dietrichs Meats.

[Hungryin theBurbs]

+1 on the Fair Food bacon. I think it is from Forest Acres farm. The same bacon (I think) is available through Philadelphia Winter Harvest.

[Bigley9]

That's my everyday bacon too!

[cook262]

My favorite bacon by far is from Hendrick's Farm in Telford. http://www.hendricksfarmsanddairy.com/index.html
It is definitely nitrite free and all natural and has a smoked flavor profile i just love. Hendricks is a bit out in the country but worth the drive for the other items too. The farm makes raw milk cheeses from their own cows and wins awards for them. In fact several Philly restaurants will serve Hendrick's Cheese as part of an Artisanal Cheese course. In addition Hendrick's has a lovely supply of grass-fed beef. We bring a cooler and stock up.

However, unfortunately we haven't made it there recently so our bacon supply was nil. But on our way to Hawk Mountain for a picnic/hike the other week, we saw a sign for Dietrich's Meats and stopped in (just a few minutes off I-78 not too far from Allentown) . http://www.dietrichsmeats.com/index.htm It was so worth the stop. I picked up some lovely all natural/no nitrite bacon there as well as some delicious bratwurst and knockwurst. They have an incredible array of all natural meats but their focus is on the smokehouse part of the store. They smoke everything you can imagine. We only had a small cooler which had our picnic in it so didn't have space for anything but the bacon and sausages but will bring a larger cooler next time.

[Boognish]

Just an fyi, although Hendricks doesn't add straight nitrite to their bacon, they use celery powder which contains tons of nitirites. All leafy green vegetables contain high amounts.

[barryg]

Almost all cured meats have nitrates... nitrate-free just means they didn't use sodium nitrate. And yea eating green vegetables gives you a lot more nitrates than any kind of cured meat.

[cwdonald]

You need to try the products from Porcsalt. Locally cured, they do two types of bacon, red-wine cured and honey-cured. They also make some fantastic pancetta and guanciale. You can find them at local famers markets, such as the one at headhouse square. I see them either at the Doylestown Farmers market or the Stockton Farmers Market (which is all year round.. ).

www.porcsalt.com for more information.

[joluvscards]

OMG they are the bomb! Call first. It comes in slabs and you can cut it as thick as you like. We get their bacon at Rittenhouse on Saturdays but they are not there every week.

[Bigley9]

DiBruno Brothers (at least in the Italian Market) carries it as well! Love it!

[cook262]

I was inspired by this thread to go out of my way to get some of this bacon at Rittenhouse Square Farmer's Market the other weekend. Purchased both the cherry wood and the red wine cured. So far only tried the cherry wood and it was delicious. HOWEVER, it is NOT nitrite free. On the cherry wood cured package there is an ingredients label indicating that they do use nitrites. There is, of course, the debate about whether adding nitrites directly is any different than using celery as a preservative, which turns into nitrites.

Having said all this, this is indeed incredibly delectable bacon and I look forward to trying my other package of bacon.