Canadian Bacon

If you go into a Canadian greasy spoon and ask the poor old soul on waitressing duty that day for Canadian Bacon, you will get the blankest stare, as she won't know what you mean.

Canadians don't call anything Canadian Bacon. They have four styles of bacon, according to the Government of Canada in its Standard Classification of Goods (SCG) 2000: Back Bacon, Smoked Back Bacon, Peameal Bacon and Side Bacon (which the classification points out is American style, though Canadians would be miffed if they heard it called that, because they've adopted that as their standard bacon.)

Americans, who are the ones that actually do use the term "Canadian Bacon", add to the confusion. Some Americans think Canadian Bacon is different from Peameal Bacon. Some American stores call smoked, round slices of pork "Canadian Bacon." Some American stores are even offering Cajun Spiced Peameal Bacon, which would be enough to throw any Canadian off their breakfast for weeks.

Americans like Canadian Bacon because they only have one kind of bacon (the fatty kind of bacon, that the British call "streaky"), making the Canadian style of lean, no-fat bacon very different for them. Brits, though, who are handed it by Canadians anxious to show off something uniquely Canadian, remain underwhelmed. They are underwhelmed because Canadian-style bacon, which is considered a special treat in Canada as it is more expensive, is bog standard bacon in Britain and Ireland, and it costs half the price there. To them, bacon with lots of fat in it is different: they even use the special term, "streaky bacon" to describe it. The Back Bacon that the Irish have been making for centuries is the same as the Canadian Back Bacon.

This leaves Peameal Bacon as the only Canadian-style bacon that is truly unique and best identified with the term "Canadian Bacon", not because of the meat, but because of the coating it is rolled in (see below.)

Back Bacon

Some people say Back Bacon is cut from the back; others say it is cut from the loin. They are both right, as the loin joint on a pig runs across most of the back. Specifically, though, it is cut from muscle on the back on the pig. It is very lean, with a thin layer of fat on one side. Other than that, there is no marbling of fat present in the meat as there is with American style ("streaky") bacon.

If you order breakfast, or a bacon sandwich, or go shopping for bacon anywhere in the UK or Ireland, this is the bacon that you will see on offer. In Canada, the UK and in Ireland, Back Bacon is cured, then made available to consumers smoked or unsmoked.

Peameal Bacon

Peameal Bacon is made primarily in the southern part of the province of Ontario, and is not all that readily available in other parts of the country. Apparently, it's only people in that province who tout it as an all-Canadian food.

In any event, Peameal Bacon is Back Bacon that has been cured in brine and sugar, but never smoked. After curing, it is rolled in meal to help preserve it. The meal that it used to be rolled in was ground yellow peas (hence the name, Peameal), but over the years this got replaced by cornmeal, so in effect, Peameal Bacon would be better called Cornmeal Bacon to keep up with the times. The bacon is pink to pale red.

Peameal bacon is raw, and must be cooked. You can buy it already sliced, or buy whole roasts of it, to slice yourself or roast as is. Fry peameal bacon slices in butter or oil for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

While it's true that Canadian pigs, particularly in Ontario, used to be fed on a diet of peameal hash in the 1850s, this is not where the name comes from. And even though by 1900, Toronto was shipping over 400,000 pork carcasses a year to Britain, the British did not call it Canadian Bacon. It was just processed as per normal British cuts, with the cuts being called the relevant names. During the same period, Britain also imported a great deal of pork from Ireland, processed in the same way once it arrived.

See Also: Eggs Benedict

Other entries for: Bacon
Ayrshire Middle Bacon, Bacon Bits, Canadian Bacon, Cottage Bacon, Flitch of Bacon, Guanciale, Gypsy Bacon, Irish Bacon, Lance Corporal Bacon, Pancetta, Rashers, Rolled Bacon, Smoked Bacon, Ulster Roll, Unsmoked Bacon, Wiltshire Bacon

Other entries for: Pork
Barrow Hog, Berkshire Pigs, Butcher Hog, Casertano Pigs, Crown Roast, Fore Hock, Fresh Ham, Gilt Hog, Ground Pork, Ham, Hog Jowl, Iberian Pigs, Kurobuta Pork, Lard, Mortadella, Oreilles de Crisse, Pickled Pork, Pig's Feet, Pork Belly, Pork Brawn, Pork Chops, Pork Crackling, Pork Cubes, Pork Cuts Illustrated -- British, Pork Hocks, Pork Leg, Pork Loin, Pork Ribs, Pork Rinds, Pork Shoulder, Pork Souse, Pork Stewing Meat, Pork, Prime Collar, Salt Meat, Sow, Spare Ribs, Stag Hog, Stewing Pork, Streak of Lean, Tasso, Ventrèche, Zampino

Other entries for: Meat
Affettati, Beef, Buffalo, Cap On / Cap Off, Game, Goat, Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, Minced Meat, Offal, Paillards, Potted Meats, Poultry, Roasts, Sausages, Sheep, Steak, Veal, Venison, Yak

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