While I am not a bacon snob and definitely not a bacon epicure, I do like me some bacon. I had some delightful bacon yesterday from a Minnesota meat shop called the
Knaus Sausage House.
It was a thick cut pepper bacon that, frankly, did not look like much in the package. After it was prepared though, I found it better than most bacon I have eaten. The strips were short and thick. I thought they would cook away to nothing, but it turns out that the meat fat distribution was almost perfect. There was little shrinkage and lots of tender flavor.
I prepared it in the oven. I line a cookie sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and place a baking rack in it. Next I lay out the bacon in row after row on the rack. I then place the cookie sheet in a preheated 400 degree oven that is set on "convect". I would give you a time to cook, but this can be misleading. Every bacon is different. Rather, turn on the oven light and watch it. Midway you might want to spin the cookie sheet around if it appears that the bacon is getting done too much at one end of the pan. Once the bacon is done to your taste, pull out the pan and set it on some trivets. You will notice that most of the grease is off the bacon and on the foil in the bottom of the cookie sheet. From a health point of view this is good. It also makes cleanup easy because if you carefully remove the foil, capturing all the grease, you will find what is left is a clean cookie sheet. But I digress...
This pepper bacon from Knaus Sausage House in Kimball Minnesota was amazing. It was thick cut. It was tender. It was not too smoky or salty and it was very flavorful, almost hamlike. I have had many of the major brands of bacon from Oscar Meyer to Hy Vee. They are now just ok to me. I think I have a new standard. Trouble is, if I want more, I have to drive to Kimball to get it. I am closer than many of you, but the drive would take all day.
I was hoping it could be mail ordered, but it looks like Knaus only mail orders their preserved products...so I will have to wait until Steve goes back to Minnesota and slip him a fifty.
Thanks for the bacon Steve. There is nothing like a plateful of scorched dead animal shavings. Just so you know, I did not just eat the bacon. I also made a 4 egg mushroom omelet topped with provolone cheese and some sliced new potatoes fried in a mixture of olive oil and butter with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a bit of ground rosemary.
You will need a nap for digestion purposes if you do this.
31 S Main St, Kimball, MN 55353
