With all the bacon craziness going on these days, you'd think the Canadian version would get a little more attention! It's classic in eggs benedict and some folks like it on pizza, but where else do you really come across it?
Here in the United States, Canadian bacon is very similar to ham. It can either be a whole cut from the pork loin or it can be compressed from various different cuts. Check the labeling! If the only ingredient is "pork," then it's probably from the loin. If you see a lot of additives, then it's more like to be the processed version.
Canadian bacon comes in thinly-cut uniform rounds about the size of a silver dollar, and it's usually pre-cooked and smoked. It's a leaner meat and so doesn't crisp up like the strip bacon coming from the pork belly. We think it has a sweet meaty flavor and a nice juicy texture - very much like cured ham.
In Canada and other parts of the world, Canadian bacon is usually called back bacon or peameal bacon. It is made exclusively from lean boneless pork loin that is cured in a sweet pickle solution but not typically smoked. Traditionally, the cured loin gets rolled in peameal (ground dried peas) or cornmeal before being sliced.
We've never had real Canadian bacon, so we can't compare the two ourselves. Canadian readers, how would you describe the difference?
Related: Ingredient Spotlight: Ham Steak
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We always called it peameal bacon in my house, we'd fry it then eat it with vinegar.
We BBQ it at the cottage! Yum.
I fry it up and use it for Hawaiian pizza. SO good.
I'm not Canadian, but on a visit to Toronto, I had a delicious peameal bacon sandwich at Carousel Bakery. The meat was thickly sliced and very hamlike -- delicious with mustard. It really was nothing like the dry, very lean stuff we buy here.
I'm Canadian (from Quebec) and I never had 'real' Canadian bacon, so go figure. *g*
Ummm..in Canada we call this "ham". Is this like that Aussie shampoo that Australians have never heard of?
Americans are weird.
I'm Canadian and I've never eaten this. We likely all just eat regular bacon...
I'm embarrased by all the so-called canadians who've never had Peameal bacon. no one up here ever calls it "canadian bacon", "Canadian Bacon" is a movie, not a food.
Best way to eat peameal bacon? BBQ'd on a bun, with a sauce made of equal parts grainy, deli style mustard and mayo, with a touch of horseradish thrown in if you like.
I'm Canadian (52 years) and your article is spot on -- nice job! I purchase Canadian/peameal/back bacon fairly frequently because while it's lean it's very tasty. I wouldn't use anything but else for eggs benedict but we frequently have it for plain old 'bacon and eggs' meals.
And it is GREAT in sandwiches as the visitor states!
so-called Canadians because we've never eaten one type of bacon? Wow.. do you also tell people that they're not real Canadians if they don't watch hockey?
If you like ham, then you like Canadian bacon.
I put it on pizza, in eggs, make English muffin sandwiches, or -- more often than not -- just eat it straight out of the fridge as a snack.
Egg McMuffin!!!
My father always buys thick slabs of peameal bacon from the butcher and cuts it into 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick steaks. Fry it slowly and slather it in HP sauce. Yum!!!
We are Canadians and have been living in the US for nine years. The number one thing we miss is peameal bacon ( Tim Hortons coffee - yuck). Our family in Canada know to serve it to us when we visit. It is best bbqued, on a bun with mustard and tomatoes.
By the way, from what I understand from a few American friends our peameal bacon is far superior to what Yanks call "Canadian bacon". I'm wondering if Canadian bacon and back bacon are a more similar comparison than Canadian bacon and peameal bacon. Maybe someone who is interested could research this (are they all from the same part of the pig? cured the same way?) and post a blog clearing up once and for all the peameal bacon/back bacon/Canadian bacon confusion. Or maybe it's only hosers like me who are confused.
I love peameal bacon. The ham that American's call Canadian Bacon is nothing like peameal. peameal is juicier than ham and has a slightly sour taste. You buy a slab and slice off pieces. Some people like it thin, some (smarter) people like it think. Just don't overcook it if you get your paws on some! You want it juicy!
When I was in high school I worked in a breakfast joint and a customer came in who was born and raised in Ontario but had emigrated to California. She was in town for a week came in every day with her family and they all ordered peameal and eggs and FIVE side orders of peameal every day! She missed it so much. When she left she got the cook to order her a huge slab from our supplier and had him Fed-Ex it to her in Cali.
By the way... She was the BEST tipper I've ever had. Peameal inspires the love.
Canadians got a lot of things right. (Beer. Hockey. Syrup. Newscasters.)
Bacon is not one of those things.
Another fun research topic - What is the provenance of "Canadian bacon"? Dollars to doughnuts it does not originate from Canada, but from some marketing department for a U.S. meat company. So in fact it is likely true that Canadians do get bacon right : )
Once I asked a Canadian what they called Canadian bacon. He said "We just call it ham." So I don't know what to think! :)
I LOVE it fried and in pasta. Last week I put strips of it over pasta, asparagus and a creamy white wine sauce. It was excellent, just the right amount of smoky/saltyness.
From what I can tell from moving across Canada several times:
Peameal, back bacon and this Canadian bacon business are not quite the same as ham. Maybe processed american Canadian bacon is similar to a small processed pressed ham. Back bacon is smaller than the peameal I buy here in Ontario... back bacon seems to come not raw (but not as cooked as I would eat it) whereas peameal comes in thicker, often fattier slices and is juicy and raw. Back bacon also isn't rolled in cornmeal to the extent peameal is. That said, peameal is definitely an Eastern Canada thing. Western Canada, where I am from and have moved around a fair bit in, it's not that common (I just never bothered to seek it out to eat it when I lived on the West Coast, because it was either really good boar bacon, local charcuterie or smoked sockeye for me, because I could go to Granville island whenever I wanted... unlike small town Ontario)
Also, when they put back bacon on pizza in Canada, it really is just ham.
Cupajo: Sorry to tell you that we couldn't have possibly gotten this "Canadian bacon" thing wrong...since it's a US invention! Sooo....guess the US got it wrong, eh? ;)
This is also most definitely NOT peameal bacon. Peameal bacon is much, much more delicious.
you can get Peameal Bacon aka REAl Canadian Bacon at realcanadianbacon.com
Also, see the feedback declaring it Canadian Bacon at:
http://www.realcanadianbacon.com/pork-tenderloin/testimonial.htm
and press reviews at:
http://www.realcanadianbacon.com/pork-tenderloin/Press.htm