Don’t you just hate it when you have to try to chomp through some un-crisped bacon fat in your BLT?

Or crumbling bacon for a salad…you almost have to burn the bacon before the fat is crisp enough to crumble or else you end up “tearing” the bacon in teeny little pieces! For years, that was me in the kitchen.

But ever since my butcher boys convinced me to make Cottage Bacon, I save the classic bacon for the breakfast table.

At our house, it’s too hot to cook . . . inside.
We actually don’t have an air conditioner in our house!
There’s a/c in the farm office (to inspire us to do our paperwork!) and in the butcheries (for food safety) and even in the farmhand’s lodging!
Our farmhouse was designed with such nice south-facing windows that it’s fairly comfortable most days…But not if you start using that gas range a lot!

This summer is cooking us out of the kitchen! I bet you’re a bit like us–this heat has us serving up sandwich or salad-centric meals or using our grill a lot!

Quite frequently, Cottage Bacon finds itself the star of these meals, since we also grill the bacon for sandwiches or salads.

***Market Alert: Have you noticed? Noticed that it’s tomato season? All those glorious tomatoes at market are just begging to be made into a BLT!***

Of course, what is Cottage Bacon, actually?!?
I’ll admit, when the butcher boys first suggested I make some cottage bacon, I dismissed it as “cheap bacon”, like turkey bacon.

(Butcher Rant Warning: I mean, that should not be allowed to share the Bacon name! Turkey bacon just confuses your tastebuds. I think it should be called “turkey breakfast strips” and save the bacon name!)

I thought that Cottage Bacon, also known as English Bacon, was just a grocery store’s attempt to jazz up a cheap meat so it would sell…
But then we made a trial batch, and I’ve made Cottage Bacon out of every hog since then!

A little on Pork Anatomy: As most of us know, traditional bacon comes from the slab of meat at the belly, or “side” of a hog. Cottage bacon comes from the shoulder, resulting in bacon strips that are both leaner and wider.

We think it’s perfect for sandwiches: those wide strips fit our sandwich soooo much better!

(Have you tried the Bauman Bakery homemade Jalapeno-Cheddar bread? It really jazzes up a BLT!)

A little on Pork Anatomy: As most of us know, traditional bacon comes from the slab of meat at the belly, or “side” of a hog. Cottage bacon comes from the shoulder, resulting in bacon strips that are both leaner and wider.

Technically, Cottage Bacon is made out of the nicely marbled Butt Roast.

We inject it with our plant-based cure (not chemical nitrates!) and then put it in a press to compact the roast into firm bacon while it slowly smokes in our hickory smokehouse. That’s why you won’t see Pork Butt Roasts for sale in our Mobile Meat Market – we turn them all into Cottage Bacon!
Because, more bacon is always better…

• We recommend thawing your Bauman’s Cottage Bacon in the refrigerator overnight.
• Alternatively, you can thaw in a bowl with cold running water in about 30 minutes.
• You can use Bauman’s Cottage Bacon any way you’d use regular bacon. Think BLTs or Bacon Cheeseburgers!
• Cottage bacon can be fried in a pan, like standard bacon, but it can also be prepared in the oven. Or even on the grill.