... US$9 bux, for a pound of bacon?

WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE SAY THAT?

FIRST HE TELLS ME TO HEDGE MY PANTRY AND NOW I CAN'T GET INTO IT FOR FOOD. NOW HE'S TELLING ME TO ZERO-HEDGE IT, WHICH IS WHAT I WAS DOING BEFORE!

I NEED TO GO AND GET A CHAINSAW NOW. THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

 

Good bacon here is about A$20 per kilo. So that's like US$7 or US$8 a pound, I think.

For most things, I really like Aldi. But their bacon sucks. They've added so much water to it to bulk up the raw weight that it spits dangerously when you fry it. A few times I've actually seen it flip itself over in the frying pan because of the explosions of added water content.

So I buy bacon at a different supermarket now.

Does that keep me related to the original topic?

 

You guys haven't had GOOD BACON until you try homemade bacon from fresh pork belly. I have been curing and smoking my own homemade bacon for years. I start with fresh slabs of pork belly, usually from two pigs (4 slabs). It cost a fraction of the store sold bacon.

 

Right. After looking at your pictures and your description of that bacon, I've just checked Skyscanner.

There's a flight from Sydney to Boston on Hawaiian Air leaving at 9:40 tonight. It gets to Boston at 7:40 on Saturday morning.

Not sure where in New England you are, but I'll try to be there in time for a late breakfast.

 

having my usual granola/yogurt/fruit combo

you couldn't believe the price of yogurt, putting a hedge around it now

 

Bisco, I will be over for Saturday morning brunch. Yogurt, fruit, granola -- yum.

Bacon? well, just the thought of it sort of makes me shudder. And not in a good way.
kris

 

Sounds like a good forex pork belles joke in the making

get a hedge

Forex Trading Online | FX Markets | Currencies, Spot Metals & Futures | FOREX.com

 

i still love the smell from childhood, and it gives me a hankering, but i won't go back. getting too old to take dietary risks.

 

Looks like Murphy beat me to that punch line .....
And I was worried no one would remember what pork bellies trading on the forex was / is
edit: or how often it used to be reported over the radio, before the market watch TV stuff started..

 

You might want to ask for your money back.

 

Saying "Sharia Law" is like saying "VIN number", "HIV virus" or "ATM Machine". Not a great sign that you know what you're talking about.

Also, from your descriptions I think you might be struggling with the concept of what Sharia is, and what it isn't. Honestly, that isn't especially surprising.

And that's before we get onto the hilariously poor grip on economics.

 

Why there's a grammar debate about hot water heaters

TL ; DR
Presumption and a lack of knowledge about how things work in the real world.

 

Home made bacon is made with or without 'Prague powder' which contains nitrates and/or nitrites depending on, well, which one it is:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-prague-powder-no-1-996131

Doing with or without seems to be the main point of recipe divergence. I'd be interested to know which way @Salamander_King goes. As he has survived these efforts so far.

==
One interesting source suggests potassium nitrate as an alternative. Now things get very interesting as KNO3 is sold in your hardware stores as Stump Dissolver (TM). Maybe it's a step too far, but if you get stumped...

 

I've used it in the past for the gunpowder for my black powder rifle. Since an arm injury, it has been gathering dust....maybe I can ship it off to whomever wants to make some cured meats...

 

I think making homebrew black powder may be safer than using non-food products for food prep. One is trying to navigate between methemoglobinemia and Clostridium.

But if you want to ship KNO3 to whomever, none of us will tell ATF or FBI about it. Right gang?

 

lord help us

Rrriigth : not us --- Put now that you said it - we all know or should know, somebodys gonna .. while pointing the finger at someone else for droppin the bomb.

 

Prague powder is also used for (beef) jerky which I did not know before this discussion. Learning things. In contrast, if anyone is learning things here about explosives, OMFG you really did sleep though Chemistry class.

 

I've made our bacon both ways. With or without nitrites. For bacon curing, quicker Prague #1 salt is used. It contains 6.25% Sodium nitrites NO2, but uses so little in the curing process. Less than 0.3% Prague #1 per weight of uncured meat in the dry-curing process. The final concentration of nitrite that actually enters the meat is likely to be even smaller.

For the dry sausage and other processed meat with a longer curing period, Prague #2 salt has additional Nitrate NO3. I have never used #2 for my bacon. The benefit of Nitrite is that it preserves the pink color of the cured bacon. But after curing, which is basically salt pork, if it is hot-smoked (cooked), then preserving the pink color is not necessary. If cold-smoked (uncooked) preserving the pink color makes it more appetizing. So, I usually use Prague #1 for cold-smoked bacon in winter, but skip it for hot smoked bacon. Both taste great.

As for the health risk of nitrite/nitrate in food, not using it may result in botulism or other food-borne illness caused by harmful bacterial growth, so it is a toss-up. As far as I am concerned, spinach and other vegetable contain just as high amounts of nitrate. A small amount of this chemical is not likely to be a cause of concern as long as one practices a balanced diet. Sodium Nitrite in Vegetables | Healthy Eating | SF Gate

Our lives are filled with an assortment of risks. The point is how much risk is tolerable and how to manage them. If living longer and healthier is the main objective, then don't eat bacon or any processed meat, that's what science says. But if you want to enjoy your life, then at least try the homemade bacon, not the store-bought one, then you will know what you have been missing.
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes-pork-recipes-how-make-smoked-bacon-home/