how do yo know if homemade bacon is better than store bought?

[GadjetGriller]

Ok this is my Dumb question for this week, (Believe me I have many more be thankful I narrowed it down to just 1!)How do we know that home made bacon tastes better than store bought? Here is my reasoning. I grew up on Store bought that's what bacon is suppose to taste like right? So when I get my 1st wild hair that I want to make my own, I go online and every body says home made is so much better than the stuff from the store!! So I get excited and make my own. When I finally got to taste it, it tasted nothing like bacon I had had. Was this the better tasting stuff or did I go wrong somewhere? So I find a better supply of pork belly and try again this time to cover my bases I do 3 different types (regular, sweet, & spicy) Once again only the Sweet one tasted anywhere near what I know bacon should taste like? So what makes home made bacon better tasting? Store bought is what I expect bacon to taste like I like the taste of that bacon. What should better tasting bacon taste like??....I'm so confused!! lol

[Lon Tez]

Remember all taste buds are created different.

[Jerod Broussard]

I think you have to make the bacon yourself. Have someone place it in the store. Go and "purchase" the bacon. Take it home and consume. It's an overall experience you are lacking. Sorta like Pavlov's Drooling Dog.

[GadjetGriller]

LOL I think you may be on to something!! Wait did you guys just hear a BELL? Why do I all of a sudden want bacon??

[DeusDingo]

your taste buds conform to what they are used to. if you grow up expecting bacon to taste a certain way and you get something different you are disappointed and you want what you know you already like.

for example i grew up and my mom only used miracle whip light. never mayo, always the light version. as an adult i prefer light vs regular for no other reason other than that is what my taste buds expect and are used to. normal miracle whip tastes weird to me. light seems normal

i have 3 different experiences with bacon. i grew up on the store bought thin sliced bacon. that is how i knew bacon and even to this day i can't say no to a nice crispy slice of farmland bacon. my in-laws bought me nueskes bacon and i thought holy cow this is similar to store bought only MUCH smokier. i'm not really sure which one i like better. then i made my own and i thought it was kind of like kielbasa with pork fat. it tastes different, it cooks different. it's still good, better i think, than store bought bacon but it certainly doesn't have the same expected flavor profile. if you are sensitive to expectations in your food it's likely you just won't like home made bacon if you expect it to be like you've always known it.

[Henrik]

You will simply have to cook more bacon

On a more serious note: Half the pleasure is in making it yourself, knowing where the meat comes from, in my humble opinion. But I am also biased since my grandpa used to have thick slices of pork belly for lunch (with a cold beer), so if it comes down to store bought versus home smoked, I'd pick the latter any day. You can't beat the flavor of home smoked pork where the balance of the smoke vs salt vs fat is just right.

[Potkettleblack]

For a long time, having been raised on canned green beans, I thought they tasted better. And had better texture. And the whole 9.

It took a couple years of eating fresh ones before I learned that well prepared fresh string beans are better than the canned ones.

[Breadhead]

Canned String beans... Calculate this as part of the equation. Those that provide us with this product have cooked and canned billions of pounds of that product for about a century or longer. They've fine tuned the recipe, the process, to the point of perfection. Can you beat them at their own game?

[GadjetGriller]

A Restaurant here, RockFish (as you might guess they serve sea food) has a side dish named Rocking Green beans. They are fresh beans that are cooked in bacon fat along with small potato pieces and of course the bacon! Wonderful Been trying to replicate that at home! getting pretty close!

[Potkettleblack]

It's entirely possible that the Jolly Green Giant made a batch of string beans, said, "Good enough for government work," and never changed the formula.

Or the way Breadhead said.

[RonB]

Growing up my Dad and I took a yearly fishing trip every spring. We had so much fun that others wanted to come. First was my brother, then a cousin, (or two), and finally we had as many as 10 people and three or four boats.
Well, one of my cousins was raised on a farm, and he brought home made bacon one year. With all the people we had, it wasn't enough, so we had to cook store bought bacon too. When it was time to eat, that cousin went straight for the store bought because he never got that. Everyone else went for the home made because they never got that. We all enjoyed whatever we had.
BTW - I'm one of those who think "X" is supposed to taste a certain way. For instance, I ate Hershey Bars as a kid, and that's the way chocolate should taste. I did spend a lot of time on the farm with my cousin, so I was used to that bacon too.

[PaddyMcTexan]

Any bacon is good bacon!!!!

[Potkettleblack]

a lot of fast food bacon is not.

[HorseDoctor]

Store bought bacon is not "real" bacon. It's injected, sprayed with a little liquid smoke, par-cooked for a few hours, chilled, sliced and packaged. It's never seen real smoke or a good long proper cure. It tastes OK, but it's what the commercial processors have convinced you bacon should taste like. It's not what you grandparents or great grandparents made on the farm... If that's what you like, fine. Knock yourself out. We make real maple syrup each spring and there are some people that actually prefer "Aunt Jemima's" or "Log Cabin" corn syrup because that's what they are used to and all they know... Go figure. Oh yea, I NEVER liked canned green beans, EVER!!!! Love me some garden fresh green beans!

[Potkettleblack]

City boy from a long line of city folks. Have to go back to the old country before you find a farmer relation of mine. But yeah, most store bacon is not the good stuff. My great grandparents never did bacon. My grandparents did it, but not in front of friends.

[GadjetGriller]

Wow Folks a lot of good stuff was written here! (by the way I love Green beans out of the can but for some reason cant stand frozen green beans??) I am reminded that I did both sets of Bacon on the Pellet smoker (not known for its smoke flavor) I need to try it again on the kamado! Your Right Potkettleblack I stopped getting Bacon cheese hamburgers from fast food places chewy (not crispy) and no taste. This was fun I got way more answers than I figured I would. You guys are better than a psychologist!! Aaa not that I know what that is or anything lol Thanks

[Huskee]

What's the big deal with bacon anyway? [Runs away while dodging tomatoes, knives, rocks and anything else people can throw]

[GadjetGriller]

Lol

[kingdarb]

What's the big deal with bacon anyway? [Runs away while dodging tomatoes, knives, rocks and anything else people can throw]

Huskee : I'm not mad so much as disappointed...

[badf00d]

Mmmm, bacon.

[Potkettleblack]

When they made bacon soap, that might've been too much bacon.