Slicing of bacon

[Pow7der]

I did my first bacon cook this past weekend, following Meathead maple recipe. Bacon could have used a little more smoke but I was admittedly reserved not wanting to over power it with smoke. Otherwise my wife and daughter loved it so all is well.

My question is, looking at the attached photo should I sliced it long ways or across the width for shorter pieces? I thought I read somewhere that they got approx 75ish slices to a 3ish lb belly. This was 4.5 lbs and I got a little more than 30 slicing longwise. Did I slice the correct direction? Does it matter which direction?

[ComfortablyNumb]

My opine, does not matter. Slice whichever way looks best to you.

[ssandy_561]

You sliced it the correct way. I don’t think it would hold together if you sliced it the other way. I’m sure with knife slicing you are not slicing it as thin as you need to to get 75 slices.

By comparison I like thick sliced bacon. I get about 6 slices per pound myself.

[Pow7der]

I got about 8 per lb so that sounds like it’s in line with social "norm"

[ecowper]

I've always sliced long way because it looks the same as the bacon I get at the store.

[Pow7der]

That’s the reason I went that way too. Great minds think alike 🤔

[ecowper]

if it looks weird, my kids will freak out ;-)

[texastweeter]

long ways to wrap with and fry, short ways for sammiches and burgers (they fit better)

[shify]

Your slices look good.

no clue where you got 25 slices per pound as that seems ridiculous. I think I get around 10 or so slices per pound slicing by hand.

[Pow7der]

It seemed really high to me too which had me wondering if it was supposed to be sliced in the opposite direction. There wasn’t any way I could get approx double the number of slices without going across the width not down the length. I got about 8 slices per pound which sounds more in line.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I'll wager Denny's restaurant gets 50 slices per pound. Maybe even 75. I can read the morning paper through their bacon slices....

[HorseDoctor]

Matters little (or naught at all) which way you slice it. Nor should you let anyone else dictate how many slices you should get per lb. I cut my bacon slabs such that I get 1/2 length slices so I get lots of numbers. I do that mostly for the safety of my fingers as my slicer won’t handle full length slices without some extra pushing and manipulating. Plus half length slices are perfect size for BLTs. As for thickness, I do mostly 4-5 mm thick slices but will also do some 2-3 mm thick for wrapping fillets or asparagus, etc...