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The Kitchen Table

Bentons Smoked Bacon

14 years ago

Has anyone ever tried it. We wouldn't be able to purchase direct we would have to have it shipped. If you've had it, was it worth the money? Sure looks good and gets great reviews. I've ordered some food products and had them shipped in the past, Corky's Ribs make great gifts and I've been tempted to purchase shrimp/lobster as I'm in the middle of the country and just don't get good shellfish around here. I'm hoping to get my boss to take a trip to Alaska next year for Salmon. He did that a couple of years ago and shipped it back here. What a treat that was. Hope to hear good words about the bacon.

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Comments (6)

jae_tn2
14 years ago
I live close enough, if you feel like a 50 mile excursion), to have gone there 2 times. It is excellent bacon. I bought the smoked bacon the first time. It was a little heavy on the smoked flavor for me so the next time I got the unsmoked variety which I liked better. It depends on what you like.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
Never heard of that one but there's 2 that we order from often and everything is excellent. One is Oakridge smokehouse
http://www.oakridge-smokehouse.com/

The other is Praseks, I love their smoked sausage. Luckily I can buy it here in the grocery store.
http://www.praseks.com/
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Ingredients from Bacos: Defatted soy flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, water, salt, sugar, natural and artificial flavor (some type of glutamate no doubt, but not MSG because I'm allergic to that and it would give me a stomache ache), artificial color, and red 40, maltodextrin, dextrose, tocopherol, (preservative). I am allergic to nitrates, they give me headaches, so I buy natural bacon and keep it in the freezer. I slice off some bits to fry for flavor, but not for the broccoli slaw style salad. I don't mind a dash of the soy product stuff to add some bacon flavor to something like soups and salads or braised greens, if it's just a dash for flavor. It absolutely is full of sugar and salt so that's why I said use judiciously. In a BLT where bacon is a key ingredient rather than a flavoring, I want real bacon, I tried the soy stuff for BLTs and it didn't cut it for me. Also, some of my friends are vegans and others are observant Jews and Muslims, so the Baco bits work for when I am cooking for a mixed crowd, which is what my gang tends to be. I'm liking the idea of smoked almonds for salads though. I have been avoiding them due to the salt content, but a few might be interesting in salads.
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Wow, Madonna, that's a great buy on that little propane smoker, I wouldn't have been able to pass that up either. My stepsons are big fans of grinding bacon into our grassfed burger, it's a little too lean for their taste. They got the idea from a restaurant in California where the burgers are half beef and half ground bacon. Nothing you can buy, of course, is as good as home grown or home made. Pork bellies never go on sale here, so we make Canadian Bacon more than we do the traditional stuff. Pork loins are often on sale here for less than $2 a pound so you'll be much more likely to find that. We use more of it than I thought we would. Toss a slice in the pan and in a minute it's ready to put on a breakfast sandwich. The grandkids love it on pizza and in homemade "hot pockets" with pizza sauce and mozzarella. I chop it up and add it to corn waffles along with cheese, we use it in a lot of things. Congratulations on that jam, it's going to make great gifts for some very lucky recipients. I'm more than happy to get other people "hooked" on my own personal addictions, LOL, so can away, then smoke something, then make some sausage. At our age we deserve the "good stuff", so much better than I can buy here!! Annie
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jae_tn2
14 years ago
Bentons is what all of the Food Network cooks use. I have no clue how they found them but it snowballed and they ship all over the US. It's a little hole in the wall family owned shop.
sudiepav
14 years ago
Benton's is the best! We love their country hams and the bacon makes the best BLTs ever! At least 2x a summer, we gather good bakery bread, homegrown tomatoes, Duke's mayo, and Benton 's bacon. BLT heaven! I do have to admit that their smoke is so strong that I try to cook the bacon oudoors.
chisue
14 years ago
I need a new brain. I looked at this thread and wondered who the Bentons were -- and why anyone would smoke bacon. (I read this right after the question about E-cigarettes.)
jude31
14 years ago
I live an hour away from Benton's. He (Allen Benton) credits Blackberry Farms, an elegant bed and brekfast place in the Smokies, with his success. He's been featured in several cooking magazines , or at least his bacon and ham have been, like Saveur and maybe Fine Cooking, Gourmet (before they folded) etc. He is just a very down to earth fellow, very humble. His products are very good. Not only do the Food Network chefs use his product but high end restaurants all over the country do as well.

jude

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