Which tastes better regular bacon or turkey bacon?

Regular

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by Elizabeth M. Young

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A resounding "NO!" to turkey bacon tasting better than pork belly bacon. First of all, the fowl and the swine are two completely different beasts, with completely different flesh. The texture, sweetness, and flavor of bacon made from pork bellies is unique to the pig.

Turkey is a notoriously flavorless meat. You can add all of the smoke, fake flavorings, and additives known to man, but the flavor will not be even close, let alone superior to pork bacon. To me, the look, texture, sweetness, fat content, flavors and other factors are all important in the final taste of a food. And turkey cannot catch up because it's too far behind.

Given the alleged superiority of Turkey meat, when it comes to fat, I can see where some might feel that there are benefits to eating Turkey bacon. But fat can also be dealt with. I buy the bacon ends...the bits and pieces left over from when the "pretty" and insanely expensive packaged bacon is cut.

I bring home about four pounds of bacon ends, break open the package, carve off as much fat as I can find, and end up with about 2 3/4 pounds of very nice, lean meat that has the same delicious, smoky flavor as those elegant, but fat laden strips. I save a few ounces of the fat and throw the rest out.

The resulting bits and pieces are so lean that I usually have to add a bit of canola oil to brown the resulting chunks, specks, and bits of smoked pork belly. I add the large chunks to my pots of red beans, collard greens, and spinach with onions. I use the bacon, with a little of the fat as the Lardon in my Burgundy Beef. I also mince the bacon, fry in canola oil until crispy, then use it in an omelet, or to sprinkle on a salad.

The beauty of a crispy strip of bacon is in the thin slicing and the fat. I gave up on beautiful thin crispy strips of any kind of meat a long time ago, because fat has to be in there somewhere. Otherwise...oh wait...what is it that they DO add to Turkey meat in order to get it to crisp up? I learned from my dietitian years ago that Turkey sausage had more fat than the real deal, so Turkey bacon is also on my suspect list, when it comes to fat content.

Oh no. It's not bacon if it doesn't come from the pig. I'll save the Turkey for Thanksgiving and set aside some for the Gumbo, where it's good for bulking up the recipe.

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