Receiving 4lbs of Benton’s bacon in the mail is a surprise teeming with excitement and possibility. Proprietor Allan Benton, the Head Honcho of Hams, conducts his porcine sorcery from a smokehouse in Tennessee. If I owned pigs, I would let him have his way with them and wouldn’t even press charges. Benton’s hams are a luxury, with a mouthfeel that’s all velvet, but the bacon is a relative bargain at $22 for the 4lbs.
Also known as “that Momofuku bacon”, it’s ultra smokey on the palate and achieves a gorgeous balance of crunch and sumptuousness when cooked. I’ve yet to find a better bacon, but I also love aggressive smoke flavor. Actually, to that effect, I had a corn cob smoked bacon from Vermont Smoke and Cure that was pretty outlandish (thank you, Michael Fallon). Might be time to get some…
