BACON REVUE (WILLOW GLEN MEATS & SMOKEHOUSE)

The stage will be swept and dusted. It has been a while since our last performance at the 'Bacon Revue'. Today's entertainment is a smoked bacon coated with black peppercorns. Our guest is from Willow Glen Meats & Smokehouse that is located in San Jose California. Willow Glen is a small local smokehouse located in an older residential neighborhood. They smoke numerous meat products and offer three different styles of bacon.(Cajun, Smoked and Pepper) The pepper coated slab of pork will entertain and sizzle on the black iron of our kitchen. We will have a separate show with viewing and comments from our good friend the Reverend Biggles.

The shrink wrap that protected our slab was removed and right away we noticed a lack of smoke odor. It is a good looking slab. The meat to fat ratio is very even. We break out our trusty black iron and cooked a couple of rashes. Ms. Goofy starts to drool. The smell of sizzling bacon is a wonderful thing. Now for the moment of truth. Salt was our first taste. We both agreed that it did have a meaty flavor. Even though the slab was covered in peppercorns we did not notice a pepper taste. Some components were missing. There was no smoke flavor or even a hint of sweetness. It did fry up nice and crispy and had a chewy bite. We tried some on a bacon, turkey and avocado sandwich. It tasted great in this sandwich.



Reverend Bigggles had a cut of this 'pepper bacon' from the same slab. He cooked and tasted his bacon at 'Meathenge Labs'. The Reverend sent me this picture and the following comment.

Photo by Biggles


Hey man!
Uh, couldn't pull the peppered bacon out, wanted to do a post. But all I got was bacon texture and salt. No pepper flavors, no meat flavors, no cure flavors. Even the boys remarked pretty much the same thing.
Reverend Biggles



The Reverend and I both pretty much agree. Today's bacon was missing smoke, sweetness, pepper flavor and was very salty. Bacon needs to be a good mixture of all these components. We thought it was meaty and it did taste good in our sandwich. Today's bacon from Willow Glen will receive 2.5 stars out of a possible 5 stars.


Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Cost: 4.39/pound
Where: 885 Delmas Av.
San Jose, Ca. 95125
408 279-4009