NUESKE’S UN-CURED BACON

With a heavy heart and sad eyes I bring this review to you. We would like to begin with a testimonial about how in the past we have loved all products offered by Nueske’s. Nueske’s smokes and sells possibly the ‘Gold Standard’ of bacon. We have had their hams, pork chops and bacon loving them all. When we saw a new product, ‘Nueske’s Un-cured Bacon, we assumed by reputation, this product would be great.  In fact, I bought four packages because of our love and trust of the Nueske’s brand. Maybe that was not such a good idea.

We cooked with our new bacon several times before judgment was passed. We made a bacon wrapped meatloaf and some ABT’s. These were both smoked and cooked on a barbeque grill. The bacon tasted fine enough but it also had an extra smoke component provided by our smoker. A red flag arose when I cooked some of our new bacon in a cast iron pan for some burgers. Ms. Goofy was the one that pointed out this saddening revelation. She tasted a metallic taste in the bacon. I was a little skeptical at first.

   I noticed that when frying our bacon in our trusted cast iron pan over a medium fire the bacon had a tendency to burn easily. This cast iron pan has cooked thousands of rashers at the same heat with out incident. Probably this bacon has a very high sugar content to cause this action. You can see the scorching marks on the image above. This can be remedied by cooking this bacon on a very low heat to prevent scorching. Well here we go, how did it taste? Oh my, Ms Goofy was right. I did notice a slight metallic aftertaste. It had a meaty, sweet and smoky pleasant flavor but there is no denial of the finish of metal. What the hell? I am speechless. Our initial tasting may have been covered and masked with extra smoke from our bbq. I can forgive the high sugar content but a metallic aftertaste will put this grade to a FAIL. Nueske’s in the past has been a stellar company that we have trusted. I will contact Nueske’s to ask for a possible explanation. For now we cannot recommend this product. Needless to say we are disappointed. You may have noticed I did not even rant about the term ‘Un-Cured’. I am just very sad.

Follow Up

I called Nueske’s customer service line. They reinforced my belief that they are possibly the ‘Gold Standard’ of bacon. They automatically offered to replace said products. When I told them my concerns they asked if I could send them the other unused packages and they would pay the postage.  We also determined the expiration date of the bacon was June 2, 2014. I did purchase them at the Grocery Outlet before this date. I also cooked the meatloaf and ABT’s within the expiration date. The metallic taste was noticed on Monday June 2. This may be an explanation. I learned a valuable lesson today. A bargain outlet may not be such frugal place to shop. Watch your expiration dates. After talking to Nueske’s customer service the World is in alignment once again. I love Nueske’s but not outdated Un-Cured bacon.