Boks Bacon - putting it to the test

0705 hours - removed from packet and separated the slices. I will have to allow Junior to have some after all - there is way too much here for just me and one meal. Damn. My goodness - the feel of it..... it's like silk. It's unlike any other bacon I have sliced and cooked. The texture is slightly slippery, unlike the normal powder-dry surface of most bacon. My nose is bunged up, so I can't comment on any aromas. I study the ingredients and note that it contains only sugar, honey, natural wood smoke and sodium nitrite. Bacon as it should be.

0711 hours - whoops, first observation is that this stuff cooks 4 or 5 times faster than normal bacon. The first side is almost burned. Experiment almost ruined by blogging that first paragraph. The ingredients say that the honey is "yellow box" honey. I know that smell well, and the kitchen is now redolent of yellow box honey. As soon as I walked back into the kitchen, the smell overpowered me. This stuff really packs a punch in the nasal department, and I can barely smell a thing. I can't even smell my own farts at the moment.

0716 hours - experiment almost over. Bugger, blogged too long on the 2nd paragraph as well. Bacon is overcooked. How can this be? It was on medium heat. Our stove is no good. I should be wandering in to turn it over for the first time around now.

So how much water did it lose in cooking?

Bugger squared. Knew I forgot to do something, like weigh it before putting it in the pan. It hardly spat at all, showing a very low leakage of water (I think bacon spits when enough water leaks out to hit the fat, whereupon it vaporises in a puff of steam so rapidly that it explodes and throws hot oil at you).

I can't swill it around my mouth like wine (we had a 1998 Main Ridge Estate pinot noir last night - it was utterly delicious. The only pinot I have ever liked). The non-burned bits are beautifully soft in the mouth, with a complete absence of chewiness. The crispy bits are properly crispy, and the skin has taken on a crackling-like texture rather than evolving into a form of rubbery, unchewable tyre tread. I can even taste the yellow box honey coming through. This stuff is amazing.

There is no sign of white sodium nitrite bubbling out and forming on the surface, as happens with cheap and badly cured bacon. The fat has an awesome texture. This is how bacon oughta be.

Is it worth $40 per kilo? Hell yeah.

Will I buy it again? Hell yeah.

Has it spoiled me and put me off cheap crap bacon? Hell yeah.

Will Junior appreciate it? He'd better.

0724 - fed, happy and satisfied. Mission accomplished.