Bacon Review 12/05 - Fletcher's Hickory Smoked Bacon

Founded in 1917, Fletcher's is a Canadian food producer, part of the Sofina private label. Fletcher's offers "a carefully selected line of Fletcher’s branded protein products" of hams and sausage as well as bacon. They rub Canadian lean pork belly with seasoning, dry cure, then finally smoke the bacon.

Fletcher's bacon comes in a few smoke varieties, including maple and hickory. I've had yet to try Fletcher's or hickory-smoked bacon so this was a new taste for me. I bought the 20 oz. (1.25 lbs.) Stak Pak, which is a little more bacon than I usually eat, but I went through it faster than usual (a testament to it's tastiness?). I liked the packaging as it was clear and locked in moisture—usually I buy bacon by the pound and it's just wrapped in paper, which can lead to drying out.

The bacon was thick cut, but it experienced the shrinkage/warping of thin-sliced bacon. I thought this was odd, as the cut was average in fattiness-to-meat ratio, too. Not bad if you prefer a twisted texture, but I'm generally lean toward flat. The taste was initially salty, with more hickory flavor toward the finish. Possibly too salty for more than a few slices by themselves, but it would definitely be welcome in a sandwich or something.

Finally, this bacon was really freakin' dirty. It left a whole lot of shit in the pan, more so than your average bacon. Overall, I thought it was decent, but not the best. The hickory flavor was great, but it was overly salty and overpowered the inherent pork flavour.

Fletcher's Hickory Smoked Bacon:

[Overall] ~~~

[Pork] ~~
[Salt] ~~
[Fat] ~~~~
[Smoke] ~~~~~