Hatfield Pumpkin Spice Flavored Thick Cut Bacon

By Martin Peyruc

Life News Today - Reckless Gastronome

Greetings gentle readers, Autumn is officially upon us (I would say Fall, but I wouldn’t want to accidentally confuse this with the end of Western civilization) and that means chunky boots, shaggy vests, spiked helmets (that’s the other Fall, again) and of course Pumpkin Spice. Every year hordes descend on their local coffee shops in search of PSL, Pumpkin Spice Latte (yes, it has its own acronym.) What is the pumpkin spice and what makes it so it so iconic though?

The pumpkin spice blend’s history follows in many ways the history of civilization itself. The spice trade is what linked the ancient world together in ways that language, art, and even military might could never do. Ginger from Southeast Asia traveled along the silk road. Nutmeg (and Mace, which is part of the same tree) from the Banda Islands of what is now Indonesia was so valuable that that The Dutch East India Company traded control of Manhattan Island for territories in the Spice Islands after the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667). Cinnamon from Sri Lanka was used to embalm Egyptian pharaohs and was thought by medieval Europeans to cure plague. Cloves also from the Spice Islands traveled to the Han Dynasty around 200 BCE, were burned as incense in ancient Rome, and have a history full of international smuggling and espionage. Allspice from Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean was long in use by the native Taino peoples and quickly became part of the New World Spice Trade. There are also less common ingredients such as Vanilla which is originally from Mexico but is now grown in Madagascar (cultivation really moved it, moved it.)

Now I suggest you contact your local milliner, because I’m going to blow your hat off, pumpkin spice blend traditionally doesn’t actually include pumpkin. Once everyone has obtained a new hat (ooh, that’s quite fetching), I’ll continue. In a way it’s almost obvious, why would the spice blend include pumpkin when its whole point is to be added to pumpkin, that makes sense even to the Department of Redundancy Department. The PSL itself didn’t have pumpkin in it until 2015 when customers demanded it for the sake of “authenticity.” In fact, the Institute of Food Technologists claim that change was mostly imperceptible and it was just because people wanted real pumpkin to be among the ingredients.

I feel like I’ve done enough fact finding to earn myself a purely opinion-based rant. I hate the use of the word “authentic” especially when it comes to food. Authentic (for food) by definition means that it is a recreation of an original with a definitive place of origin. It’s an appeal to tradition, but most of those traditions are a false history. Most recipes are less than two hundred years old and were frequently changed as old ingredients became scarce and new ingredients became common. Tomatoes came from the New World and were thought to be injurious to health and were kept as decoration for centuries in Europe. Chili peppers (also from the New World) didn’t become popular in Asia until the late 16^th century. Around the same time Mangos traveled from Asia and quickly became popular in South America. That’s just the ingredients; the recipes are even newer. Spaghetti Carbonara was invented in 1944, Butter Chicken in the 1950’s, Ciabatta bread was invented when I was three years old in 1982. Also do you know what isn’t a synonym for “authentic”? Good. Good isn’t a synonym for authentic. Palates change with region and time; there’s a reason there are so few savory dishes in aspic (think the 1950’s dishes of meat and vegetables in gelatin.) Let’s be honest, most of the people insisting on authentic are (figurative) tourists who have no connection to the food’s roots and just want to puff themselves up. “Until you’ve had chicken tenders at the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (which is located in Salt Lake City, Utah) you haven’t really experienced chicken.) Ok, ok, I’ll calm down, my blood pressure is going through the roof (it’s almost like I’ve been eating something rich in nitrates.)

Where was I? Tradition. The pumpkin pie spice is what’s considered to be a warming spice blend. In differing ratios, most of the same ingredients are in apple pie, mulled wine, spice cake, and other autumn/winter recipes. One of the earliest recipes with similar ingredients is an apple pie recipe from 1390. The first recorded modern pumpkin pie recipe (modern in the sense that the pumpkin is pureed as opposed to sliced) is Amelia Simmons’ “pompkin pudding” published in 1796 in her book “American Cookery” which was the first cookbook to be written by an American and published in the United States. Especially here in the States, this blend is so connected to Thanksgiving and to pumpkins, that the spices alone are enough to cause people to believe that pumpkin is present in a dish even when its excluded. This is mostly because pumpkins aren’t really that flavorful on their own, there’s a mild earthiness and perhaps a little sweetness depending on what variety you are eating, but it’s really more of a vehicle for other flavors and not something to be eaten solo.

They say the proof is in the pudding, but since this is bacon is it worth bringing home? The bacon itself is thickly cut and using my preparation method of baking at 350° F for 20+ minutes (I ended up around 24 minutes, but ovens vary), had a solid bite, crispy but not brittle. As bacon goes, Hatfield’s thick cut is worthwhile. We aren’t here to evaluate the bacon itself though; it’s does bacon stand up as a medium for pumpkin spice? Nope. I guess since you’ve all been good sports and listened through my history lesson and my rant about authenticity you deserve more than a single word. That will be a nope from me. More detail? Very well, if you insist. It doesn’t have enough sugar to candy on its own and the spices are a bit incongruent with the flavor of the meat. It smelled heavenly while cooking, but the taste leaves a lot to be desired. All is not lost, though, while it’s pretty bad on its own and pairing it with eggs for breakfast was a mistake, I do think in the proper application and if you desperately need to come up with uses, for example if you bought several packs because you were planning on writing a review of it (not me, some other low skilled review writer that tends to forget the bacon in the oven) it can be salvaged. Coating it in brown sugar before baking to make proper candied bacon would work.

Having it crumbled on a sweet potato casserole would add texture and depth. You could even put it on a turkey burger so it won’t taste like a mouthful of lies. There are possibilities out there, if people are willing to be creative. Of course, you could also just add premade pumpkin pie spice to regular bacon and then you wouldn’t be stuck with three stupid packs of the stuff. Probably the better option, if you want to try it for yourself.

Found at Safeway