FOOD HISTORY: Peameal Bacon: The The Real Canadian Bacon

 Americans who love Eggs Benedict know that it consists of smoked, ham-like slices of "Canadian" bacon on a toasted English muffin  topped with poached eggs and covered with Hollandaise sauce. Real Canadian bacon is quite different from what Americans call "Canadian" bacon. While both are cured, the American "Canadian" bacon is smoked, as well, giving it a flavor close to ham. The non-smoked Canadian bacon has a light, salty flavor, without the smokiness, so it tastes more like fresh ham or pork loin. In fact, in Canada, their version of "Canadian" bacon is not even called "Canadian" bacon; it is called "Peameal" bacon. The Canadian bacon story starts in Wilts County, in SW England where the practice emerged of submerging boneless pork loins  in a brown sugar, salt brine until it was cured. This enhanced "shelf  life". In 1854, William Davies, of  Wallingford, England, emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where he set up a shop in the St. Lawrence Market selling pork products including  this type of cured pork. His products were greeted with such enthusiasm, that he founded the William Davies Company. His company became the largest pork packer and shipper in the British Empire and Toronto became known as "Hogtown". In those days before refrigeration, the pork was shipped after being brined cured, which helped in the preservation of the pork loins. In addition, they were rolled in ground, dried yellow peas (peameal)  to preserve the meat even further. Thus, "Peameal" bacon was born.  At the turn of the 19th century, England experienced a great pork shortage and began importing large quantities of pork products, including Peameal bacon  from Canada. The British, then, smoked the Peameal bacon (pork loins). Americans tasting the smoked British version, assumed that all bacon from Canada was smoked. When they brought this idea home with them, they called the smoked version, "Canadian Bacon". Thus, arose the confusion between real Canadian  (unsmoked Peameal Bacon) and the American  smoked, "Canadian" bacon.  This continues today. While, in Canada, the dried, ground, yellow pea coating of Canadian Peameal  bacon has been replaced by the use of yellow cornmeal (cheaper), Canadians still refer to their bacon as "Peameal Bacon" and it is as popular as ever. In Canada it is used more for sandwiches, as a loin roast, with eggs, in pasta or in any dish were a cured, non- smoked piece of pork loin would do, rather than for Eggs Benedict. However, it certainly may be used for that purpose, as well.

THINGS I LIKE: Roasted Grape Tomato/ Broccoli Rabe/italian Sausage Pasta Sauce

I have always liked grape tomatoes (they are what I eat when tomatoes are out-of -season) and broccoli rabe as a vegetable. Both of these go well with Italian sausage so I put them all together into a recipe for a sauce for pasta. I roast the grape tomatoes to concentrate their flavor. This is done by placing the tomatoes on a sheet pan, coating them with extra virgin olive oil and placing the in a 400F oven for 30 - 50 minutes (depending on your oven) until the tomatoes are shriveled and some juice has come out of them. Some may have a little "char" on them  which is good because it gives a slight smoky flavor to the tomatoes. I  "blanch" the broccoli rabe before use, ie, place in boiling, salted water for 30 seconds, remove quickly and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking and drain. This leaves the broccoli rabe slightly cooked but retains it's bright green color. It finishes cooking when added to the other sauce ingredients. These two steps can be done while preparing the sauce for use right away or, after being allowed to cool,  may be placed in plastic refrigerator bags and frozen for later use. I have frozen these ingredients for several weeks with no negative effect on the  outcome of the sauce. With these comments as prolog the recipe follows:

INGREDIENTS

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 oz sweet Italian sausage meat*
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch broccoli rabe, blanched (see above)
4 pints grape tomatoes, roasted (see above)
1 tbsp. tomato paste**
1 tbsp. fennel seeds, toasted until fragrant. be careful not to burn.
TT  salt and freshly ground black pepper
red pepper flakes - optional
1 pound of tubular pasta; ziti, rigatoni, etc.

PREPARATION 

Cook the pasta in a large volume of boiling, salted water until a minute or two before it reaches the "al dente" stage.

While pasta is cooking prepare sauce.

Heat pan to medium and add olive oil and garlic. cook for a few moments and add sausage meat. When browned, move meat to sides of pan. Add a little more olive oil to the center of the pan, stir in fennel seed, add tomato paste and  cook a  minute or two in the oil, until the paste takes on a rust -like color. Mix in the sausage, then add the roasted tomatoes and broccoli rabe. When sauce is hot, drain pasta ( saving some of the cooking water) and add pasta to the pan. Cook a few more minutes until the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce, is properly cooked and is heated through. If sauce needs thinning, add small amounts of pasta water until sauce is at proper consistency.

Place on a heated platter and serve.

*Grind your own from pork butt or use, either, market made ground sausage or sausage removed from their casings.

**I use a tube of double concentrated tomato paste - Amore brand. It is very convenient, you can use as much as you need and the rest will keep in the refrigerator a long period of time for future use.