Comments on: Canadian Peameal Bacon

By: quentin kurtzhals

quentin kurtzhals — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:03:58 +0000

I’m tired of not finding it so I’m going to try to make it myself. As a kid on fishing trips to canada my dad would fry peameal bacon for breakfest, the smell would suck the oxygen out of the cabin till you could not breath, then you knew it was done and could’nt get to the table fast enough. I still go to canada every year but I can’t find it like they use to make it 40 years ago !

By: kimm

kimm — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:03:51 +0000

Chris Anderson in CA- do you use the Ehow recipe or do you have a different one? If you make your peameal with a different recipe I would appreciate it. A relative sent me the curing mixture from canada but it is a bulk amount meant for curing 100 lbs at a time with no instructions included, so I am trying to break it down for hourhold use

By: grant williams

grant williams — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:24:55 +0000

I have had both and the people that supply this in California is outstanding

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:43:45 +0000

I grew up in Buffalo and to me peameal bacon is just the best. I’m now curing my own at home and as I share this joy with friends and neighbors I’m not up to curing 30 lbs at a time.

In fact I’m eating a peameal sandwich as I type and I am in heaven.

Best thing that came out of the Niagara area….Wayne? nah. Chicken wings? nah. Beef on Weck? nah

Real Canadian bacon!

By: Judy Bailey

Judy Bailey — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:40:32 +0000

Holiday Market in Canton makes their own also, but you need to call ahead to make sure they have some because it sells very quickly. There’s is excellent and comes in chunks that are shrink-wrapped so it keeps well. I buy it when I can and freeze it.

My grandparents were Canadian and my father used to go into Windsor every few months and stock up. If you go across the bridge into Windsor and just go straight for a couple of miles, you’ll see supermarket on your left that carries it in very large chunks. Theirs is a bit saltier than the Holiday Market version, however.

By: Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:56:47 +0000

Living in California now, getting peameal bacon is next to impossible. What do you do? I make it. I could give you the directions, but of course, someone has already made a web page. http://www.ehow.com/how_5555725_make-peameal-bacon.html

I’ve had great sucess, just finished a couple of slices with my breakfast now.

By: cdarragh

cdarragh — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:30:53 +0000

I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. We’re always very passionate about finding a flavorful and traditionally made product. Individuals, like yourself, are also often very excited when they find we sell something they’ve not had in years — your stories add value and meaning! Thanks for your response.

By: Michael Green

Michael Green — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:36:32 +0000

your article says it all …. more often than not my last stop exiting Canada is not Duty Free, but a grocery to buy a couple peameal roasts. I slice some, vacuum pack it all to hopefully carry me over to my next trip across the boarder. Born in the States, I went to High School and University in Canada; but remember my mother having back bacon during my youth which then was more readily available in US supermarkets. Its impossible to find today. It was enjoyable to read your complete explanation on the history and uniqueness of this delicious product.

By: W. Aardsma

W. Aardsma — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:27:47 +0000

Your web site was linked to from the Wikipedia article on Canadian bacon.
Just wanted to make a few comments. My last visit to Toronto I noticed that my usual breakfast eateries were now offering “bacon” and “peameal bacon.” On previous trips they offered “bacon” and “American bacon.”
In 2006 I visited Vancouver and the restaurants that I ate in offered “bacon” and “Canadian bacon.” When I asked about “Peameal bacon” they were not familiar with the term. If you look at the Knight and Day chain’s menu on the web, you’ll deduce that “bacon” for them is American bacon.”
Perhaps this was a concession to American tourists. Vancouver is heavily dependent on Americans coming up and spending $$$. At the time of my visit their newspaper was bewailing the economic downtown caused by Americanos staying home.
I also noticed that a McDonald’s in Vancouver had a “Bacon McMuffin” on the menu in addition to an Egg McMuffin and a Sausage Egg McMuffin. The Bacon McMuffin used American style bacon. B.T.W., the sausage that they used tasted different from in the U.S. and was actually strange tasting.

Your description of how peameal bacon is made reminded me of scrapple, a hideous breakfast meat that I think was invented to chase off unwanted company. It is a mixture of pig meat and cornmeal among other things, probably whatever was swept up off the floor. I did see if for sale at one of the Holiday Markets in Troy (Mich.) in the 1989-1996 time period. I only eat it to remind myself how awful it tastes.
There’s another pig-based bacon alternative I’d like to mention, Taylor Pork Roll. The main company is in the Trenton (NJ) area, Hamilton or Springfield Township, I forget which one. It may also be used as a sandwich meat. A diner on the east side of Canton Center Road, in the same shopping center that used to have the wonderful Bakers Square in the late 1980’s, offered a Taylor pork roll sandwich. My waitress made the mistake of saying it was “fresh from Taylor, Michigan.” Typical in-grown “Detroiter” ignorance. She had her knowledge of the topic corrected and expanded.

I am presently looking for someone who makes Ozark bacon, something that I discovered in Kansas City. It is closer to ham and is popular in Missouri and Arkansas. If you “Google” it on the web you’ll see it pop up here and there, even in California.
I also discovered pancetta bacon in Kansas City, something that you do NOT want to use as a breakfast meat, although it does grease up a pan nicely. It is used for seasoning and possibly a sandwich meat. It must be an acquired taste.

By: Mike Brautigan

Mike Brautigan — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:10:21 +0000

For those of you who are not aware, Hiller’s Markets in the western suberbs of Detroit(Northville, Plymouth,etc) make their own pea meal bacon and it is great!