Broadbent's Hickory Smoked Bacon

This is one of the country's last traditional dry cured country bacons. Eating it is like having a really big tannic red wine at the end of your meal or a hunk of Bayley Hazen Blue cheese for lunch. It's so intensely flavored it's not for everyone.

The folks who make it start with fresh slabs that are dry cured with salt, sugar and nitrite for a week. It never goes into a brine solution, so moisture actually leaves the slabs while they cure, intensifying the flavors of the meat. The slabs are then smoked over hickory for three or four days. The end result is a great piece of pork, and a little bit goes a long way.