Streaky bacon?

One of the things that my wife and her children fell in love with (other than Taco Bell lol) was my mom's French toast (eggy bread) and crisp bacon.  I tried to recreate the meal whle I was in Manchester...  While the eggy bread turned out alright (a dash of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon added to the batter) the bacon didn't compare even though we took pains to buy streaky bacon.  It seemed like the water content of the bacon was higher....  Is British bacon cured differently from US bacon?  Is there anything comparable to US streaky bacon in the UK?

yankmanc

p.s.  I'm a huge fan of the full english breakfast and am absolutely in love with their sausages!  Heh,  I come out winning on this one 

I've never had a package of streaky bacon cook up the same as bacon does in the States.  I'm not sure what the difference is, but there definitely is one.  I finally gave up and learned to love back bacon because the streaky stuff here just isn't nice.

Sainsburys sells Oscar Myer bacon.  Might want to give that a go.

I had some streaky bacon from Tesco that turned out alright.  I slowly fried it till crispy and it was fantastic.  But to be fair, bacon has always been something I'd have sparingly, so I'm not sure my standards are the same.  That and when I was a kid my mom always microwaved it to within an inch of its life...so I guess anything would have been an improvement from that! 

That and when I was a kid my mom always microwaved it to within an inch of its life...so I guess anything would have been an improvement from that! 

That's the best way! Flat, Dry, Crisp and black. If you can't lose a tooth on it why bother? 

Have you tried grilling it instead of frying it? I find grilled bacon to be drier than if fried. Also, the best streaky style bacon I've had I've gotten from a polish butcher.

I've had the most luck recreating really crispy bacon using pancetta

I found that if I put the bacon in the pan and let the water cook out of it, then add oil to the pan and something weighty to the bacon to hold it flat, it turns out really nice and crisp, much like in America. My DH had never had crisp bacon before and he absolutely loved it!

I agree with phatbeetle about the pancetta.  I use one of those George Foreman type grills to make bacon, and it works well. 

Are you buying streaky back bacon or streaky belly bacon? American bacon is cut from belly meat and British bacon is cut back meat.  You can get streaky belly bacon/rashers at Tescos.