What Is Fancy Bacon?

Sometimes called Hungarian bacon, this type has a spicy flavor from garlic and paprika rubbed into a slab of cured and smoked back bacon. The slab is sliced or cubed, skewered on sticks and traditionally roasted over a campfire. We cooked bacon 15 ways—here’s what we discovered.

From becoming a favorite breakfast side to becoming essential in many fast-food restaurants, bacon is something everyone wants to indulge in. Moreover, it has gained so much popularity in the North American continent that it caused a movement to start known as bacon mania.

Salty, smoky, savory, and capable of being stored without refrigeration for months, bacon was historically an economical choice for those with limited access to fresh meat or expensive cured products made from more highly prized cuts of pork, such as ham.

Today, some bacon producers, especially in the South, continue to employ more traditional dry-curing formulas, curing and/or smoking their products more heavily or for longer periods. In our lineup, we included three of these more traditional dry-cured bacons, all from older Southern smokehouses.