It depends…the bacon from the vacuum packages in the supermarket stays good in the fridge for quite a while after opening (I think I’ve done a couple weeks before with no problem). Fresh sliced bacon in butcher paper from an actual butcher, unfortunately and much to my lament, is only good for a few days in my experience. It was very tasty, but since it was uncured/unsalted/whatever is it technically “bacon,” or just sliced pork belly/back/wherever it came from?
Basically, all the previous advice in the thread – if it’s fuzzy, weird colors, etc. That said I did eat some…I’d call it “grayish”…bacon that had been in the fridge for a while. I cooked it thoroughly and enjoyed it just fine, and even gave some to my wife. She did get swine flu later*, but that’s what I call a hilarious coincidence.
Correct. Bacon is Platonically good and as such imperishable. Your failure to eat bacon causes moral and metaphysical corruption of the universe affecting the physical space surrounding the bacon. The illness (and possible death) occasioned by eating such bacon is merely your karmic punishment for allowing bacon to languish under your care. Spiritually speaking, your bacon is still good; it is you who have become rotten and slimy. (Well, and your fridge, too, if you don’t clean it up.!)
I just went through the bad bacon dilemma. It looked and smelled okay but after cooking it tasted terrible. It was sour and had that disgusting taste you get with freezer burned meats. Ate most of it anyway with no ill effects…
When in doubt just go for the Boss Hog Bacon-Bits. That stuff never expires as long as you refrigirate it, been using it as a bacon substitute since the late ninties! :eek:
If it’s not brined and possibly smoked, it’s not bacon, it’s just sliced pork belly, and is raw meat. (Unless you are one of those UK fruits who eat back bacon. Enjoy your ham.)
If it is actually bacon, it has been brined, and can air dry for days or weeks, no problem. If it started going bad only a few days after you brought it home, it was either poorly prepared or not as fresh as the butcher might have led you to believe. It is, after all, chock full of preservatives.
In my experience, real bacon came in large chunks that we kept unrefridgerated in burlap sacks - the better to hang from a tree limb at night.
No plastic was involved. Grey and green furry bits were cut off and discarded, though some of the old timers referred to them as “flavor”.
As to how long it would last, it’s hard to say. Like Mr. Owl answering the question about how many licks it takes to get to the center of a certain brand of lollypop - the world may never know.
It would certainly last two weeks. But longer than that and it would all be eaten. Then we’d have to head back to base camp to get more.
Swine flu is a form of influenza (H1N1 strain) and is spread like other influenzas; physical contact with droplets on a person or in the air. You do NOT get it from eating pork products. Nearly anyone with any intelligence knows that by now.
And if you thought you were making a joke, well:
On yesterday’s Adam Corolla podcast he recounted a story in which his pal Jimmy Kimmel took a slice of Canadian bacon out of an Egg McMuffin and pinned it to the wall of his radio station, saying “I’ll eat that in one year.” and did exactly that one year later.
