National Bacon Lovers day – who knew? H Clewlows that’s who! #Producer Review

Stephen Wundke
20th August 2018

Thats right, today is National Bacon Lovers day. Now in certain sections of our community that isn’t going to resonate with the same degree of enthusiasm as with those who regualrly stop on the side of the A556 near Northwich for their daily bacon sandwich with brown sauce (not that argument please – I dont care which you prefer) but for most of us Bacon is a thing of joy. The one component of a full English (in this day and age for English read Welsh/Scottish or Irish as appropriate, sorry) without which it just wont wash, is of course the humble piece of cured pork. So with that in mind we decided to visit Nantwich’s finest butcher, H Clewlows and get the lowdown on what makes this salty, sumptous, snack the must have, at almost any time of day and how exactly they make it. Who better to explain than 3rd generation Butcher Charles Clewloe.To start Charles told us that like everything they sell in their shop – and boy was it busy from 10.00am through until midday when we left, it has to be quality local produce. To that end Charles gets his pigs from Reaseheath college. Reared outdoors, looked after by professionals who are teaching students the correct husbandry of these animals and slaughtered locally to ensure the highest standards throughout the supply chain. We had a look in his fridge to see the pigs waiting to be dealt with and Charles proudly explained that even in today’s disposable world there wasn’t one bit of the pig that he wasted. I wont go in to the detail but this is an efficient process. But back to the bacon.

The prime cut is the loin and taking the whole loin out you then need to start the salting process. This is still done in big silver trays and the mixture is applied by hand to both sides of the loin and rubbed in to achieve an even coating. On the bigger pieces this can happen up to 3 times over a 5 day period. The salting process changes the meat colour and drains out any excess liquid. No adding water to the stock to increase the weight here! Just the true product. These days during the drying process they now vac pack the meat but that is not necessary it is just more efficient for space management. After 5 days and with some care and attention to the process you now have your bacon. I asked Charles what was the difference between bacon and other pieces of pork. Charles explained that every bit of pork that undergoes this process is technically bacon but we just use that word to refer to the back bacon and streaky as we know it.

Having been through the proces we then looked at the assortment of different cuts that this versatile animal and process provided. Out on the counters the list was endless. We had a bacon chop, a gammon joint (yes it is just bacon but a different cut) a gammon steak, there was back bacon both smoked and unsmoked, streaky bacon, bacon joint and finally one we havent seen for a while, bacon fat, which hankers from years gone by but for whom Clewlows still has customers. It all looked fabulous and knowing that everything here was prepared by hand with full animal provenance just made us feel this was the way it was meant to be. We got our choices and quickly took them back to Taste Cheshire HQ to see if this really was a Taste Cheshire experience.

I am delighted to say it was, in every way. Firstly when you open the pack, the shapes are all right, it looks quality. Next as you go to cook it, this part happens quicker because there are no additives and no water. But the most important point is – no shrinkage. It stays exactly the same size from start to finish. Now we get to the really good bit – the taste. We all agreed at Taste Cheshire HQ – superb. It only tasted of bacon, there was so little fat that every mouthful left a clean finish and we enjoyed every one of those moutfuls. This is what bacon is meant to taste like.

The upshot our our journey – if we hadnt known it was National Bacon Lovers day we may not have attempted to find out about how bacon is made and we may not have discovered why Nantwich has one of the busiest butcher shops anywhere. The reason, because bacon tastes good when its made by people who know and care, just like when we went to Backford Belle and tasted their ice cream. I think that just might apply to everything in the Taste Cheshire food chain and just why we are called Taste Cheshire. Real People making and selling Real Produce, thanks Clewlows keep doing what you are doing. Its fabulous.