ottawa foodies

Anyone have a favorite butcher that has amazing bacon?

Seed to Sausage has excellent bacon.

Lavergne Western Beef

I second Seed to Sausage bacon.

Lavergne gives you the double smoked option as well, and you can't beat their prices.

Sasloves on Wellington has a fantastic house bacon! So good. So smoky!

99.99% certain Sasloves gets theirs from Lavergne

saslove's on wellington does NOT smoke their own. i prefer seed to sausage.

Never smoke your own. It's bad for business.

The farmer's market has a lady who runs a pig farm and sells organic bacon-I like that one as there is no artificial stuff or preservatives in it.
-I have a lot of problems from some food preservatives and so try to eat the least of phosphates,nitrites and food coloring.

*Seed to sausage is very good and Farm Boy sells it sometimes at the Bank st store.

Bank st sausage makes their own bacon and the paprika bacon, garlic bacon is quite good.

Aubrey's/the meat shop- whatever name that place has now on York st, they have no idea of the ingredients in their bacon. They tried to find out for me if there was preservatives or at least a basic ingredient list and they could not even do that.
They had actually emailed me to say they could not verify the ingredients....really???
So, AVOID,AVOID,AVOID that place- unless it is just plain fresh meats, then they might be ok.

Some Halal places say they have beef bacon, that sounds interesting,but have not been to any place that had some yet...
Hoping to find somewhere downtown that has some...

Wow is Aubrey's still kicking? What a joke.

They used to get their bacon (and most of their pork) from Lavergne as well - in which case there is definitely preservatives in the bacon.

I ate beef bacon when I was in the UAE, it tastes exactly as you might expect, but it is noticeably chewier than pork bacon, about the same as some double smoked bacon I have tried. Interestingly enough some of the grocery stores over there have 'pork rooms' where expats can get the good stuff.

Yes Aubrey's is still there under the name Corner Butcher I believe. I went in a couple of times after it changed hands but I have reason to believe they were overcharging me for the beef I bought. They seemed to be charging me a lot for the beef I bought and when I weighed it at home it was nearly half the amount indicated on the label. So basically they were charging me double the price. They keep their scale behind the counter so it would be easy for the staff to tamper with it without the customer ever knowing. I could have argued with them but decided to take my business elsewhere. With the Continental Delicatessen next door and Sasloves nearby there is enough competition in the neighbourhood I will just shop somewhere else. I hardly see anyone in Aubrey's/Corner Butcher and I have no idea how they stay in business...

Joe Beef makes a beef bacon that is sold in some Quebec grocery stores. My friends love it but I prefer the pork variety.

Can happily second/third/whatever Seed to Sausage.

Tastes great, super meaty, cut to the thickness you request, my will stipulates that i am to be wrapped in it and fried prior to burial ....

If you know that Aubrey's isn't being honest with their scale, I hope you'll consider raising the issue with them first and then with Measurement Canada. Too often nothing is done and these cases and many more people get ripped off than would be if someone spoke up.

www.ic.gc.ca

Thanks AD_2. I didn't realize there was a Measurement Canada nor did I realize I could file a complaint.

Swiss pastries in Billings Bridge has some pretty good Bacon. Farmboy's double smoked bacon at the deli counter is dope as well.

Some of Swiss pastries- the Billings store is from Bank st Sausage.
They also used to carry the smoked chicken and pepperetz there, but have not for a couple years.

Also, for food complaints other than measurements, you can file a report for food inspections online and the city will send someone.
Not sure if scales apply.
But I did call food inspection because I was served some fake scallops at a restaurant and they keep on insisting they are real scallops.
I was told it is ok to sell this product as it is packaged and cooked properly and to contact advertising standards.
-I did find out the product was "scallop flavored nuggets".

*This reminds me I meant to file another food inspection report, as I bought a chocolate chip cookie at what used to be one of my fave bakeries on Bank st and there was a large chunk of ROPE in the middle of my cookie.
I can't eat at Trillium bakery anymore,only eat chocolate chip cookies if I make them myself now.

That scale issue sounds like the perfect opportunity for a video followup outside. Bring your own scale, show the package and sticker, then weight it yourself. Don't forget to put a nice shot of the storefront in it as well.

But, as you all know, I'm like that.

A few friends of mine swear by Slipacoff's Premium Meats. Long ago they ran a storefront but then moved to the wholesale business supplying restaurants, and now they've expanded that into an online ordering and home delivery service to the public.
I haven't ordered yet myself, but plan to soon! Would love to hear from anyone who's tried their meats.

premiummeats.ca

Do a search on Slipacoff's on this forum and you will se a discussion on their products.

I asked on the weekend and yes the double smoked available at Saslove's is Lavergne. Delicious either way but not "house" as I had been previously informed.

BTW the double smoked is not actually double smoked.

It is dredged in caramel syrup and smoked the same way as the other bacon. So probably has a much higher sugar content than the regular bacon.

Interesting. I've often wondered what 'double smoked' means. Now I know!

We get all of our bacon with our side of pork that we get through Ashton Glen Farm. It's always excellent and we usually have to be careful to not go through it too fast.

Double smoked usually means the bacon has been smoked for an extended amount of time (at least double), and was cured with a dry rub rather than a brine. This caramel syrup product sounds like a bit of an exception...

I used to love eating raw, julienned, double smoked "Speck" with thick slices of crusty farmer's bread at my grandmothers house. :)

re zymurgist "BTW the double smoked is not actually double smoked.

It is dredged in caramel syrup and smoked the same way as the other bacon. So probably has a much higher sugar content than the regular bacon."

You say this as tho it is a bad thing why?

Yeah I am not saying that's how it is all done, I am just saying that is how it is done at Lavergne

Delicious none the less.

So the caramel syrup makes it seem smokier? Or do they add the syrup to balance the additional smoke time? Or does the syrup just absorb more smoke than the bacon itself?

There is no additional smoke time at Lavergne.

I am not sure what is the rational to what they do - you are free to speculate on that as you wish.

As with most things, time = money. Anything that decreases the first should, presumably, increase the second.

Well all their bacon gets smoked overnight about 12 hours - time is not something they skimp on with that. Though the wood chips run out maybe half way through that or less (I forget the exact time)

Lavergne bacon is now nitrite free, haven't tried it yet.

Bank st Sausage makes their own bacon, smoked chicken (turkey for holidays) and they also make a lot of the products sold at the Lansdowne farmer's market I noticed.

I haven't been to Bank St Sausage in a couple months but there was some bacon you did not need to cook as it was hot smoked or something like that.

There was also a garlic bacon and a version with paprika that was good.

I would prob stay away from the butcher shop that used to be aubrey's downtown.
When I did try and find out the ingredients in the bacon, as there is some ingredients I can not eat- they said they did not make the bacon and would get back to me.

After a bunch of back and forth emails, they told me they could not find out all the ingredients.
That is just really bad and unprofessional.

I am curious where you heard that Lavergne bacon is now nitrite free. Are they advertising this? Or did you hear it word of mouth?

I would find that very odd if they were.

I was there. They still make regular bacon, and double smoked, but now also the nitrite free option.

Does the bacon contain any kind of phosphate products?

I have a lot of problems with that ingredient and usually buy organic or natural bacon.

The old Aubrey's meats store, they did not know the ingredients in the bacon they sell.
They actually had emailed me stating that when I asked in person and followed up by email.
I am not shopping there because of that.

Aubrey's resold Lavergne bacon. It was a bit of a sore point at Lavergne because there was this big thing in the paper one time about Aubrey's and they honed in on "their" awesome bacon. Sold at twice the price you could buy it for at Lavergne.

I can't say what other additives might be in their bacon, but I'm sure they could tell you. All I can say is IMO all their stuff is great. It's also a fun place to go even if you don't really need anything.

I've been really liking the bacon from Albert's Meat Shop in Kemptville. Not sure where it's from or anything but it's awesome.

Does anyone know where to find "British Bacon" here in Ottawa. It's like a cross between peameal bacon (without the crappy peameal part) and regular bacon (which we brits would call "streaky bacon").

In other words it has the loin, plus some of the fat (and no crappy peameal) plus a little bit of the belly. See the link for a picture.
www.nelsonsbutchers.co.uk

The closest I've found is Presidents Choice Wiltshire Bacon. It's almost the right thing, but not quite. It'll do, but has the other downside that I have to go to Loblaws to get it.
www.presidentschoice.ca

I saw some frozen & unsliced at The Scottish & Irish store, but I'd need to take out a second mortgage to feed my bacon habit if I got it there (hell, just the "proper" baked beans make a big enough dent in the wallet as it is).

I asked my trusty and beloved local butcher, and he made an effort, but I just ended up with peameal bacon without the peameal. Not enough rind and no belly part.

Any tips would be most appreciated.

Cheers,
Ratty

Have you tried Clarence & Cripps in Hudson? www.clarenceandcripps.com/

Bacon is not currently listed but she might be able to find it for you. And they deliver to Ottawa if you do not feel like driving to Hudson.

Used to live in London many moons ago and the closes I have come to it were the PC Wiltshire Bacon and I agree it is not right...

Why don't you try email PC or farm boy asking about it in the hope they might add it to their list of products they carry? I asked farm boy about some potato chips I have discovered on a trip to BC and they end up carrying them..

Might give Whole Foods a try too since I had seen something similar but not exactly the same in the US. But the Whole foods here is pretty cut down products. I was there looking for Andouille sausages which I can get in whole foods US but they don't have it here.

How about getting the pealmeal bacon and wash off the peameal ;)

I have now eaten the Lavergne nitrite free bacon. It has a slightly more homemade look to it, and of course because it is ostensibly healthier, I don't like it as much as the regular stuff.

I tried a locally Quebec-made organic bacon and that one was great!
I forget who makes it,but it is sold at Marche Outaouais food co-op.
It is super expensive, but very tasty!

I give you "British Style Bacon":
www.scottishandirishstore.com

The Scottish and Irish store has a large selection of British foods, well worth a look for ex-pats looking for a taste of home. They used to carry Ayrshire bacon and I miss it greatly.