Pork Cassoulet, Sept 01, bacon neccesary???

[birdsitter1]

1st: thanks Terrytx. for posting this recipe for me.

2nd: for those of you who have made this already. I see it calls for 2 slices of bacon. I never buy bacon and hesitate to buy a whole pound, and then only use 2 slices.

Does anyone have a good substitution? Salt pork maybe? Saute it, and then remove it?

OR if it really calls for bacon, can I freeze the remainder? And should I freeze it raw or cooked? thanks much!

[JennyFal]

birdsitter1,
The deli counter at my local grocery store sells bacon by the pound. They can slice the exact amount you need.

[Ralph]

Jenny makes a good point!

With only 2 slices of bacon, I didn't notice it's flavor when it was added back to the whole dish. And, also, the two slices rendered down to only about 1/8-1/4 of a cup!

The only other purpose I see is that the bacon drippings are used to saute first the pork, then the kielbasa, and finally the veggies. Perhaps you could use a smoke or flavored oil (about 1-2 tbsp.) instead.

As to your last question, you certainly can freeze uncooked bacon, but I don't know for how long (at least 2-3 months, I would guess).

[browneye]

I also have seen bacon available in the meat and/or deli section of the supermarket "by the slice". I don't think it would be a big deal if you omitted it.
I wouldn't use salt pork, imho salt pork has a very off taste.

I think you may have seen my review, but just thought I'd mention it anyway...I believe there was a lot of meat in this dish and it wouldn't hurt to cut back a bit on the pork, especially.
Otherwise we loved it.
GOOD LUCK!
:)

[KellyD]

We also don't eat much bacon at all. But like previous suggestions, I will often buy one or two slices in the meat department. Yes, they look a me weird! But it's actually more economical to just buy the packaged stuff. I slice it in half because it's easier to pull apart frozen that way, and throw it in the freezer in a zip loc. It keeps for quite a while - I think because of the high fat content. When it starts to look frosted, I toss it.

[birdsitter1]

Didn't use the bacon, recipe came out great! Just used a little olive oil instead of the bacon drippings. Maybe next time, I'll plan better and buy bacon to use for several recipes.

My local store didn't sell it except in 1 lb packs.