A good butcher in Phitsanulok who does bacon.

[BSJ]

Up until now I have been bringing the bacon I buy at Yorkies in Pattaya with me to eat when I am in the village. But this time I am running low and looked for bacon at Macro in Phitsanulok....but no have! Macro bacon isn't my first choice but it's better than no bacon!

As we are in the village full-time from January, if there is a good butcher, can anyone point me in the right direction. Maps preferred as I am not good with directions!

[bigjules007]

Why don't you make your own, its easy to dry cure bacon, and it don't take long to do, I used to cure my own meat when I lived in Issan, I even made a smoker in the end, it's a real good hobby, works out a lot cheaper and the end product is much better then shop bought. Give it a go mate you wont regret it.

[ratcatcher]

BSJ, I think BigJules advice is good and probably worthwhile, but failing that, how about checking these folks up in CM.

http://sausagekingone.com/

I agree about Makro bacon, renders down to 50% its original size when cooked.

They, SK, can ship out and maybe possible to pick up an order at P'Lok RR stn. Give it a try as well as home made.

[Hedghog]

The best I have found is in Tops.

Canadianbacon.so called.TGM is the brand.

It is pretty good,slightly smoked,with very little shrinkage when cooked.

Cook only for a short time for best results.

[NE1]

Same here Hedghog.

Oh to find a good butchers or Bakers in the Ratchaburi / Kanchanaburi / Nakhon Pathom area.

[namdocmai]

Are there no CP-shops around there? S&P bakery maybe with a fridge of cold cuts. I think even the 711 has bacon here but not sure about that. There must be bacon near your place, all Thai love it.

I noticed huge price differences in the bacon, from 35 baht untill 80 baht for 100 gram and to me they all taste the same.

But meat or bacon we like to buy in big quantity and store it in the freezer. I will never buy it on a market though.

Foodland is my favorit shop for almost everything but i found great saucages in siam paragon, they are only sold there. We like to go to Foodland at night because there is no traffic jam and it's quiet in the supermarket.

[RolandRat]

Topps supermarket in the Big mall in Phitlok, they have Canadian Bacon !

[champers]

Big C has bacon - streaky only but that is best for a BLT. Not cheap.

[NeverSure]

English, Canadian or American bacon?

I can't buy good bacon in the store even in America and they sell all three types. It is simply too much mass produced.

I made my own by marinating it in a brine of salt and spices, and then smoking it in my Little Chief smoker which cooks it. I think the single most important thing that makes it good is that I hand pick the meat. I don't think they use premium meat in the commercial items.

It freezes very well so I make a big batch.

Little Chief electric smoker/cooker.

Edit. I make a lot more than bacon in that smoker. Smoked salmon is probably at the top of the list. Once smoked it is cooked and can be eaten cold or warm or mixed up like tuna into a wonderful sandwich spread.

[MAZ3]

Same here Hedghog.

Oh to find a good butchers or Bakers in the Ratchaburi / Kanchanaburi / Nakhon Pathom area.

I was told that Macro in Kanchanaburi sell Wiltshire Bacon, I had it on a few breakfasts in The Pub and its not bad.

But he gets his lovely sausages (Cumberland) from an English Butcher in Bangkok.

[Rooo]

Moved to central Thailand forum.

[bigjules007]

Easy to make your own smoker here, i used 2 concrete water pipe sections, you can buy these anywhere or if your lucky someone might sell you a couple if there are any surplus on a building project, thats where i bought mine, I stacked on top of each other, piece of corrugated metal as the top, hang the meat to be cured from a bar going accross the top, and have the wood chippings burning on the bottom, once you get used to using the smoker and experimenting with it, the results are brilliant, and costs pennies to make.

Nothing like the satisfaction you get from smoking your own Pastrami, wicked!! (sounds a bit rude that )

Of course i wouldnt reccomend setting one up inside a condo, might get a bit smokie, only made for outside use.

[NeverSure]

I'm lazy. I like the electric smoker. It has a burner like a hot plate in the bottom, comes with a pan for the chips, has a thermostat and thermometer and is so easy to use.

One pan of wood chips is enough. I dampen them, and by the time they have burned up, the smoke is already in the meat and it's just a matter of letting it slow cook until the meat is done.

[bigjules007]

That looks like a nice bit of kit, but I used to smoke quite a bit of meat at a time, not sure if this would be big enough. Dont think these were available in Thailand when I lived there so had to make my own

[billd766]

Easy to make your own smoker here, i used 2 concrete water pipe sections, you can buy these anywhere or if your lucky someone might sell you a couple if there are any surplus on a building project, thats where i bought mine, I stacked on top of each other, piece of corrugated metal as the top, hang the meat to be cured from a bar going accross the top, and have the wood chippings burning on the bottom, once you get used to using the smoker and experimenting with it, the results are brilliant, and costs pennies to make.

Nothing like the satisfaction you get from smoking your own Pastrami, wicked!! (sounds a bit rude that )

Of course i wouldnt reccomend setting one up inside a condo, might get a bit smokie, only made for outside use.

What wood chips do you use and where do you get them from?

[billd766]

English, Canadian or American bacon?

I can't buy good bacon in the store even in America and they sell all three types. It is simply too much mass produced.

I made my own by marinating it in a brine of salt and spices, and then smoking it in my Little Chief smoker which cooks it. I think the single most important thing that makes it good is that I hand pick the meat. I don't think they use premium meat in the commercial items.

It freezes very well so I make a big batch.

Little Chief electric smoker/cooker.

Edit. I make a lot more than bacon in that smoker. Smoked salmon is probably at the top of the list. Once smoked it is cooked and can be eaten cold or warm or mixed up like tuna into a wonderful sandwich spread.

I make bacon in different ways.

Here is one.

Bacon-honey mustard cure.doc

And another

German Bacon v02 no photo.doc

[fredob43]

To save to all the trouble of doing it yourself.

What about Makro they do American style smoked and unsmoked streaky 1kg packs ??? it's half ok they normally keep it in their deepfreeze next to other things like farang sausages (not the best available) ok if your in need of something western. Anyway it's better than anything you can get out of the other super markets.

N/B sometimes it's a bit fatty just poke through you will normally find one pack that suite's.

[phutoie2]

I'm lazy. I like the electric smoker. It has a burner like a hot plate in the bottom, comes with a pan for the chips, has a thermostat and thermometer and is so easy to use.

One pan of wood chips is enough. I dampen them, and by the time they have burned up, the smoke is already in the meat and it's just a matter of letting it slow cook until the meat is done.

Litt.jpg

Interesting, what about flavour, do you salt the meat up before the smoking.? We have an ex pat Brit who sells bacon but it has no taste when cooked, its just like thinly sliced pork to me.

[bigjules007]

Easy to make your own smoker here, i used 2 concrete water pipe sections, you can buy these anywhere or if your lucky someone might sell you a couple if there are any surplus on a building project, thats where i bought mine, I stacked on top of each other, piece of corrugated metal as the top, hang the meat to be cured from a bar going accross the top, and have the wood chippings burning on the bottom, once you get used to using the smoker and experimenting with it, the results are brilliant, and costs pennies to make.

Nothing like the satisfaction you get from smoking your own Pastrami, wicked!! (sounds a bit rude that )

Of course i wouldnt reccomend setting one up inside a condo, might get a bit smokie, only made for outside use.

What wood chips do you use and where do you get them from?

Never bought wood chips, just used whatever I could get my hands on, as long as its a hard wood it works well. Never use a softwood, like cedar or pine, they are to resinous and will ruin the meat.

[Jerry Cornelius]

Yorkies used to deliver orders by post and airmail. Have they stopped doing this?

Jerry

[BSJ]

Thanks for all the posts folks!

I would be interested in smoking my own bacon and ham if only I could control my eating of it! Back in Oz I would order a large xmas ham off this one butcher who did such a good job of it. But I usually had to pick it up 3 or 4 days before xmas.....and there was the problem.....I couldn't help myself when it come to sampling it. I just loved this ham so much I would eat half of it before xmas lunch!

One poster mentioned Topps have Canadian bacon "Topps supermarket in the Big mall in Phitlok, they have Canadian Bacon !" No problem, Central I can find!

[ajahnlau]

A few of us order from Korat Chef and they have regular bacon and Cdn-Danish back bacon as well. Good quality products from this website. Ships by bus and arrives about 8-9 hrs. later in cooler with dry ice,costs about 300baht for shipping.

[RedDevil7]

Hi BSJ,
I know I'm month's behind on your post but............if your still searching then Macro's does have frozen bacon which isn't bad. Also did you know that another new Macro's is opening soon in Phitsanulok, close to the Indochina crossroads?
I live closer to Wang Thong so that will make life easier for us!

FYA, there's a group of us English speaking expats that meet once a week with our partners for lunch at the Topland Hotel up one floor every Wednesday from 11:30 onwards, apart from the social aspect its a great way of finding out where you can find anything from your bacon (some of the guys order it from Chiang Mai) to finding a good plumber or builder etc:-, you would be more than welcome.

Colin

[lovelomsak]

I find the Bangkok Bacon sold at Big C and Tesco be to pretty good.and I grew up with Canadian bacon.

[nputman]

I find the Bangkok Bacon sold at Big C and Tesco be to pretty good.and I grew up with Canadian bacon.

Makro sells it in Kilo pack for considerably less.

Give Thai Sausage company a try. Better than BKK meats.

Saty away from CP or ARO, Not good.

[stoneyboy]

At one time it was worth going in the Tops in central Phitsanulok because they had decent Aussie steak and minced beef,sadly that was a while back,on my last visit they even did away with the Pukka pies and sausage rolls from the freezer section,instead offering incredibly expensive Waitrose chicken breasts in bread crumbs.

The most I buy now is the Heinz salad cream and a few bags of crisps.

I've taken to using many of the online services now like Sausage King and Passion Box.