My father is a long-time recipient of Grateful Palate‘s Bacon of the Month Club. Just before my holiday visit, he received the December selection, Carlton Farms Dry Cured Bacon, and I got to share the joy. For Sunday breakfast, my dad cooked the Carlton Farms bacon. At first bite, it was instantly clear why Grateful Palate’s Dan Philips includes Carlton Farms in the Oxnard company’s Ultimate Platinum Premium Bacon Collection.

The bacon slices fried up golden, with a nice chew and a flavorful streak of caramelized hog fat. The Carltons have been producing bacon since 1956 on their Willamette Valley farm in the Oregon Coast Range foothills. According to the Bacon of the Month Club tasting notes, “The meat spends 10 to 14 days being cured with a mixture of salt and sugar before it is put into the smokehouse. Carlton uses alder wood with a little oak thrown in, and smokes the pork bellies for bout eight hours…It is sweet, smoky and lean, with good fat balance.”

Williams-Sonoma apple caramel pancakes pair well with Carlton Farms dry-cured bacon.

To round out the meal, my stepmother Jane made caramel apple pancakes from a Williams-Sonoma mix. Thankfully, the cakes weren’t too sweet.

The Carlton Farms bacon-fest was completely satisfying. Bacon of the Month is becoming a holiday tradition. My only regret is that we didn’t also crack open the November packet of Nodine’s Clove Garlic bacon. Who knew that Connecticut produced such aggressively flavored hog meat?