They are used for adding flavour to soups and salads and for Speck dumplings and various noodle and potato dishes. Small bacon cubes (called Grieben or Grammerln in Austria and southern Germany) have been a rather important ingredient of various southern German dishes. Traditional German cold cuts favor ham over bacon, however Wammerl (grilled pork belly) remains popular in Bavaria. Germans use the term bacon explicitly for FrГјhstГјcksspeck ('breakfast Speck') which are cured or smoked pork slices. Some of the meanings of bacon overlap with the German-language term Speck. German Speck, a salted, smoked, and roasted pork fatback or belly cut used as a cold cut Sodium polyphosphates, such as sodium triphosphate, may also be added to make the product easier to slice and to reduce spattering when the bacon is pan-fried.Д«acon type differs depending on the primal cut of pork from which it is prepared, which reflects local preference. ДЇor safety, bacon may be treated to prevent trichinosis, caused by Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm which can be destroyed by heating, freezing, drying, or smoking. Bacon is similar to salt pork, which in modern times is often prepared from similar cuts, but salt pork is never smoked, and has a much higher salt content. Today, ham is defined as coming from the hind portion of the pig and brine specifically for curing ham includes a greater amount of sugar, while bacon is less sweet, though ingredients such as brown sugar or maple syrup are used for flavour. Historically, the terms ' ham' and 'bacon' referred to different cuts of meat that were brined or packed identically, often together in the same barrel. Д«acon is distinguished from other salt-cured pork by differences in the cuts of meat used and in the brine or dry packing. The Virginia Housewife (1824), thought to be one of the earliest American cookbooks, gives no indication that bacon is ever not smoked, though it gives no advice on flavouring, noting only that care should be taken lest the fire get too hot. This process can take up to eighteen hours, depending on the intensity of the flavour desired. Differing flavours can be achieved by using various types of wood, or less common fuels such as corn cobs or peat. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but they may be cooked further before eating.

Fresh and dried bacon are typically cooked before eating, often by pan frying. Cured bacon may then be dried for weeks or months in cold air, or it may be smoked or boiled. Bacon brine has added curing ingredients, most notably nitrites or nitrates, which speed the curing and stabilize colour. However, both the flavour imparted to the meat in doing so and the extended shelf life it offered had become much prized, and although curing is in general no longer necessary in the developed world, it continues in wide use.Д«acon is cured through either a process of injecting it with or soaking it in brine, known as wet curing, or rubbed with salt, known as dry curing. Before the advent of cheap and widespread artificial refrigeration in the modern era the curing of meat was necessary for its safe long-term preservation.

The long dark curing