Runner-up
Red Miso Bacon
If you asked Respect the Technique owners Kaede Hirooka and Jonathan Chung about their culinary approach, they’d likely tell you more about the process than the result. They view food as more than just sustenance, and this philosophy is reflected in their Red Miso Bacon. The 100 per cent Alberta pork belly is cured for five days in red miso and kombu — a technique widely used on many meats in Japan, where Hirooka and Chung have spent time working as chefs. Then, the pork is smoked with Canadian hardwood approximately three times before being gently cooked to preserve the integrity of the meat. Hirooka and Chung never inject brine or use nitrates like other bacon brands do, which results in a delicious umami flavoured, enhanced bacon that doesn’t shrink when cooked. Use it as the highlight of breakfast or on the best BLT you’ve ever had. As Hirooka says, “simply put, bacon makes everything better.”
