Cooking Advice From The World's Greatest Bacon Maker - Forbes

If there were a title for world's best bacon producer, Allan Benton would be the heavyweight champ. His old school, carefully cured and hickory smoked pork belly has impressed big name chefs and humble home cooks for decades.

Hickory smoked in Madisonville, Tenn., Benton's bacon is beloved by superstar chefs including David Chang.

Leslie Kelly

David Chang featured Benton's pork products in Momofuku's earliest days: "Tom Colicchio told me about Allen in 2003 or 2004. I stopped by to visit Damon Wise and Tom at craft and smelled this intense hickory bacon cooking and asked them what that was... I think they had just come back from doing a dinner at Blackberry Farm and that’s when they were introduced to it by chef John Fleer. So I called Allen and said I wanted to put it in my ramen broth and that lead to us buying his country hams."

The Southern Foodways Alliance bestowed its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award on Mr. Benton in 2007: "He has satisfied the cravings of food lovers for the magic tonic of pork, salt, smoke and time. He has linked chefs around the country to traditional foodways and inspired them to elicit flavors that Allan, himself, might never have imagined. In the face of traditional European cured hams, Allan has cured many a case of porcine envy by way of his long-cured Tennessee prosciutto," wrote chef Fleer in an appreciation. 

Allan Benton cures and smokes world-famous country ham and bacon in Madisonville, Tenn. Winner of many awards, Mr. Benton is still hands on at his business.

Leslie Kelly

While the lists of awards and accolades are long, Mr. Benton remains hands-on at his operation he's run since 1973, taking it over from the original owner who began curing pork in 1947.

Walk in the door at Benton's and the scent of hickory hangs in the air like nothing you've likely experienced. It's intense and intoxicating. Look to the right, and you'll see the source of that porky perfume. Gorgeous pink hams hang by hooks, the sound of bandsaws breaking them down to be packaged and sold.

Even though he's busy fielding calls, Mr. Benton takes a moment out of his action-packed day to serve up some sage advice on cooking those ruby slices of country ham.

Hams are dry cured for more than two years, giving them an intense, complex character. Just make sure you don't overcook those slices, says owner Allen Benton.

Leslie Kelly

"People almost always overcook it," he said. "You really just need to warm it up. Leave some bacon grease in the pan and heat it for no more than a minute on each side. Otherwise, it gets tough."

The Benton country biscuit at The Rhu in Asheville is porky perfection.

Leslie Kelly

If you're lucky enough to find yourself in Asheville, N.C., make a beeline to chef Fleer's excellent bakery, The Rhu, and order a double shot of biscuits, described on the menu as "Ham and Jam." Because you need a little sweet to follow up on what is very likely the best ham biscuit on the plant. The fine fluffy breakfast bread product is stuffed with thick, tender slices of Benton's country ham.

You just might want to order that biscuit duo to go and eat it in the privacy of your car, where nobody will stare when the moans of pleasure begin with the first bite and end with the last, and you begin dreaming about how you can sell your home and move to this food-and-beer loving town near the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Or, if you can't make it down south anytime soon, you can try to recreate that country ham biscuit at home. Benton's products are sold online.

Hungry to learn more about Allen Benton? Watch this outstanding video produced by Joe York for the Southern Foodways Alliance:

Cured from Southern Foodways on Vimeo.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliekelly/2019/04/24/cooking-advice-from-the-worlds-greatest-bacon-maker/

2019-04-24 15:20:00Z
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