Bringing home

SELLING everything but the sizzle is the way bacon sales have increased in every sector of the catering trade. At Dukes Hotel in the centre of Belfast, head chef Gerald Manley uses bacon in recipes with quail's eggs, goat's cheese, hazelnut oil and calves' liver in the same innovative way which won him the silver medal at the "Chef Ireland" competition. Dermot O'Brien, head chef of Belfast's Forte Crest Hotel, uses bacon primarily for the "Ulster Fry" breakfast with sausage, tomato, potato bread and soda bread.

Both chefs agree that bacon is primarily a traditional product - a view not confined to Northern Ireland. Far too often, bacon is only served in a quiche, sandwich or wrapped around something else. "Bacon is tasty and it sells. It's not as bland as people think," Manley says. "You should concentrate on the classical but put on a modern gloss," he advises.

Is there the scent of change wafting through the bacon market? Chefs at Glasgow hotel One Devonshire Gardens are substituting unfamiliar types of bacon. "Scots enjoy bacon, and in Glasgow people are interested in traditional dishes," says executive chef Roy Brett, and that is what he serves, with a twist. Lambs' kidney and bacon uses Italian pancetta bacon, which is supplied by I Camisa in London's Old Compton Street and, more locally, by Alastair Clarke, an Edinburgh bacon specialist.

"For the first mouthful, people are not really able to work out where the taste comes from, but pancetta has an oak flavour," says Brett. He also uses proscuitto, another Italian product, and kaffler from Germany, putting the proscuitto into salads, using kaffler in eggs Benedicts, and adding more Mediterranean bacon and pork to starters. "We are taking traditional dishes and giving them a modern feel simply by the sum of small changes," says Brett.

Clive Davies, trading director of Harris Pork & Bacon Group, sees diversification as the way forward. With Harris claiming to have cornered 35% of all UK retail sales of British bacon, and already supplying Booker Cash & Carry and Pullman Foods, the company is anxious to grab hold of the catering market. "We never dealt directly with caterers, but six to eight months ago we spotted an area for expansion, and now supply local authorities and restaurants," says Davies.

Harris's development kitchens are working on oven-ready bacon meals. "We now prepare a pre-cooked, pre-sliced bacon joint, which the caterer just needs to warm up. We also make a range of pre-sliced gammon, marinated in Dijonaise sauce and covered in whole-grain mustard, or bacon flavoured with mustards, glazes or honey," says Davies.

Harris is also looking abroad. "The Japanese market is new to the UK, and they are interested in bacon. We are trying to cultivate this market." Davies adds that, six months ago, Harris took part in a joint UK mission to Japan with the Meat & Livestock Commission, the Department of Trade & Industry, and Food from Britain. Davies says: "We have been around for 200 years, and want to lay our wares out for the customer. You have to be innovative in this market to survive." o