Describe your role at Cure and Simple This has proved to be far more difficult than would seem natural. Largely because being the slightly oddball company we are, we have specific responsibilities, but not titles- though everyone is welcome to adopt one should they wish or if it makes the pursuit of their job easier. Which means there isn’t a… Read more →
Charlie Pyper
Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to? I founded the company, so in a traditional sense I would have a role reporting into the Board and the other shareholders. However, it is safe to say we are not particularly traditional, and on a day-to-day basis I report into every person who works inside the business.… Read more →
The Gift of Giving
Why do we give people presents ? There are psychological reasons why giving and receiving can be beneficial to both parties, it makes you feel happier knowing you’ve brightened someone’s day. Not only that, we are social creatures and enjoy each other’s company and we can express our feelings by bestowing presents on others be it an expression of love… Read more →
Subscriptions, why are they so popular ??
You can get practically anything from subscription companies these days. From learning how to become a belly dancer in your own home, to novelty tissue boxes ! You probably wouldn’t consciously be aware of it but even Netflix and Amazon Prime are “subscriptions”, the definition means paying on a regular basis for a service. Subscriptions are actually very similar to… Read more →
Summer is finally here !!!
Bacon isn’t just for breakfast !
There is so much more you can do with bacon than you think. Summer is finally here so why not experiment by adding chopped bacon to your salads.
Jazz up your lunchtime’s with this delicious open sandwich, perfect for laid back summer days.
Grilled ciabatta sandwich with caramelised apricots, bacon, mozzarella, green salad
Caramelised Apricots
What you need;
30g/10z butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
100g/3 1/2oz fresh apricots, halved and de-stoned
What you do;
Gently heat the butter and sugar in a pan, when it starts to bubble, add the apricot halves and keep cooking until the sugar and apricots become darker in colour.
Slice the ciabatta roll in half and gently grill until light brown, place on one side.
Fry some slices of streaky bacon and place on top of the ciabatta halves.
Roughly chop some mozzarella over the top of the bacon, add some of the caramelised apricots and re heat under the grill until the mozzarella starts to melt.
Serve on a bed of fresh salad leaves.
I’ll be coming up with more delicious summer recipe ideas, so watch this space.
Bacon is good for you !!
The Bonus of Bacon How many times have you heard the expression “ Bacon is bad for you “ ? I know I have far too many times, so with this in mind, I took it upon myself to see if it’s actually true and was incredibly relieved to find that it’s not. Fantastic news for all bacon lovers… Read more →
How did bacon Become ??
Do you ever wonder how bacon ……. Became ? I’ve always been one to question the origins of certain things, like, who would ever think that green plant thing in the ground would have a root on it that was orange, and edible ?? or the other green plant over there somewhere would become a staple in our diets throughout… Read more →
Top 10 reasons why people are subscribing in droves to Cure & Simple
There are actually too many reasons why people have been signing up to our subscription, artisan bacon to list, unless I write something which would resemble a thesis, I’ve managed to nail it down to the top 10, not an easy feat by any means ! 1; The quality of our bacon. Every loin (cut of meat) is lovingly cured… Read more →
Autumn Bacon Casserole
With Autumn upon us it was time to dig out the big stove pot & make a casserole, a bacon casserole naturally, here follows the recipe though the weights & measures are very approximate as the Bacon Wizard I am not, much more a smoosh it in the pan all together making it up as I go along sort of cook, but judging by the second bowls everyone went for here at Bacon Towers the results were all the tastier for it.
Ingredients
Serves 4 (It turns out I made enough for 10 so have just tried to dial down the amounts)
- 4 leeks thickly, sliced
- 1 onion thickly, sliced
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 2 large sweet potatoes, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 200gms pearl barley
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 1 dollop of butter
- 1 slosh of olive oil
- 1 packet bacon snipped into smallish pieces
Extras
(I found these in ‘Lady P’s Pantry’)
- Sea salt
- Celery salt
- Fennel seeds
- Ground cumin
Method
In a frying pan heated with the butter and olive oil I fried the bacon- in this case it was one of our flavours in development ‘Jamaican Jerk’- over a medium heat until the fat just started to colour. I then added the leeks, onion and garlic & stir fried for another few minutes.
I then transferred this to the pre-warmed stove pot and added the pearl barley, sweet potato, chicken stock so that it was nearly covered and extras. This simmered for about 45mins with occasional stirring, tasting and adjusted ‘extras’ until the stock had been nearly fully absorbed by the barley.
I popped a lid on it to let it sit for five minutes or so & served up big dollops of it with crusty bread.
To my mind it would have been significantly improved with the afternoon off and a clutch of scrumpy cider, but our accountant’s a devil for wanting accurate information so that idea had to be parked. For now.
Cheers
Hargreaves
When is handmade not handmade?
Back before Christmas we launched an advertising campaign on Twitter which featured the phrase “Handmade Bacon”. The response was slightly overwhelming with a myriad of responses:
“How can bacon be handmade?”
“Surely the bacon is pig made”
“How can you make bacon out of hands?”
The list goes on and on, and started a debate whether these points were fair and that we had inaccurately described our process. So for the record we though it only right that we outline the production process from butchery through to packaging.
- .
Each loin is handled more than 6 times. For those that don’t know bacon comes from pork, pork comes from pigs, you cannot make our bacon without the process outlined above which is by hand.
We could fully automate our production process and no doubt make it much more efficient until that time comes we are more than happy to say our bacon is handmade, because quite simply it is!
We are open throughout the week so you are more than welcome to come and see for yourselves how Cure & Simple Bacon is made.