CarneAtlas

Back bacon

Pork · Loin
GrillSmokeCure
Raw Back bacon — Pork Loin cut
Also called
🇩🇪Kassler🇺🇸Pork loin roast
→ See all Back bacon substitutes by country

British (and Irish) bacon, made from the pork loin with a strip of attached belly — the rounded lean eye on a rasher of back bacon is the loin, the fatty streaky edge running along it is the belly. The dominant bacon style in the UK and Ireland: leaner than American streaky (which is belly only), fattier than Canadian bacon (which is loin only). Sold as rashers (slices) for breakfast — the canonical "bacon butty" or "full English" component. Available smoked or unsmoked, dry-cured (best, more expensive) or wet-cured (cheaper, more water content). Specific British regional variants include *middle bacon* (longer rasher continuing into the belly) and *Wiltshire bacon* (specific cure protocol).

Names by country

CountryNameNotes
🇬🇧United KingdomBack baconprimaryCured pork loin with attached belly strip; the dominant British bacon style. Sometimes "middle bacon" for the longer-cut version that continues further into the belly.

Free Back bacon reference card

Diagram, cooking notes, and 8 names on one printable page.

Free. One-page reference.

Similar cuts

Pork belly
Pork bellyapproximate

Anatomically adjacent — the streaky/fatty edge of a back-bacon rasher is from the pork belly (where US streaky bacon comes from). British back bacon combines both loin and belly in one rasher.

HeadBladeArm ShoulderLoinLegRibsBellyHock

Classic recipe

Bacon Sandwich (with the Right Bread)8 min

Britain's national breakfast in two slices of bread. Back bacon — a single thick rasher of cured loin with a tail of bel…

View full recipe →

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