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peameal bacon
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:pea-meal bacon, peameal
n. — Food, especially Ontario and Eastern Canada
a type of bacon generally rolled in cornmeal (see Image 1).
Type: 5. Frequency — The term peameal bacon describes a type of cured bacon (see back bacon) that is usually rolled in cornmeal and served in slices (see the 1930 quotation). Note that although cornmeal (versus peameal) is the more common coating, the term peameal bacon is seen to derive "from the practice of coating cured meats in a meal of ground dried peas" (see COD-2, s.v. "peameal bacon") and is thus a linguistic preservation of older use. Peameal bacon appears to have sustained considerable popularity as a breakfast food throughout the 20th century (see the 1894 & 2003 quotations).
Peameal bacon occurs most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1), particularly in Ontario, followed by Prince Edward Island (see Chart 2). The process is said to have been invented, or more likely, popularized, by William Davies, whose Toronto pig production factory was the largest in the British Empire, thus giving the city the nickname of "Hogtown". The regional distribution coincides with Davies' Ontario base, giving some credibility to the origin scenario.
See also COD-2, s.v. "peameal bacon", which is marked as "Cdn", OED-3, s.v. "pea meal" (2), which is marked "N.Amer. (now Canad.)".
See also COD-2, s.v. "peameal bacon", which is marked as "Cdn", OED-3, s.v. "pea meal" (2), which is marked "N.Amer. (now Canad.)".
Quotations
1894
IT MEANS A LOT, BUT IT IS TRUE THAT.... MacWillies' Peameal Breakfast Bacon is superior in sweetness, flavor and tenderness to any other bacon prepared in America.
1896
What About Xmas Breakfast? The dinner will be all right, but here is a suggestion for the breakfast: [...] Peameal Bacon Tender, sweet and juicy. We think it is the finest bacon in Canada. This week only 14c.
1930
MAYFIELD
Brand
BACON
MACHINE-SLICED SIDE.
EVERY SLICE UNIFORM.
LB. 35c
Peameal Bacon
CHOICE RACK SLICED
lb. 45 c
[advertisement]
1958
A palate can get spring fever too. Comes the desire for something different to eat (as well as to wear) along about the time of the first robin. Which is perhaps why, after buying my daily supplies, I could not resist the pink and gold lure of a piece of peameal bacon.
1978
Maurice Lauzon, Gatineau, Que., $200 for selling chicken, minute steak, bacon and peameal bacon which weighed less than it should
1988
But his own wife never had a fur coat, couldn't afford one. Mr. Bice shrugs, setting the little table in his kitchen, cooking fried eggs and peameal bacon. Through the window of the trailer, out on the lawn, wooden Canada geese made by his son-in-law flap their wings in the wind.
1999
Get out your Hudson's Bay Blanket and fry up some peameal bacon. Tomorrow at 7 p.m., CTV will broadcast the final 2-hour episode of Due South. The finale comes after four years of the show's deadpan humour, surreal twists and Dudley Do-Right jokes.
2003
Some 60,000 fans who camped out outside the gates of Downsview Park overnight were treated to breakfast courtesy of the Stones and consisting of danishes, bagels and that all-Canadian favourite -- peameal bacon.
2012
Since we didn't grow up in Canada, over the last nine years we've had to try to figure out what Canadian food means. Poutine? Pumpkin Pie? The west coast salmon we had last night? All of these were new to me as a new Canadian, but nothing says "Canada" more than pancakes with maple syrup and peameal bacon on a relaxing Canada Day Sunday.
2012
"William Davies, who immigrated from England in 1854 and set up shop in the St. Lawrence Market, came up with the way to cure peameal bacon in 1875 and went on to form the William Davies Company. The forerunner of Canada Packers merged with several other meat packers to form the huge food processing company now known as Maple Leaf Foods.
And that's the reason also why Toronto was nicknamed 'Hogtown' because the William Davies Company was the largest pork producer in the British Commonwealth," Biancolin said, noting that his father also used to cure peameal bacon in the old-fashioned way.
2013
Rowe used a cheese bun, green pepper, egg, tomato, cheese, basil pesto, mayo and Canadian bacon to create what he calls the "ultimate breakfast sandwich." "It's a step up because we have all great ingredients," he says. "Even our ham is a fantastic, unprocessed ham. It's Canadian bacon." Otherwise known as peameal or cornmeal bacon, it is lightly smoked ham rolled in cornmeal and is leaner than traditional bacon.
References
- COD-2
- OED-3
Images
Image 1: Slices of peameal bacon in a pan. Photo: Kelapstick
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 29 May 2014
