One of my new favorite things

I was hunting around in Trader Joe's for some bacon, not too long ago. I needed it as a soup ingredient, not for breakfast. And what I found was this: Trader Joe's 'Ends and Trimmings.'

Breakfast bacon, to be marketable, needs to be a whole package of strips that are of uniform length and width. Typically, this implies that they were cut from a more or less rectangular block of bacon.

But pigs aren't rectangular. So there are chunks and scraps that get left behind in the process. They're not necessarily the right size or shape to look pretty in the pan. But not everyone needs it to look pretty in the pan. Sometimes it just needs to be tasty in the dish.

So, this is a fist-sized package of bacon chunks, that is cheaper by the pound than breakfast bacon. (breakfast bacon is $4 for 12 oz.: ~5.50 per pound. This is a full pound for $3.) AND it's not cured with nitrates. So it's healthier. (It's still bacon, but at least it's not loaded with carcinogens.)

You never know what you're going to get, but massive chunks like these aren't uncommon. That makes it easier to trim off some of the excess fat.

And, well... They're inch thick hunks of bacon. I still have to cut it up so it cooks all the way through. But it's big chunks of bacon. That just makes me really happy.