When Pigs Fly Part I: America's Smokiest Bacon Goes to Prosciuttoville

A good friend of mine recently moved to Northern Italy, 15 kilometers from the best producers of prosciutto in the world. . .

. . .and he wants some bacon from back home.

Perhaps, when one eats prosciutto all the time, and pancetta, and truffles of every variety, one feels fatigued, no?
Perhaps prosciutto is oppressively ubiquitous there.  Perhaps one's receipt at the gas station comes printed on prosciutto,  and shreds of lesser-quality (export grade) ham are used by the merchants of San Daniele to wrap jewelry and other small parcels.  

My friend tells me that the Italians of the North aren't so crazy about (or expert at?) smoking meats - I asked him about guanciale (smoked hog jowl) and he was noncommittal.  "They flavor pancetta with clove.  Clove, Stephen," he said, sounding exasperated that someone would ruin a pig with that pungent little twig.

Over the years, he has sent me many packages of strange delights from his travels with his wife, and I knew immediately what I could do for him.  I wanted to repay the kindness of the amazing Jasmine tea (whole flowers that unfold in the pot!) and the Italian Casa Forma (Shapes House) toy that my son loves to play with, and the cell-phone charm from a Tokyo fertility festival that can't be described in print.

I have a coworker from New Orleans, who returned from there recently in a feverish state of excitement over bacon he had eaten at one of his favorite restaurants. "It's the smokiest, saltiest stuff I've ever had - with HUGE flavor, man.  From Tennessee.  The guys down there mail-order it by the palette."  

Mail-order bacon.  Big Flavor.  He wanted to know if I would go in on an order with him.  

"Expletive Yes!" I said.

Benton's is the name.  "We Cure 'Em" is their motto.

https://bentonshams.com/order/index.php

When the package of cryo-vac bags arrived at work, the meat was giving off smokey fumes through the thick plastic.  After keeping it in the freezer until I went home, the freezer smelled faintly of smoke.  

This bacon is not for the timid.

Notice the ingredients.  No Scrabble-winning words like "erythorbate."

I cooked up two slices to use for a soup garnish, and they gave up the most fragrant grease I have ever tasted - used it for making cornbread the next day.  

It should be arriving in Italy later this week.

But will it arrive intact?  Shipping cold things abroad is dicey.  I'm counting on the heavy salt content to keep it edible.

Will my friend enjoy it?  He's a fellow of precise opinions.  

Stay tuned to see if Tennessee Bacon can make the cut in Old Ham Country.