MeatCrafters creates an assorted collection of products in its 8,000-square-foot plant in Landover, Md. Recently, bacon has garnered plenty of interest among its stakeholders. Thus, the wholesale meat processor, which supplies items to retailers and restaurants around the Nation’s Capital, relies on bacon to enhance its portfolio.

Debra Moser, president of MeatCrafters, detailed the company’s reasons for keeping bacon at the forefront, highlighting the attributes of its Epic Curing line.

In the last few years, the company leased some of its manufacturing space to a startup company trying its hand at the bacon business. After seeing their product, Moser and the rest of the team leading MeatCrafters made a deal to acquire the company, supplementing MeatCrafters’ growing line of sausage and other value-added meat products.

“We had more and more requests for it and that’s what led us to really get into that production,” Moser said.

She added that the demand continues to be large and that one of the employees became the pitmaster of the small bacon operation, and the company added an assistant to help with the growing production.

The bacon area of the facility features pipes for its indoor smoker going outside for ventilation and MeatCrafters added another fat trap to accommodate the bacon processing operations. The smoker uses wood chips to complement and add another layer to the bacon’s flavor.

The company’s bacon processing area fits in a room that was used for storage and is set up near another curing room. Moser said the company added a secondary smoker in the dock area.

The company receives requests from butcher shops and retail stores that want specific bacon items smoked, or often from a restaurant operator that is developing a specific cooked product. MeatCrafters uses high-quality, Duroc pork bellies which distinguishes its bacon items from most commodity bacon products on the market.

“You taste something really mild and something really beautiful,” Moser said of the flavor. “I think that’s been the impetus and the growth in it.”

Moser said one local coffee shop operator in the DC metro area has talked about adding bacon to their menu because of the need for high-quality ingredients for their bacon and sausage sandwiches.

“It doesn’t seem to be going away, and it only seems to be gaining popularity,” Moser said of the bacon trends around her area of Maryland and the United States.

The MeatCrafters Epic Curing line comes in four flavor profiles.

The company’s Naked Bacon uses pork belly and smoke to bring out the flavor, along with curing the meat for a week in a spice blend before smoking it low and slow.

The Black Pepper Bacon uses Tellicherry black pepper, maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, spices and sodium nitrite to get the perfect flavor combination.

MeatCrafters’ Turkish D Bacon is made using an Anatolian pepper blend of seasonings including fenugreek and smoked paprika.

For adventurous customers, the meat processor offers an Everything Bacon, using dill pollen and garlic rub to simulate the taste of an everything bagel with pork.