Oh thank you, thank you for the bacon thread! There's a place I've been going to in St. Joe, Arkansas, called Coursey's, that mailorders its amazing slow-cured hickory smoked bacon for about $10/lb. Yes, $10/lb. Very thick cut, lightly peppered on the outside (not coated), and with nice big streaks of meat marbled in with the fat. Hillbilly God Food. I've taken to sending it to friends and family as a holiday present. The first time they get it, they usually wince a little or toss it into the fridge and move on to the next gift; but after they cook up one amazing batch of this bacon, I get what I've started to refer to as "the call": "where in the H3LL did you get that bacon?!"
The following October, I start gettting emails from said people: "so, you gonna send me some more bacon this year? Please?!"
As such, my annual holiday gift order is up to about 15 lbs these days.
Link to a review of the place:
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writ...=127&RefID=127