Canadian bacon (1897)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 2/2/03 9:28:50 AM Eastern Standard Time,
JJJRLandau at AOL.COM writes (somewhat condensed):

>In a message dated 01/30/2003 11:44:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:
>
> >    October 1897, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW (American Periodical Series online;
> > also on Making of America-Cornell, the only hit there), pg. 418 start:
> >     Being excluded from the American market by heavy duties upon pork and
> > swine, the farmers and packers of Canada set about ascertaining what grade
> >  of
>  > goods would best suit the English taste, with a determination to shape
>  >their
>  > business in such a way as to meet that taste.  The result is that
Canadian
>  > bacon and hams so far lead the American product in the English market
>  >
>  >     11 June 1911, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 63 ad:
>  >  _MACY'S_
>  >  MANY GROCERY SPECIALS--
>  >     For Shrewd Housewives
>  >  (...)
>  >  _Bacon_, a special sale of Wilshire imported Canadian bacon; a fresh
>  > shipment just received, freshly cured, delicately flavored; we receive
>  > monthly shipments; weights 3 to 25 lbs; at this sale, lb. ... 24 cents
>
>  "Canadian bacon" from M-W 10th Collegiate "bacon cut from the loin that has
>  little fat and is cut into round or oblong slices"  and is dated 1934.
(9th
>  Collegiate says only "bacon cut from the loin" and gives a date of 1938)
>
>  In the 1897 quotation, "Canadian bacon and hams" it is more probable that
>  "Canadian" modifies both "bacon" and "hams" and therefore "Canadian bacon"
>  means "sides of pork from Canada"
>
>  In the 1911 quote the mention of "25 pounds" is pretty convincing that the
>  first definition is meant---it would be a very impressive porker that had
25
>  pound loins.
>
>  Hence neither citation convincingly antedates M-W's 1934.
>
>  While we're being trefa (a word for which I've submitted an 1832 usage to
>  OED), let us examine that curious phrase, "pork bellies", not in OED, in
M-W
>  both 9th and 10th Collegiate "an uncured side of pork",  dated "ca. 1950".
>  To refer to a "side" of pork as a "belly" seems odd, but there is a diagram
>  of pork cuts in the M-W 9th Collegiate (unfortunately removed from the 10th
>  Collegiate) which shows that a "side" of pork is in fact the bottom or
>  "belly" side, running from the ham to the picnic.  (If you think that's
>  confusing, consider that (MWCD10) a "butt" of pork is "a lean upper cut of
>  the pork shoulder").
>
>  It is surprising that "pork belly" is not in OED since, in the US at least,
>  it is a standard term in the commodities market and M-W's "circa 1950"
could
>  be easily antedated by looking at the commodities reports in the Wall
Street
>  Journal.  However, it is possible that the term "pork belly" is not used in
>  British commodities markets---would it be possible for one of our British
or
>  Commonwelth listmembers to check this out without having to purchase a
>  contract on 56 tons of meat futures?

Some more information relevant to "Canadian bacon":

I checked today's Wall Street Journal, page C11, on commodity prices.  Pig
futures are sold in six categories.  Prices are last Friday's lows.

Hams, 17-20 lbs, Mid-US             $.48 /pound
Hogs, Iowa-S. Minn.                  $46.75 /cwt
Hogs, Sioux Falls, SD               $35.00 /cwt
Pork Bellies, 12-14 lbs, Mid-US    $.78 /pound
Pork Loins, 13-19 lbs, Mid-US     $.90 /pound
Lard, Chgo                                 $.1775 /pound

If 13-19 pounds is what the commodities exchange considers the standard
weight of
a pork loin, then a 25-pound loin is probably rather common, so delete my
comment about the "impressive porker".

It is still possible that either or both of the 1897 and 1911 citations
merely refer to "pork from pigs that were raised in Canada".  It is also
possible that either or both use "Canadian bacon" with the specific meaning
of "pork loin, not necessarily from Canadian pigs".  This usage is a
different sense from MWCD10's sense of "low-fat sliced pork loin".

The 1897 quote seems to mply that the head cheese of Canada's Department of
Agriculture has set up an export business in gourmet cuts of pork.  That is,
Canadian pig farmers and butchers apparently export only the ham and loin
cuts, for which they get a premium price in Great Britain, with the rest of
the pig meat being consumed within Canada.  If this interpretation be
correct, then "Canadian bacon" here means "pork loin, generally not sliced".

On the other hand, it is also possible that the 1897 quote merely means
"bacon and ham from Canadian pigs".

The 1911 quote refers to "imported Canadian bacon".  Again, two different
interpretations are possible: the ad is merely specifying from which country
the bacon is imported, or the ad is specifying pork loin, imported into the
US from an unidentified country.  The "3 to 25 pounds" is certainly
consistent with the latter interpretation, as that is a plausible range of
weights for an entire loin.

Conclusion:  we have a suggestion but no proof that in either 1897 or 1911
the term "Canadian bacon" had the sense, not recorded in MWCD10, of "whole
pork loin, unsliced".

        - James A. Landau (somewhat less than an expert on the futures market)