I recently encountered a pre-packaged product called “bacon ends and pieces” in a rural Idaho grocery store. It’s a product I don’t often see in the “big city” grocery stores I usually frequent, so it got me thinking…what exactly are “ends and pieces?”
A Google search produced this page on the Texas A&M website that indicates they are what is leftover after making the primary and secondary cuts on a pork belly.
Ends and pieces are significantly less expensive than premium bacon. And the smaller pieces would be convenient if you were just using bacon to flavor another dish – the product in the packages I saw appeared to have a decent balance of both meat and fat. So ends and pieces may not be the highest quality cut, but these leftover pig parts are still worthy, even if they aren’t pretty.