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When Michael May tried dry-cured bacon for the first time, it was a life-changing experience.

He now owns Beverly Heights Bacon, which delivers cured, smoked, spiced bacon to your door.

ou’ve heard about craft beer. But
how about craft bacon? Yes! Now
you can get locally sourced, locally
cured and smoked bacon delivered to
your front door.

Seneca Drive resident Michael May start-
ed Beverly Heights Bacon in the spring
of 2018. May had always liked smoking
meats, and he experimented a lot. At
some point, he ate dry-cured bacon and
was smitten. “That threw me for a loop,”
he says.

BHB starts with top quality pork from
Berkshire hogs, purchased from Medium
Rare Meats (the guys who own Smoke
restaurant in Lawrenceville). Berkshire
meat is often compared to Kobe beef
in its quality and cachet. May takes the
pork to a commercial kitchen he shares
in Carnegie with Samantha Sloan, who
owns Hungry For Time catering.

There, he cures the bacon. Unlike store
bacon, which is injected with water and
chemicals (read the package), and then
slathered in smoke flavor in a factory, BHB
is dry cured with salt, sugar, a small bit of
sodium nitrite (.25 percent) and spices.

He washes off the curing mixture and
dries the meat on hooks to prepare it for
smoking. May then smokes the bacon with apple-
wood or hickory in a commercial smoker,
for 6 to 8 hours. He will then reapply spic-
es, cut it, package it and freeze it. Cus-
tomers order it online and May delivers
the bacon to their door within 24 to 48
hours (with a picture texted to confirm).

It can go into the freezer at that point,
be cooked right away or stored in the re-
frigerator for a few days. He will deliver
to other southern suburbs but he focus-
es most of his attention on Mt. Lebanon.

“I’m small. There’s more than enough
market in Mt. Lebanon,” May says.

1183 Greentree Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15220
412-427-6781 or 412-638-2288
Three flavors are available: Cowboy, with
garlic and pepper; honey bourbon; and
maple black pepper.

With this much attention to food, one
might think May is a chef. Nope. His day
job is in process engineering for Zimmer
Biomet, where he works with orthope-
dic surgeons in ensuring high quality
medical devices.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, we
tried the bacon. You know, to make sure
we could properly write about it.

The first thing you notice about BHB is
that it doesn’t pop when you cook it.

That’s because there is no injected water
to explode into the grease in the pan. It
also doesn’t shrink as much. Most store-
bought bacon yields a third of a pound of
cooked bacon for every pound you buy,
May says. BHB gives you half a pound.

May says people tell him “‘That seems
like a lot of work to do for bacon.’ I know.

It’s worth it.”
Beverly Heights Bacon is $9.99 for 12
ounces. www.beverlyheightsbacon.com.

The company also is on Facebook.

—LAURA PACE LILLEY
EXPERT ROOFING CO, LLC
FLAT ROOFS • SLATE • TILE
SHINGLES • COPPER WORK
COPPER GUTTERS
Restoring Mt. Lebanon homes
for 27 years.

Fully Insured
Joseph Mulkern, Owner
412.655.1877 PA 070641
LEBOMAG.COM |25 mtl