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Peameal bacon (, also known as cornmeal bacon bacon) is a wet-cured, unsmoked bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin rolled in cornmeal. It is found mainly in Ontario. Toronto pork packer William Davies, who moved to Canada from England in 1854, is credited with its development.
The name "peameal bacon" derives from the historic practice of rolling the cured and trimmed boneless loin in dried and ground yellow to extend shelf life. Since the end of World War I, it has been rolled in ground yellow cornmeal.
Peameal bacon sandwiches, consisting of cooked peameal bacon on a Kaiser roll and sometimes topped with mustard or other toppings, are often considered a signature dish of Toronto, particularly from Toronto's St. Lawrence Market.
Cooked peameal bacon has a mild salty-sweet flavour and tastes more like fresh ham (when compared to smoked back bacon or side bacon). The cooked slices have been described as resembling small pork cutlets. It is eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, served in slices or as an ingredient in a pork dish.
The name 'peameal' comes from the dried yellow peas that were ground into meal and packed around the meat to preserve it in the Victorian era. This has since been replaced by cornmeal, but the original name remains. Peameal bacon is rarely found outside of Southern Ontario, and is often simply referred to as "back bacon". Similarly, a peameal bacon sandwich is often called "back bacon on a bun".
Some Americans refer to peameal bacon as 'Canadian bacon'. However, 'Canadian bacon' or 'Canadian back bacon' are terms used by the U.S.-based North American Meat Institute for an American style of smoked back bacon. This may be sold in U.S. supermarkets as 'Canadian bacon', but is not Canadian. 'American bacon' is a U.S. term for side bacon (also known as streaky bacon).
According to Toronto's oral history, Davies sent a side of brine-cured pork loins to relatives in England. To help preserve this shipment, he packed it in ground yellow peas. This was well received, and Davies continued rolling cured loins in peameal to extend shelf life. The William Davies Company expanded, forming Canada's first major chain of food stores, and becoming the largest pork exporter in the British Empire. By the early 1900s, the company's Front Street plant processed nearly half a million hogs per year. This contributed to Toronto's longstanding nickname of "Hogtown". Following World War I, cornmeal replaced the peameal crust, due to the former's availability and improved refrigeration practices.
It was served at the inaugural Canadian Comedy Awards in 2000.
In 2018, a laboratory analysis was conducted on Carousel Bakery's peameal bacon sandwich. It found the sandwich to have 499 calories, 2,520 mg of sodium, 49 g of carbohydrates, 8 g of fat, and 57 g of protein. Dietitian Shannon Crocker felt the calories and protein would make it a satisfying meal, but the sodium was 10% above the maximum recommended daily limit.
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