The Ben Mulroney Show - The fathers of the Peameal Bacon Sandwich are retiring

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

Guests and Topics: - Robert Biancolin, Carousel Bakery If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://link.chtbl.com/bms Also, on youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. All right, confession time. As a Montrealer who moved here 25 years ago when I heard about pea meal bacon, back bacon as it's been called, and pea meal sandwich, pea meal bacon sandwiches. I was like this, that's this does nothing for me, nothing for me. I'm, I'm from Montreal. And then I had one and I'll be gosh darned if it wasn't just delicious. And ever since then, I've had an appreciation for it. And I come to its defense. Ever since then, I've had an appreciation for it. And I come to its defense when somebody attacks it. I feel a sense of ownership and pride that I live in a city that created something that did not exist.

I like, and I love people who have vision and who see that which is not there, and then manifest it and then turn it into something that so many people love and talk about. Well, the family that invented the pea meal bacon sandwich has made their home in the St. Lawrence Market for years. And they are passing the torch and selling the Carousel Bakery to someone else. And so today we take stock and we salute the family who gave us this iconic Toronto sandwich.

Robert Biancolin is joining us right now. Robert, thank you so much for being here. Good morning, Ben. Okay, let's level set and let's ask some questions that I know that a lot of people would ask you if they had your attention as I do now. What do you say to those who say, P-meal bacon is ham? Not true. if they had your attention as I do now. What do you say to those who say,

P-meal bacon is ham? Not true. Okay, explain. They're from different cuts from the animal. P-meal bacon is made from the boneless pork loin that one makes pork loin roast and things of that nature. When it's cured and curing of any type it becomes one type of back bacon. Back bacon is a category. The Brits do one, the Irish do a different type and P male is a cured, wet cured brined product that is more than Canadian.

It's Torontonian. Yes, indeed. Now take me back to the genesis of it. How did it become some, how did, how did the sandwich become a thing? Well back in the seventies, early sevents, my father was in the butcher business. He learned how to cure a P-meal after working at a butcher shop when he immigrated from Italy. And by doing that, they sold the P-ail by the piece and what have you. And Saturdays, of course, the busiest day still is.

The end pieces of the loin would be left over because they weren't, you know, the end pieces had a bit of a bruff. And so all those pieces, then we, he thought, why don't we slice it up. Griddle that when they acquired carousel bakery. And and and so and the history has written itself since then let me let me ask you somebody wants to make a sandwich at home. What tell me the proper ingredients that make it that

make a classic sandwich. Ideally, you want to cook it with butter probably without over with that not extremely high temperature gives it a nice flavor rather than oil. And then if you pick a good quality p male, you don't have to do anything to it. It's fantastic. I mean, I always recommend people to have it on its own. And then if you want to dress it up with mustard or something of that nature, go ahead. But I always tell people to have it the

way it is just on bread. And what bun is the best bun for a sandwich? Aha. That's, that's the question. That's why they pay me the not so big bucks, my friend. So it really is about texture. If you pick something that is too flimsy, that doesn't work if you pick something that is too flimsy, that doesn't work. If you pick something that is too firm and heavy, that might still be good, but it might not be ideal. So you want something that has a bun that has a medium texture to it and has the body

to complement the meat that's in between it. I like that. Now these these sandwiches, a sandwich like this takes on a life of its own when celebrities get on board. And you know, there's a there's a famous rant by Barbara Streisand of all people talking about a peameal bacon sandwiches. And actually, we got the audio. Let's listen. Let's listen to Babs.

We have great Jewish delis. You have great Jewish delis. We have breweries. You have breweries. We have hot dogs and sausages. You have hot dogs and sausages. However, we do not have what you call this peameal bacon sandwiches that I've heard so much about. I can't wait to try one on the Kaiser roll. Sounds delicious later. I mean, that's a high praise, my friend. What other celebrities have come by and sampled your wares? Well, Anthony Bourdain and the chef, other chefs like-

Yeah, Chuck Hughes from Montreal. Good friend of mine. Right. Ricardo. Oh, Ricardo. He's such a great guy. Yeah, they're all great. Yeah, very, very nice. He did. He was commissioned by the government of Canada for Canada's one 50th to pick 52 foods that represent Canada. Yeah. And he picked us. That's wonderful. And yeah.

But listen, I've got to ask though, you know, you've, you made, you and your, your family made your home inside the St. Lawrence market. And again, as a Montrealer, the first time I walked in there, I said, this is Nirvana. This is, this is the greatest gem in the city of Toronto. And you made your home and had so much success there. Why did your family decide to pass the torch to somebody else to carry on the legacy of Carousel? Well, you know, my brother and I, Maurice,

he, you know, getting to the point where you have to make a decision and time to make that decision came. And of course we wanted to pass on the legacy to a family that had the same values and would continue that legacy. And you found them. Right, we found them.

Oh, that's good. And lastly, and we'll talk about this for a moment, but there's an expression, often replicated, often duplicated, never replicated. Is there, at this point, given the iconic status of the sandwich that you and your family created, there have to be a lot of copycats out there. Oh, well, there's other people doing P-Mail now that- But do you find it, do you find it,

when you see that, do you find it do you find it? Do you when you when you see that? Do you take it as a compliment? Oh, of course, you know, we, we find that the the piece the concept of the female itself and what it represents to Toronto, the gentleman who formulated it actually is responsible for Toronto having the nickname hogs now. Yeah, yeah. I do. It's quite fitting. It's absolutely quite fitting.

Well, Roberto, Robert Biancolin, I wanna thank you very much. I wanna thank you for adding that, adding something so important to the character of a city like Toronto. There's a lot to complain about in a city like Toronto, but the flip side is when we have all these incredible people colliding with each other in such a small space, brilliant things like this come into our orbit and if we're smart we

grab hold with both hands and we shove it into our mouth hole. And I want to thank you very much for being here. I wish you and your family the very best in their next chapter. Well thank you very much and I hope to see you down at the market. We're gonna be there for the rest of July. I'll come in. I'll be coming in one day after work. I promise all the best to you. Okay. Thanks again. to celebrate the days of our lives 60th anniversary W network and stack TV invite you to enter for a chance to win the ultimate fan experience by watching new episodes of days of our lives you and a guest could win a three night stay in Los Angeles a VIP days of our lives set tour a helicopter ride over LA,

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