So while trying to get caught up on my reading, I've seen several folks talking about properly curing their pork belly. So my first question on the topic of creating great bacon is, is curing necessary? I used the curing method from here (which is what led me to join) and found it to be easy to do for brisket (made great corned beef) so not intimidated by the idea. I'm not opposed to the idea, just curious.
-
-
What do you mean by "curing"? If you mean nitrate/nitrite curing, then I can definitely say it's not necessary. I do "salt curing" with only salt, air and time. Doesn't mean my way is better, but it works. -
Curing is done by using Nitrites/Nitrates, just salt is brining. Without the cure you don't have what we call bacon. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just not the bacon we so love.Comment
-
Jerod Broussard, so, this leads to the question of flavor. I know from using the pink salt in my corned beef, the flavor difference was noticeable. Is that what your saying about pork belly vs bacon or is it the process that makes it technically bacon? -
The process of curing makes it what we know as bacon. Meaning as Meathead has mentioned, it won't be the bacon you are expecting. Technically though, using just NaCl salt is brining, not curing.
-
-
For safety's sake please use one of Meathead bacon recipe's. Curing pork belly not only makes it safe for consumption but salts it and introduces flavors to it. Like his maple flavored one and Asian one. I have a maple flavored one also. For his: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ked-bacon-home If you have larger pieces of pork belly use Dr. Blonder's calculator to get the right amount of pink salt and curing time. For everything else just increase the amounts by the portions as he points out.
Comment
-
IMO, if you don't cure it at all then what you end up with is smoked pork belly and not bacon. I'm not by any stretch implying that there is anything wrong with smoked pork belly as it is one of the many methods I use to cook pork belly (bacon, burnt ends, and porchetta are also in my pork belly rotation) just that if it isn't cured somehow, it isn't really bacon.Originally posted by DesertRaider View Post
Comment
-
Uhoh... I'm a little nervous about crossing Jerod Broussard and pkadare - but I'm afraid you boys have been brainwashed by the Federal Gubmint into thinking that they get to tell us what bacon is. Salt cured pork was known as bacon for many generations before the notion came along that only way to cure is with nitrates/nitrites.
Anyway, I'm just having fun with you guys. I preserve pork belly with salt - but I'm fully aware that that's not what is considered "curing" or "bacon" in this day and age. I just refuse to adapt!!!!!Comment
-
pkadare Don’t even get me started on the mayonnaise rabbit hole. 🇠🰠🕳Last edited by HouseHomey; October 20, 2019, 07:34 AM. -
radshop . I know they used to cure with just salt and I don't really understand how. That being said they also cold smoked the bacon at around 100 degrees. Would you feel safe smoking your "salt curec Bacon's " at that temp. I very respectfully doubt it. I have watched tons of videos of people down south packing hams in boxes of salt and making hams. They also smoke then hang in a shed for monthes.. that is salt cured. I agree with at Jerod Broussard. You are brining not curing. -
I would love to hear the science of how they make those hams . But I think it safe 99%of the time. You can only die from botulism once. No disrespect meant here either. This is always an interesting discussion.
-
-
-
@Backroadmeats I have watched ham production in the south and in Italy and in Iowa read about it in Germany and elsewhere. It is a multistep process that I have stacks of notes and pix of, but haven't found time to write about. But basically they pack the hams, skin and fat on, into tubs or on shelves with LOTS of salt in cold rooms. The salt penetrates and inhibits bacterial growth, and the meat dehydrates, also inhibiting bacteria. At a certain moisture level, they wash off the salt and coat the bare meat with lard, and hang it to age. In some places they smoke it. Typical prosciutto and US country ham is not smoked. German speck is. Pretty simple, but there is a lot of attention paid to detain, especially moisture content of the meat, temperature, and cleanliness.Comment
-
radshop Long before the gov defined curing as the use of nitrites/nitrates, long before refrigerators, curing was often done with saltpeter, which contains those very same preservatives. SO that process long predates the discovery of America and our bureaucracies.Comment
-
On the subject of cold smoking: Of course MANY people do it without dieing. But we are very conscious of the fact that most people coming to our site are men, not well schooled in cooking or food science or food safety, don't have thermometers, can't control the cooker temps, and love to tweak recipes. So I decided to not publish cold smoking recipes because they require knowledge of food science, safety, thermometers, temp control, and sticking to the recipe.
In addition, I think it is bad business to kill your readers.
Michael Ruhlman and others have good books on curing and they include cold smoking and dry curing. If you feel you are confident in the issues needed for cold smoking or dry curing, go for it. I recommend that before you do, you post your plan here and get some feedback. Lotta expertise among the members. Forgive me if I abstain from the conversation. I have made GREAT cured meats with our wet curing methods and hot smoking.Comment
-
Meathead , with my equipment (Chargriller Pro) the idea of cold smoking is me cooking ribs in December (which does happen on occasion). Dry curing is a challenge I'm not ready to take on just yet, as I do recognize the hazards. Thanks for posting.
-
-
First, thanks EVERYONE for the responses. Which has led me to more questions. If folks are still feeling charitable, I'd like to continue on this train.
So, the biggest question I have after reading the above is does bacon really need to be cured (dry/wet) or can I go to my local Costco, buy one, and then cook it on the smoker? If I do, will I have bacon (sans brine flavor and cure) or will I have some nice smoked pork belly as radshop and Jared Broussard have mentioned. And it's really for clarity sake that I ask, because I look at some cuts like Brisket, where it can be smoked as is, and you get tasty brisket (ok, you guys, I haven't managed that yet), or using a salt/sugar brine with pickling spices you get corned beef, and this one everyone agreed to use the Pink Curing salt. So really I'm just trying to sort my way through all this and hopefully get a little more knowledgeable. And hopefully my ramblings are making sense. TIA!Comment
-
You can most definitely smoke pork belly without curing. It will be delicious. It will not be bacon.Comment
-
Think of a hindquarter. If you cure it, it's ham. Otherwise, it's a roast, a steak, or ground pork. Same with pork belly, cured it's bacon. Otherwise it's something else, side pork, burnt ends, whatever, Curing, with or without nitrates/nitrites, is the difference. Smoking, cold or hot or not, does not matter.Comment
-
First things first, do you have Word as your word processor. If you do you can move Dr. Blonders calculator to it. Call up a Word page, then high lite the formula and copy then paste to the Word page. I don't know if the calculator will work but you can try.
Now the flavor of bacon and ham and the internal pink color is caused by the curing process and the use of the nitrites. Think about smoking ribs or pork butt, if your following Meathead dry brining process and then putt a rub on it, you get a nice dark brown outside and white delicious meat inside. This is what you will get if you do not cure your belly.
Curing goes back to the time of Homer when the Greeks found that the sea salts they were using cured the meat and turned it pink and gave it that unique flavor. Then the Romans recognized that nitrate was the substance causing the curing. The U.S. Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 allowed its continued use. In 1925 the Department set the maximum nitrite level at 200 ppm in a finished products. Source: Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas 4th Edition 2008
Don't be afraid of trying curing. Pink Salt #1 is cheap, and lasts forever you can get it at Amazon or several other places. The big thing is to leave the cure on long enough or you will have brown spots in your bacon, where the cure hasn't set long enough, my recipe for 5lbs calls for 6 days. But follow Dr. Blonders calculator.
Comment
-
mountainsmoker , as I said above, I've used the Pink Salt #1 as well as the calculator. I could get the code by reading my browser cache, but, I wouldn't do that without permission. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make that calculator work, and I respect that. While Word (or maybe another word processor) could make a little sense of it, it's not a practical solution. As always, I appreciate all the input.
-
I often hear questions about curing without using a cure. Usually it is because the reader is laboring under the belief that nitrites and nitrates are dangerous. This stems from ANCIENT research that has been debunked but lives on as an urban legend. Read the facts here. And not "Naturally cured" meats often have more nitrites that standard cures, and MANY vegetables have natural nitrites https://amazingribs.com/new-data-abo...es-cured-meatsComment
-
I agree Meathead not curing and using only salt is asking for a meeting with botulinum. Everyone should read your article on curing also, if they are going to be curing meat. -
Meathead ,I read the article about curing, which is what got me to try making my own corned beef, and I'm glad I did. I also read the discussions about it, which also helped in understanding. It was cool reading about how nitrites work, both in nature and in curing meat. I like the science stuff, as understanding on a deeper level is always better for me. Which is all I'm really looking for. Sticking ribs on the smoker was how I started, but I know there's much more to it and am trying to learn
-
However, I don't think I could convince my wife that we need large hooks in the ceiling for curing meat. Just a guess, but 30 years on, I won't test the waters on that one!
Comment