Curing bacon w/o sodium nitrite

[burtgrillinblanch]

Agreed and like both yours and EdF's back/forth. Love this community...totally helps. I've done the recipe to spec, smoke bacon 2 hours for an internal to 170-175 then off to fridge. Fun to do...but don't want anyone sick is right!

[burtgrillinblanch]

You're right my friend - posted out of curiosity. Appreciate the cautious response. :-)

[burtgrillinblanch]

You are SO right and that's the fun of it! Maple whiskey huh?!! That is awesome!

[burtgrillinblanch]

Agreed - and a play on the old quasi attempt to name their products "natural..."

[burtgrillinblanch]

Thanks and have with success last few tries w/nitrite. Was curious if anyone was doing so w/o it. Totally helps -thanks!

[EdF]

No argument there. 200 or lower is prague powder territory.

[Backroadmeats]

At that temp you are fine.. bacon by USDA definition is an uncooked food.. mine never gets above 125 for smoker temp.. you are essentially BBQing it.. I have made grey ham as I called it when my wife was pregnant. No cure, .use the same brine and crank the temp up to 225.. if you leave temp at 145 or 160 you stay in the danger zone to long and risk botulism.. cooking bacon at 225 is no different than cooking a pork butt.. the temp of the smoker is the key... 200 or so and lower you would be foolish to not use cure in my opinion..

[EdF]

Usually 225-250F to 150. It's always going to get cooked further, right? I think there's a bit of religion around prague powder for hot smoked foods later treated like fresh meat.

[Backroadmeats]

Regardless of the above comments, I have done every bacon cure (6 or so, maybe more) without the pink salt. I didn't experience any particular degradation of flavor or quality, and nobody got sick. Treat it like meat that needs to be refrigerated etc, and you'll be fine.

What temp are you smoking the bacon at?? People don't take botulism serious enough... You may get by with cheating the system a few times but you can only die once!!

[ecowper]

as long as you are using distilled water and enough salt, and the pork belly is fully submerged and not touching air, there should be no botulism issue. Personally, I like the look and taste that Prague Powder adds and I know I'm fully safe :-)

[EdF]

Regardless of the above comments, I have done every bacon cure (6 or so, maybe more) without the pink salt. I didn't experience any particular degradation of flavor or quality, and nobody got sick. Treat it like meat that needs to be refrigerated etc, and you'll be fine.

[ecowper]

I find that bacon that I've cured and smoked myself will last about 2 weeks, give or take, in the fridge. Thought I'd answer that question, since the other one is beat to death ;-)

I like to experiment with flavor profiles in the cure, while understanding that the salt and Prague Powder will penetrate the meat, but the rest will just create a surface profile. I have done maple-whiskey, peppered, savory, fresh herbs .... basically any flavor profile you can dream up. You don't need a lot of whatever you're adding. For example, maple-whiskey involves 2 tbsp each of maple syrup and rye whiskey.

[Troutman]

Yea its called botulism

[jfmorris]

Without the sodium nitrite, you are not curing the meat, and run the risk of botulism and other nasties...

The crazy consumer market of "uncured" lunch meats and bacon in the super market actually uses celery or celery juice, if you look closely. Celery is high in nitrites/nitrates, and they may as well use curing salt. I look at all that uncured stuff as false advertising, as they just used an indirect source of nitrites.

[Spinaker]

Please follow our recipe. People try to make changes to this recipe. Please simply follow our recipe to ensure you will be safe.

Many do not read Meathead's article on How to Cure Meats Safely, before they attempt to cure. Give that article a read, if you have not already.