Homemade Sausage Making

Hi guys/girls,

Relatively new to all of this, but i'm looking at trying to make some bacon with a basic salt/sugar/water brine then cold smoke. I"m trying to replicate store bought bacon...

My question is (and i'm sure it's stupid), is Cure #1 needed if i'm just smoking it for a few hours for flavour, then freezing and cooking when needed?

Thanks again

Cure adds more than just the prevention of botulism poisoning during smoking. It also improves flavor, helps prevent food poisoning, tenderizes the meat, and develops the pink color.

You want bacon you need cure!!

In the U.S. manufacturers are also required to use a cure accelerator (Sodium ascorbate or erythorbate) when making bacon to reduce the amount of residual nitrite.

Thanks Bob, your knowledge is invaluable for a newcomer like myself>

I just finished a bacon that was my first one in a very long time.
So, with that being said, I do believe and someone correct me if I'm wrong.
But you can't reproduce that stuff from the supermarket.
What we do here is create the best old time flavors not duplicate todays crap.
Hang in there, I believe that what your really after.