Nitrite and Bacon

[sawhorseray]

Thanks for that Bob, will do. I just measured a level teaspoon of cure #1 and it came out to 6.5 grams, quite a difference from dumping two tablespoons of cure #1 into a rub for a 12.5lb. slab of belly. Never too old to learn. RAY

[redzed]

If you haven't seen this calculator before, try it. Works great in using and designing your own bacon recipe.

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/calcul ... ure_bacon/

[sawhorseray]

Thanks a lot Red! I thought the calculator you posted in the Makin' Bacon thread was good, this one is even better. Thanks again. RAY

[Bob K]

For all those worried about nitrosamines in cured meats like Bacon....just don't burn it!!

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fs ... y/ct_index



A bacon cooking study, "Effect of Frying and Other Cooking Conditions on Nitrosopyrrolidine Formation in Bacon" (Journal of Science, Vol. 39, pages 314-316), showed no evidence of nitrosamines in bacon fried at 210 °F for 10 minutes (raw), 210 °F for 15 minutes (medium well), 275 °F for 10 minutes (very light), or 275 °F for 30 minutes (medium well). But when bacon was fried at 350 °F for 6 minutes (medium well), 400 °F for 4 minutes (medium well), or 400 °F for 10 minutes (burned), some nitrosamines were found. Thus, well-done or burned bacon is potentially more hazardous than less well-done bacon. Also, bacon cooked by a microwave has less nitrosamine than fried

[sambal badjak]

So....
In practice, I should use 120 ppm to make bacon (dry rub, 2-2.5% salt)?
Does that apply to skin on belly pork as well, or should it be reduced in that case?

I am intending on cold smoking (cool smoking at around 20-25 oC) after curing.

I am not sure if this is the same article that has been referred to above. I found it quite usefull so am sharing the link: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/meat-a ... 0525354148

[Bob K]

In practice, I should use 120 ppm to make bacon (dry rub, 2-2.5% salt)?
Does that apply to skin on belly pork as well, or should it be reduced in that case?

Yes, 120 ppm is the recommended maximum in going amount for bacon using a dry rub (equilibrium cure)
As the skin does not absorb nitrates the amount should be reduced 10%.

The US nitrate regs can be found here: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/conne ... OD=AJPERES

Thank you for the link!

[Kijek]

I should use 120 ppm to make bacon (dry rub, 2-2.5% salt)?

I just finished a 10lb bacon and used 2.5% salt and found it to be very low, as far as taste goes.
In tasting the bacon I found the salt taste to be almost non-exsistant .
I'm going with 3.5% next time.

[Bob K]

Kijek-
You used 2.5% salt using an EQ cure and then soaked it to remove salt. THAT is the reason it doesn't taste salty enough. There is no reason to soak the salt out if you added just the right amount to begin with.

[sambal badjak]

Thanks Bob.
I will go with the 110 ppm

Kjjek:
I have made bacon with 3.5% salt, then reduced to 3% salt and it was way too salty for me (even after rinsing/soaking).
Hence the further reduction.
I am a low salt eater. I prefer pepper and other spices and herbs instead.

[Kijek]

That is the only other thing I could think of for the lack of salty taste, I wish the soaking did the same for the sugar.

I'm keeping notes on everything.

[Chickenthief]

Am i the only one seeing the elephant in the room?

In my post above I provided a link to Stan's recipe for dry cured bacon:

Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
salt 150 g (3%) 4.8 oz.
sugar 68 g (1.5%) 2.4 oz.
Cure #1 7.8 g 0.02 oz.

Percent is 1/100

For 1000gram/1kg 3% salt is 30 grams
The conversion between grams and ounces are off to. 150gram = 5.29oz
For sugar the numbers are wrong also.
1.5% would be 15gram~.53oz

The numbers are roughly correct for a 5000gram/5kg piece of meat and that is probably why the nitrite numbers are way off?

Heres a little helper i use often:
https://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/

[Bob K]

Chickentheif-

Welcome to our Forum!

The errors in the recipe were noted in the same post, as you noticed it is a typo