A few more questions came by email from our member "story28". I'm posting them here for the benefit of all our readers. Please feel free to add to my comments.
Story28 writes:
Hello Chuck,
I have a few questions and was hoping you might be able to help me out by lending your insight. Question: A few weeks ago I made some bacon with the rind on. I aged it for three days after smoking. When I fried a few pieces up the rind was far too crunchy (like possibly crack a tooth crunchy). I did fry the actual bacon fairly crispy, but I don't understand how that could turn the rind itself that tough. I was curious how and why this could have happened.
When slabs are placed inside a stainless steel, watertight, "cure box" for "box curing", they are placed skin down except the last one, which is placed skin up. The belly is then covered with a "bacon press" usually made of stainless steel. During overhaul, the order is reversed. This practice (and the steel "press" cover) protects the skin from air. The exposure of the rind to air, hardens the skin. When the dried skin is cooked, it becomes hard as a rock. As a matter of curiosity here, note that the rind retains very little sodium nitrite.
Meat is 75% water, 20% protein, about 3% fat, 1% sugar, and 1% vitamins and minerals. A big ol` bellowin` bovine in my north pasture may eat grass, hay, salt, commercial feed, and other plants that looks good to him. Sometimes he is lazy as a dog in the sunshine and doesn`t move around much. All these factors affect the pH of his flesh. As he grows older and matures, he gains fat - but loses water. The pH acidity when the steer is alive is about 7.0 (neutral on the scale). When he is "harvested", his muscles contract and take on the characteristic you learned about in high school biology - "rigor mortis". During this period of rigor mortis, an animal should not be processed or cooked. (I tried it with a deer once and ended up "running" into the trees all afternoon. The meat is also very tough at this point but as time passes, it becomes more tender as changes in protein structure occur. Upon death, the blood stops carrying oxygen to the flesh and enzymes begin to convert glycogen into lactic acid. This of course, lower the pH, increasing the acidity. This "glycolysis" is quick. In beef after only 24 hours following the slaughter, the pH has dropped to about 5.8 pH and in pork it is even faster - a drop to 5.8 in only about 8 hours. It should also be noted that a cattle rancher must be aware of something called "pre-slaughter stress", as this condition very much affects the quality of the meat. Now, get this... The water-holding capability is directly related to the pH of the meat. At 6.2 pH, the meat is "DFD" (dark-firm-dry). At 5.8 pH, meat is right where we`d like it to be with a good red color and good water retention (binding). At 5.5 pH, meat is "PSE" (pale-soft-exudative) and is pale in color, very soft, and has poor water-binding quality. In making dry-cured products it is important to realize that, "as the pH decreases, so does the water holding capacity". Can you see why someone making a nice, moist, ham would choose meat at about 6.2 pH?Question: I read that older or heavier pork has a naturally higher ph which makes it more suited for salumi. I thought of this and had two ideas. Maybe the higher ph makes a larger margin of ph drop during aging thus creating more time for flavor forming bacteria to do their work. However, I thought that one of the primary safety hurdles is to lower ph, so wouldn't it be beneficial to start with a lower ph in the meat? I was wondering what truth there is in all of this.
Question: I have been reading about certified pork and I was wondering how stringently that law is enforced.
In the United States, genuine "certified pork" is rarely found as the meat from each hog must be tested for trichinella spiralis - the parasitic nematode worm whose larval form may be present in the flesh of pork and wild game. The F.S.I.S. of the USDA has simply left it up to the consumer to cook the meat properly in order to destroy the parasite. It would be a task of colossal magnitude to check each butchered hog in the country. The answer is no - the law is not stringently enforced. It cannot possibly be. However, the vast majority of hog producers in the country wish to comply with the agency`s rules and voluntarily take all steps necessary to insure a non-infected product. As a youngster, I was repeatedly cautioned about cooking pork thoroughly as the threat was indeed present in an alarming percentage of piggies in this country. I am happy to report that over the period of my lifetime, I have seen the near total destruction of the trichinella spiralis in pork. Oh, a few cases still pop up, usually from hogs produced by individuals yet feeding the entrails of butchered stock to live animals - the very practice responsible for the infection initially. However, the parasite yet thrives in much wild game - a valid concern because sausages containing venison may be legally sold and purchased in Canada and Alaska. Most folks believe that simple freezing will destroy the larva. It absolutely will not. The USDA has set down exacting specifications concerning the destruction of trichinella spiralis and I have posted that information in "technology basis" on this forum. The destruction in pork requires "commercial" freezing at temperatures much lower than home freezers can produce. I like to show people page 343 of Stan Marianski`s book, "Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages". Halfway down the page, a passage reads, "Freezing will not kill larval cysts in bears and other wild game animals that live in Northwestern U.S. and Alaska. That meat has to be cooked to 160°;F. (71°;C.) internal temperature."
Question: If one were to buy heritage bred pork from a responsible farm, would they then HAVE to freeze it in order to sell it? It would be a shame to have to freeze such a beautiful product and compromise its texture and flavor.
Yes they would in order to sell it. In order to comply with the law, precautions against trichinae spiralis must still be taken in the United States. It is interesting to note that during the Clinton administration, the President signed into law, the legal application of irradiation. In my opinion, the final word on the subject - the process is not only valuable in protecting our meats in this country, but in spices as well. Irradiation works, yet people fear it. It has been tested since World War II and has been found to be most reliable. However, the population just won`t endorse it.
Comminuted meat (ground) is even more dangerous from a bacteriological standpoint as there are so many more "surfaces" to contend with. Bacteria can thrive in comminuted meat at an alarming rate - it can actually double every twenty minutes! As far as the infection of non-bacterial, parasitic microorganisms is concerned - comminuted or not - if the larva of the nematode worm is present, it carries the risk of contamination.Question: Perhaps because these products are ground, the effects would not be as severe as they would with a steak. However, I cannot imagine that freezing the meat even in a charcuterie application would not lessen the quality of a finished product.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
I've raised Shetland Sheepdogs all my life in pairs. I even brush their teeth. I would never feed 'em dry-cured, fried, pork rind! Shucks pard, I wouldn't even give it away to vicious, cunning, cleverly-disguised, trick-or-treating 
