Pink Curing Salt vs Morton Tenderquick for Bacon???

[chad]

With "plain old salt" the bacon would be salted (think salt pork) but not cured (as in what we think of as bacon). Not necessarily bad, just different.

 

[KnucklHed BBQ]

With "plain old salt" the bacon would be salted (think salt pork) but not cured (as in what we think of as bacon). Not necessarily bad, just different.

Also, Nitrites are the key to the flavor and the component that does not allow botulism to grow. Botulism grows in warm/high humidity/low oxygen environments... like a smoker?

Chances of it being present in/on the meat are low but still warrants the use of nitrites to be safe. there is some naturally occuring nitrite/nitrates in some forms of salt, but you have no way of knowing how much, thus no sure way to make the product safe.

Most common salt has been refined and stripped of many of the minerals that are naturally in it... leaving behind just sodium chloride

 

[Capozzoli]

Curing can be achieved with salt alone. But it takes much longer for the salt to penetrate into the meat deeply. It is considered by most undependable for that reason. Also the finished product is very salty as others have said.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_cure.html

I also personally believe that bacteria can not survive under smoke even cold, as smoke is a natural antiseptic.

You can also cure meat with smoke alone,. The pink "smoke ring" you see in your smoked meats is cured meat. The meat at the center is not cured. So you wouldnt want to hang it or dry it.

You cold smoke cure meat without salts by keeping the temp down under 100, meat will stop taking on smoke at about 140 degrees. In keeping it low you could smoke it till the pink "smoke ring" will reach the center and throughout. This takes several days of cold smoke so it is considered by most to be impractical.

You can do it these ways but the safest, surest and tastiest way is to cure it with a mixture of salt and or sodium nitrate and/or sodium nitrite.

 

[jestridge]

Been eating salt cure meat for 60 years not dead yet.

 

[jaymo]

Ok as of last night the belly is in the fridge curing.

I just thought of something though. It's summer time in south Louisiana so that means it is breaking HOT!!!

I had planned on using the tin can/ soldering iron to smoke it, but will it be too hot outside to safely smoke this thing? Does the cure take care of any potential hazards?

Would I be better off hot smoking it to 150* internal?

While I haven't tried cold smoking bacon yet, I'm curious: Why not just hot smoke it since it's warm out anyway. I smoked mine to an internal temp between 150-160F and it is great when I fry up a few slices each day!