First time making bacon...

[Jayme]

I decided to try making some back bacon over the holidays, got the flu/lazy and now I'm uncertain if I did it right...

I typically buy nitrate free bacon at the farmers market and thought I would go that route. I took a fair sized pork loin (can't remember the exact weight... I would say 1.5-2lbs) and covered it in a coarse pickling salt & sugar mixture, wrapped it lightly with saran wrap, sat it in a pan and covered with more saran wrap over the top. I let it sit for 7 days in the fridge then smoked it at about 280F for several hours until it hit an internal temp of 160F (may have been a bit over). I let it cool a bit, then sliced it up, bagged & froze it.

So I've yet to fry and eat any of it, and now that I'm feeling better/my brain works again, I'm a bit paranoid about my process. Seems the vast majority of people out there use at least SOME curing salts (nitrates) when they cure bacon. It smells/looks fine, but botulism of course can be a real piece of shit and not be at all obvious.

Do any of you have any experience in dry curing meat without nitrates? I hate to toss the batch... but at the same time my ignorance/half-assed attempt does concern me somewhat. I know the saying is when in doubt, throw it out. But I thought I'd see what others think first.

[LeafMan66_67]

You should be fine. I used to do back bacon without the curing salt before I knew where to get the curing salt locally. The big thing you will probably notice is the color of the bacon once cooked will be more grey like a chop than pink like bacon. I used to smoke mine to 145-155 as well.

[Jayme]

Yeah certainly more grey than pink (especially in the center). Did you cure it in a similar way to what I did?

[LeafMan66_67]

I brined, rather than the dry cure when I did back bacon without curing salt. That being said, I've read on the Virtual WSM forum of guys doing the dry cure without pink salt as well. I'm definitely no expert, but from what I read you should be good.

[Jayme]

Cool - thanks Derek!

[Keggermeister]

Yeah certainly more grey than pink (especially in the center). Did you cure it in a similar way to what I did?

The center is likely uncured. Typically Back bacon needs injection into the center to cure it fully. If the center is not the same color as the rest of the meat, it did not fully cure.

Eat a piece and see if you get the trots... I tried a piece once with the center not fully cured and was on the toilet in a few hours.

[Jayme]

Hmm.. that's not so promising haha.

[NASH]

Hmm.. that's not so promising haha.

Eat it. It may very well not be cured in the center depending if you used enough salt, the temperature during the process and how thick the loin was. 7 days "should" be enough time to cure it through. You won't really see any difference in colour since you didn't use nitrates though. What temp did you cure it at?

[Jayme]

After an hour long search for a damn thermometer in my parents house, the fridge is running at about 38F.

I used about a cup of coarse salt and a 1/3 cup of sugar. The loin was probably roughly 6" diameter and 8" long I would estimate.

[NASH]

Well, you're in the right temp zone. I'd say you have some salt pork with that amount of salt, that stuff should be good for ~ 3 yrs @ room temp

[Jayme]

Haha I see. It did seem like a lot of salt at the time

Kinda like the time I made brownies with 1/4cup of salt instead of sugar... If only I had read your post (http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... t=0#p18282) prior to giving this a try. haha ohhhh well.

[Henry1]

I've cured pork cheeks and belly, and goose breasts with just salt before. As long as your basement is cool enough it will work just fine. I prefer the flavour of meat cured with pink salt, though, and it's safer.

You don't have to worry about botulism because you're probably not curing in an anaerobic environment, but other bacteria like listeria and campylobacter can grow. The pink salt will inhibit them from growing. FYI, you should also consider using pink salt when you smoke thick cuts of meat so the interior doesn't spoil before it comes up to temperature.