Uncured Bacon

OK, I'm going to get my belly into the brine tonight. I'm going to try it with regular vs. curing salt, since my wife sometimes gets headaches from nitrates/nitrites. Other than a limited shelf life, is there anything I need to be concerned with? I plan on slicing, keeping what I need for a few days, then storing the rest in foodsaver bags in the freezer.

Thanks!

It's still going to be "cured" just without the nitrates...
Assuming your planning on "hot-smoking"?
I think the most notable difference would perhaps be with color of the finished product. Otherwise, your storage is exactly what I do with bacon nitrates or not. Please post pics. Like to see/know how much the color might be influenced.

Here in Norway nitrates have been banned for many years, and I have made bacon for at least 20 years. The belly is cured, no problem, and the shelf life is still excellent, also frozen.

Now it's possible to use nitrates again, due to EU regulations.

I'm with Geir. The key ingredient in curing is salt. With adequate salt and time, curing occurs. I often do nitrite/nitrate-free cures. Curing and smoking both extend shelf life. Freezing, of course, extends shelf life longer and is a good idea if you're making a lot.

Since bacon is typically cooked before consuming and not eaten raw, there is no need to be concerned with pathogens.

I'm spitballing here but if you don't want to use nitrates or pink salt you could experiment with using celery juice which contains a fair amount of natural nitrates.

That's often present in "natural" or "uncured" commercial bacon, and will contribute to red color.

Thanks for the great discussion and advice guys. I really do appreciate it. Dave: totally forgot about the celery juice. I actually bought some nitrate free bacon a few weeks back (from Wegmans - very good too), and it had the celery juice listed as an ingredient - I wondered what that was for. So, can celery juice be procured, or do I need a Vitamix?

If the cure happens with "regular" salt, then what do the nitrates/nitrites bring to the table?

Dave's right.

[Usually, if foods that naturally contain nitrates don't cause headaches/migraines, nitrite-cured bacon shouldn't either. That, however, may neither be here nor there, and isn't necessarily germane. Just throwing it out there.]

Curing is all about salt and its concentration in the item being cured.

Nitrite/nitrate helps to prevent problems from C. botulinum bacteria. Though this can certainly be a concern with some items where nitrite/nitrate is used, like deli meats and, especially, sausages, both cooked and air-dryed, it is mostly used in bacon (and other items which will be cooked prior to consumption, to give the characteristic red color and characteristic 'cured' flavor. (Smoke, though, adds its own rather characteristic flavor.)

Celery juice is easiest and most effective to use in a brine injection. Amounts used vary, depending on a few factors. To use along with a dry cure make paste out of the cure, using just enough celery juice to make your cure mix pasty.

If you have a processor, process several stalks of celery, cut into small pieces first, till the result is a mush (to facilitate this, add a little salt to the bowl). Gather up the mush then place is a fine sieve over a bowl and drain out the juice, mashing the pulp with the back of a spoon to extract as much as possible. Add some juice, a little at a time, to your cure mix, and mash with a fork, till a paste is achieved.

Again, thank you. I'll keep you posted on my progress with this "cook". In retrospect, it would have been interesting to do two pieces of belly at the same time - one with and one without the curing salt. Oh well. Next time.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:

Celery juice is easiest and most effective to use in a brine injection. Amounts used vary, depending on a few factors. To use along with a dry cure make paste out of the cure, using just enough celery juice to make your cure mix pasty.

If you have a processor, process several stalks of celery, cut into small pieces first, till the result is a mush (to facilitate this, add a little salt to the bowl). Gather up the mush then place is a fine sieve over a bowl and drain out the juice, mashing the pulp with the back of a spoon to extract as much as possible. Add some juice, a little at a time, to your cure mix, and mash with a fork, till a paste is achieved. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you don't have the fine sieve, Lowes and Home Depot sell paint straining bags in a 1 gallon size. I've used them for Nut Milks and juices. They'd be great for this application too.