Bacon Curing at Room Temperature


 
Dustin Dorsey said:
People will point out that our ancestors did it this way for thousands of years, etc. Well, they did a lot of stupid things back then.
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long lifers lasted to 21 years old.
perhaps why they married at 6, divorced at 8, hit the skids at 10... average life lasted only 14 years old.


moral of story, refrigerate your bacon during it's curing process.
you'll thank us in many many years to come.
 
Depends on where you live!
And what your room temperature is.
If you are happy to live at 10 oC or so, you shouldn't have a problem. 4 oC is better ;)
With other words, no, although there may be options outdoors in winter, or in an unheated room
 
Bob Bailey said:
And had very short life expectancies.
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Due to accidents, illnessess, and childbirth.

But......people that survived , healthy, lived as long as people today. Modern medicine and technology has not extended our lives, it's extended our average life. It's taken away things that cut our life short......
The upper end of expectancy remains basically unchanged.

I had many ancestors living into their '80s '90s and even one notable one to 101 in the 1700s. He drowned on a pond on his plantation at 101 No medicine, no running water.....also no smoking, drinking alcohol. People had 5-15 kids then too often.

Anyhow, bacon was the staple meat on Southern plantations. Cured, smoked, preserved. The workers received their weekly rations of corn and bacon. No refrigeration to be had.
 
MartinB said:
Due to accidents, illnessess, and childbirth.

But......people that survived , healthy, lived as long as people today. Modern medicine and technology has not extended our lives, it's extended our average life. It's taken away things that cut our life short......
The upper end of expectancy remains basically unchanged.

I had many ancestors living into their '80s '90s and even one notable one to 101 in the 1700s. He drowned on a pond on his plantation at 101 No medicine, no running water.....also no smoking, drinking alcohol. People had 5-15 kids then too often.

Anyhow, bacon was the staple meat on Southern plantations. Cured, smoked, preserved. The workers received their weekly rations of corn and bacon. No refrigeration to be had.
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You failed to mention consumption of tainted foods and water in your list of things they had to survive. Also, life expectancy is generally based on an average life, not extremes.
 
I cure a lot of meat products, including several types of bacon, all done under 40 degrees F, and for good reason. If you'd like to find detailed information from numerous sources, I might suggest you enter, "curing bacon" in your favorite search engine.
 
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Asking members again to please keep replies closely related to making bacon. Discussion of life expectancy in the 1700s is not relevant to tjkoko's question. Thank you!
 
People have been scared into not refrigerating everything today. Even foods that require no refrigeration.
Even things that were specifically developed as ways to preserve due to lack of refrigeration, and successfully used for thousands of years.

Im not espousing the people don't refrigerate things, because it's simple and easy, but recognize that we do overkill on many things.


Not a whole lot different from the way that USDA tells you to ruin your poultry or pork by overcooking it to "safe temperature"..


The USDA recommends using dry-cured sliced bacon within ten days when unrefrigerated, and within four weeks if you keep it in the refrigerated. If the dry-cured bacon comes in a slab—the kind you slice yourself—it can last up to three weeks without the fridge, and four to six weeks in the fridge.

Yes, even the USDA says you can leave your cured slab bacon out for 3 weeks. I wouldnt, but i have a refrigerator. There's lots of people in the world today that still do not
 
Store bought bacon is wet cured. Don't leave that out. People do a lot of curing that's very seasonal and in certain climates that are in conditions that allow it. It's possible but requires a level of expertise few of us have. A lot of people cure meats in temp and humidity controlled chambers in the 50s(temperature). It's another level of knowledge than the curing most of us on this site is done. The simple answer is don't do it. The complex answer depends on how much you are willing to educate yourself.

With bacon you can use only salt but you have to use what I consider a ton of salt. You have to weigh the slab to make sure you've pulled out enough moisture so bacteria can't thrive. For some dry cured products you need to be able to identify good and bad molds. If you really want to get into it check out the various Marianski books. Sorry we got off topic. I just don't want to say go for it and you get food poisoning.
 
Im not telling anybody to do it. But the way they preserved pork in pre refrigeration time, was salt it heavily for a few days.Then brine it, in a concentrated salt brine that had salt peter in it as cure, then smoke it. No problem to find old recipes from past. No refrigeration needed. Just salted meat packed in salt was preserved in salt for a year on ships.

There are also processes by which they salted, cured, and partially cooked the meat and then packed it in lard in clay pots to exclude oxygen, and it kept for long periods as well. Potted meat. Same reason you're precooked vacuum sealed bacon is shelf stable without refrigeration.
 
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MartinB said:
...The USDA recommends using dry-cured sliced bacon within ten days when unrefrigerated, and within four weeks if you keep it in the refrigerated. If the dry-cured bacon comes in a slab—the kind you slice yourself—it can last up to three weeks without the fridge, and four to six weeks in the fridge....
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I've kept my dry cured bacon stored in the freezer for up to six months with no ill effects.
 
Room temp curing of meat can be safely done, besides letting your sausage bloom.......I've researched it and even though I've been fermenting/curing stuffs for 10 years or so I haven't felt safe enough to try it....someday i will.
 
I would second getting Marianski's book, like Dustin suggests.
And/or check their website and forum.
Not sure if I am allowed to link to it
 
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