Making Bacon?

[3wt]

I'd make sure you listen to the advice about nitrites (or nitrates?). Salting alone is not always good enough for something you are going to cold smoke, especially for any amount of time. Get the "cure" stuff from morton or a butcher (I think they call it pink salt.)

[Gavin]

Thanks, but its already done...brined for 3.5 days & cold smoked for 8 hours on Sunday.....Sliced it up and fried some last night...Darn good!

The rest got vac packed for the freezer....I'm sure the -10 degree temp in the freezer & the heat from a hot frying pan will kill off anything that the salt & smoke didnt take care of. Cheers.

[Kayser]

Pink salt is probably preg powder, and is a spice that gives meat a red color once cured/cooked. Morton sugar cure is different.

[3wt]

Pink salt (prague powder) is not a spice but a cure - just colored so you don't get it mixed up with table salt. I think it's table salt, sodium nitrite and some other stuff.

Same stuff as Morton tender quick, different ratios, so you have to follow their own instructions. nitrites also do help preserve color, but the real point is to avoid giving yourself botulism.

I'm not sure about exactly what's in the sugar cure.

Gavin: I'd just make sure you keep it cold when your curing, smoke it for a minimal amount of time, and freeze it, and keep it frozen until you're gonna cook it. Botulism can survive the salt and smoke but not nitrites. The process of smoking for a long time at <140 deg F could get the botulism going, and once it makes the toxins, further freezing and heating won't help you.

This is all the same reason you can't just make up a canning recipe and hope for the best. Botulism is a tough bug to kill, and can live through some harsh treatments.

Experimenting is fun, but get don't experiment with the cure amounts - or the salt amount if there's no nitrite in your brine. And I think most folks would smoke bacon for more like 1 hr. I'm not sure you get much flavor more from a long cold smoke, especially since the smoke shouldn't be your cure (you're not going to dryness with bacon) and you're exponentially multiplying your chances for...well death.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Morton salt and Prague powder (now Insta Cure #1 ) are not the same. Insta Cure is a Sodium Nitrite cure, while Mortons is nitrite and nitrate. When the cancer question came up concerning cures, researchers thought that nitrate was most likely the cure that was the culprit, given the fact that our bodies produce nitrate which is also common in nature.

[Gavin]

Thanks..may do the nitrates next time, but I'm thoroghly enjoying this batch.

[3wt]

Morton salt and Prague powder (now Insta Cure #1 ) are not the same. Insta Cure is a Sodium Nitrite cure, while Mortons is nitrite and nitrate. When the cancer question came up concerning cures, researchers thought that nitrate was most likely the cure that was the culprit, given the fact that our bodies produce nitrate which is also common in nature.

Good point. Not exactly the same, but I was more trying to point out that prague powder is a cure like the morton line of cures, and not a spice or simple color preservative. They both serve the same purpose in curing meat, but are not exactly the same, or interchangeable quantity for quantity.

[ness]

Hey Gavin,

I'm curious -- were you able to keep the temperature low enough for cold smoking with your offset smoker? If so, how?

[Gavin]

Yep...I picked a really cold day...kept the fire small, added a deflector plate between the fire box & chamber, plus a several bags of ice in the bottom of the chamber. Worked pretty well...kept it between 80-100 most of the time.

[rps]

As far as woods and flavors, be aware that nuts in their husks - hickory, pecan - are very effective sources of smoke. I use lump, natural charcoal and the nuts I pick up to produce smoke. Easier than soaking chips, etc. People with native pecans seem very willing to let you have all you want of the tree droppings. Just a thought.