Guest guest Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 when i took my pork to the smoke house, i also brought my own salt - 5lbs of celtic sea salt. it means that he has to fudge a little, cause normally they get the stuff in little packets, but the risk is that my bacon may come out a little too salty and that's a risk i am willing to take. you might be able to find a smokehouse near you that will custom smoke some bacon for you even if you don't raise pigs - just ask if you can pay for it ahead of time and if he'd be willing to use the salt you provide. good luck! katja At 09:20 AM 1/28/2004, you wrote: >Hi, > >I was hoping for bacon that did not contain any additives but have not been >able to source any. Our local supplier has organic bacon that they make >using brine and salt petre, but when I looked up salt petre I found it was >sodium nitrate although somewhere else it said it was potassium nitate.... > >I guess either is bad... any comments? > >Did it used to be made using only brine? " Salt petre " sounds like a pretty >ancient thing, though, and has quite a long history for preserving meats. > >Helen > >Helen East >Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics >University of Cambridge > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 >I guess either is bad... any comments? > >Did it used to be made using only brine? " Salt petre " sounds like a pretty >ancient thing, though, and has quite a long history for preserving meats. > >Helen I've been seeing " nitrate free " bacon more and more ... Hormel's in Washington makes it, and Trader Joe's carries it all over (Nieman's I think). It tends to be " grey " not " pink " so it is a marketing issue. Hormel's is making what they are marketing as " grey corned beef " -- no nitrates. Salt petre has been used a long time, and it is nitrate. You can make bacon just using salt though. Actually if you just slice up some pork belly, salt it up good (or brine it for awhile) and broil it, it makes darn good bacon (even without any smoking). -- Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2004 Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 Hiya, > You can make bacon just using salt though. Actually > if you just slice up some pork belly, salt it up good > (or brine it for awhile) and broil it, it makes darn > good bacon (even without any smoking). Ok, now I have questions. Having translated " broil " which seems to mean grill (!), do you mean that *after* you salt and grill it, then you have the kind of bacon you buy to put in your fridge, ie, that you would then fry up to have with eggs? Or is it already at that stage once you've salted it? >> " Salt petre " sounds like a pretty > >ancient thing, though, and has quite a long history for preserving meats. > > > >Helen > > I've been seeing " nitrate free " bacon more and more ... > Hormel's in Washington makes it, and Trader Joe's carries > it all over (Nieman's I think). It tends to be " grey " not " pink " > so it is a marketing issue. Hormel's is making what they > are marketing as " grey corned beef " -- no nitrates. Oh, that's interesting - maybe it will get over here. > Salt petre has been used a long time, and it is nitrate. Thanks Heidi for your help and info. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2004 Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 >> You can make bacon just using salt though. Actually >> if you just slice up some pork belly, salt it up good >> (or brine it for awhile) and broil it, it makes darn >> good bacon (even without any smoking). > >Ok, now I have questions. Having translated " broil " which seems to mean >grill (!), > do you mean that *after* you salt and grill it, then you have the >kind of bacon you buy to put in your fridge, ie, that you would then fry up >to have with eggs? Or is it already at that stage once you've salted it? " Broiling " is when you put meat on a broiling pan (it has slots in it so the fat drips down below and doesn't catch fire) then on the top rack of the stove. Top rack has an element that gets really hot, pretty close to the meat ... so it's kind of lilke bbq. Anyway, that is how I cook ALL my bacon ... it is sooo much faster than standing by a frying pan, and the fat I can save easier for future use. I cook the whole package of bacon, then freeze the extra. But baking the bacon on the broiling pan works too, and it's still faster than frying it. As for salting it ... you can: 1. Just sprinkle some salt on it before broiling. I did that and it was quite good. Fast too! 2. Soak the slices in salty water (brining). That will change the protein structure and it will likely come out more like " bacon " (I didn't try this with pork belly, but I've done it with other meat). Actually if you brine it in half salt, half sugar it ends up tasting like ham. You can do this with any meat ... a cup of salt and a cup of sugar in a gallon of water soaking a chicken for a day, then smoke the chicken ... ymmmm. Or fish. " Brining " is what gives " smoked " meat a lot of it's flavor .. that is, the smoking gives it some flavor, but the brining is actually what gives it the characteristic " smoked " texture. If you add liquid smoke to the brine and then bake the thing it will taste " smoked " . There are recipes on the net for brining ... it's a great technique and lots of fun to experiment with. Brining a turkey or chicken before baking makes it soooo much moister, and I used to do that all the time before I discovered parboiling. -- Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2004 Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 --- Helen East <helen@...> wrote: > Hi, > > I was hoping for bacon that did not contain any > additives but have not been > able to source any. Our local supplier has organic > bacon that they make > using brine and salt petre, but when I looked up > salt petre I found it was > sodium nitrate although somewhere else it said it > was potassium nitate.... > > I guess either is bad... any comments? > Helen I asked a similar Q some time ago. I realised that nitrates may not be as bad as I thought. Regardless of whether sodium or potassium. If you manage to buy any salt petre, please let me know. It is actually an explosive and not for sale anywhere! I was talking to my butcher today and he may be able to get me some, but I will have to trade some of my salt beef with him in return! Lastly, I believe that ordinary salt is fine for preserving, salt petre only adds the pink colour. YOu just need to get used to grey meat. Jo ___________________________________________________________ BT Broadband - Free modem offer, sign up online today and save £80 http://bt..co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Hi Jo, > > I was hoping for bacon that did not contain any > > additives but have not been > > able to source any. Our local supplier has organic > > bacon that they make > > using brine and salt petre, but when I looked up > > salt petre I found it was > > sodium nitrate although somewhere else it said it > > was potassium nitate.... > I asked a similar Q some time ago. I realised that > nitrates may not be as bad as I thought. Regardless of > whether sodium or potassium. That's interesting - do you know where you found that info? > If you manage to buy any salt petre, please let me > know. It is actually an explosive and not for sale > anywhere! Delia says that it's sold by licensed chemists... It's not on my list of priorities - I'm more interested in finding cured meats that don't use it, but will begin to make them myself. D. says in a confused paragraph http://www.deliaonline.com/deliaatlife/messageboard/view.asp?postid=5429 & top icid=7 that nitrites are used to make the end-meat less salty, otherwise it's unpalatable... look forward to finding out! > Lastly, I believe that ordinary salt is fine for > preserving, salt petre only adds the pink colour. YOu > just need to get used to grey meat. Grey is fine by me.... But I'm still not clear whether it can be left out totally for preserving for months, and the meat still taste fine. That's probably because I have not been able to keep up with all the threads in this list! I guess we find out when we get to the preserving meats section of the NT book club. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 >Delia says that it's sold by licensed chemists... It's not on my list of >priorities - I'm more interested in finding cured meats that don't use it, >but will begin to make them myself. D. says in a confused paragraph ><http://www.deliaonline.com/deliaatlife/messageboard/view.asp?postid=5429 & top>h\ ttp://www.deliaonline.com/deliaatlife/messageboard/view.asp?postid=5429 & top >icid=7 that nitrites are used to make the end-meat less salty, otherwise >it's unpalatable... look forward to finding out! In the Martha Washington cookbook, they refer to it as something that keeps meat " red " : " Whatever the harmful effects of saltpeter in nutrition may be, it's use in the pickling of meats is ancient and widespread. WIthout it, corned meats are a sodden grey, with it, the color ranges from rosy pink to deep mahogany. It assists in preservation as well, but in so doing it toughens the meat fibers unless this effect is counteracted with the addition of sugar " . (page 192) The recipe here was " to make tongues red " . I have to say that the meat I 'did up' in kimchi juice didn't turn grey. Cabbage has natural nitrates in it, maybe that is why? But acids deactive the nitrates (if you have good stomach acid they aren't supposed to be as harmful) -- so maybe kimchi juice, nice and acid, is a good alternative???? -- Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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