Making adjustments to a Bacon cure ?

[sundodger]

Due to location, I have so far found it impossible to find a local outlet to make up my own dry cure, infact from discussions with a pharmacist, I was advised that sodium nitrate & nitrite are controlled substances & not available to general public ! - Whether or not this is true I am in doubt, however I can't get them. In view of this I have used a propriety cure from our host site here & have had good results. For my own taste however & I realize that any ready made cure will try to cater to a range of tastes, I would like to obtain a slightly more salty end product. Due to nitrate/nitrite limits I am thinking that increasing the amount of cure per kilo is a no no & would therefore ask if it is ok to just add more salt to the correct amount of mix, or will this throw out the combination for the other ingredients?

[wheels]

I can't see any reason why you can't add more salt if you want - enjoy!

Phil

[Oddwookiee]

Adding more straight salt is no problem at all. I'm in the US and don't know how things are there, but make sure you get a pure NaCl with no additives. I know that iodized salt (the most common table salt in the us) can throw 'off' flavors in the end product. Pure kosher or non-iodized salt, added to the correct weight of nitrite for your item, is just fine.

Personally, I'd use the 'stock' cure, do your rub or pump, then go back over with a second application of pure salt in a rub to make sure the higher nitrite percentage cure hits the meat first.

[sundodger]

Thanks guys & point taken re the second rub with pure salt.