Curing allowances for lean bacon.

[yotmon]

I was just pondering this thought - as far as I know, lean meat absorbs more salt than fattier cuts. These days most supermarket pork bellies (in the UK) appear very lean, maybe holding less than 20% of fat, yet when sourced from other outlets can carry as much as 50% fat or even higher. When we use recipes for curing a belly for bacon should we actually be taking into account the fat content ? Maybe this is the reason why older recipes appear to contain too much salt for modern palates, seeing as the earlier breeds used for bacon held a good covering of fat.

Any ideas ?

Yotmon.

[Ruralidle]

FWIW I use the same cure calculation (based on Wheels' blog http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/calcul ... ure_bacon/ ) whether I am curing bellies or loin. Never noticed either being too salty.

[yotmon]

Hi Ruralidle, thanks for that. I read somewhere about back fat being cured as Italian Speck but it took a long time for the fat to absorb the salt. Plus I always remember that shoulder bacon would be saltier (and leaner) than the middle when cured as a side. It's just that pork has definitely got leaner in the last 20 years and what used to be sold a bacon pigs (ie heavier and finished for a few months more than a porker) are few and far between. I think we generalise when we say that shoulder pork is 80/20 or belly is 60/40 when the product can vary so wildly and this is why I was wondering about the salt content in recipes.