Alternative cure

[wheels]

Wallie
Just to add to what Dave said Nitrates are not allowed in bacon in the USA.

The example above though isn't actually a cure I use - it was purely for illustration purposes.

Phil

[Terry]

Hi Guys,
Just an update. I soaked the bacon for about 6 hours yesterday, changing the water a couple of times and then hanging to dry before refridgerating and although it looked a bit pale after soaking, it did the trick. I will reduce the amount of cure next time.

Oddleys recipe says use cure #1 and saltpetre. Can I use cure #2 instead and if so , what rate ?

rgds

Terry

[wheels]

Terry

Oddley's cure has 150PPM Nitrite and 300PPM Nitrate, i.e. Double the NitrAte to NitrIte. Cure #2 has nearly the reverse. So no you can't!

But you can substitute your Supacure which also has double Nitrate to Nitrite. The recipe would be:

Salt 18gm
Sugar gm 8.25gm
Supacure 15gm
Black pepper 0.25gm
Coriander 0.25gm
USAGE 41.75gm per KG

You should be aware that this gives a bacon with over 3% salt which, although lower than the 4% one you made earlier, will still be quite noticeable. It is one of the higher salt recipes of the ones Oddley has posted.

The salt level in the above can be adjusted, so:

For 2½% reduce the salt to 11gm and use at 34.75gm per Kg meat.
For 2% reduce salt to 6g and use at 29.75gm per Kg meat.

I hope this helps

Phil

[Terry]

Thats great Phil. Thanks for you help.

rgds

Terry

[wallie]

I have a query regarding what salt to use when making up a batch of cure.
For example in the previous post copying Oddley's dry cure adapted for Supacure by Phil Is it ok to use ordinary cooking salt.

cheers
wallie

[saucisson]

Yes. If it's iodinised, there are reports that this can affect the final flavour, so it's best to make sure it isn't.

Dave

[wallie]

Anyone know any supermarkets where you can buy none iodinised salt, or is sea salt the nearest we can get.

Edited later:
Just had a look in Morrisons and the cooking salt is labelled:
Ingredients: Salt, Anti-caking Agent: Sodium Hexacyanoferrate
No mention of iodinsed so I presume this should be ok

wallie

[saucisson]

That should be fine. Sea salt is best, but I usually use cooking salt due to the slight difference in cost

Dave

[wheels]

You could try a local wholefoods place if you want sea salt - my local wholefood coop do 25kg for �11.81.

Phil

[Terry]

Have taken the bacon out of the cure using Phil's recipe and adjusting the salt to 6 gms. It was in for 8 days and have to report that it tasted.....

[Terry]

Great !




Thanks All

Terry

[wheels]

...result.

Phil