Which curing salt to buy?

[Clairssausages]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and this is my first post so be nice!

I have been making sausages for a few years and want to try making my own bacon also. I have tried it before with one of the pre-mixed bacon cures but wasn't so keen on the final taste. So now I want to try my own cure from scratch.

I am finding it really confusing knowing which curing salts to buy from the store. Lots of recipes call for cure #1, saltpetre or just curing salts.

Which one is the best for my situation and safest / easiest to use. I am looking at making bacon and possibly ham so if something works for both that would be great. I also love in China but I am currently home for the summer so I am looking to bring enough of the curing salt back with me to last this year.

Thank you for your help!

[NCPaul]

Welcome to the forum. To make bacon you need cure # 1. I would also find some extra large zip bags cure the belly pieces in. Most of us on this site cold smoke bacon so you might want to read up on that. For ham you have several options depending on how you wish to do the curing and the type of ham you want. For a Parma ham or a US country ham you could just use salt. For a roasting ham I would get a meat marinade injector and using cure # 1 do the ham like this:
http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=768

[Clairssausages]

Thank you! That's great. I will buy the cure #1.

I have a vacuum sealing machine so would that work while the bacon is curing instead of ziplock bags?

[NCPaul]

Sure, you could seal it up without vacuum. This would allow you to rub from the outside the curing salt and sugar over the bacon each day before you turn it over without making a mess.

[Clairssausages]

Hi all,

I have made two batches of bacon now quite successfully, although not as good as some on here. I have had a little trouble finding the correct cuts of meat as I live in China and don't speak Chinese but I am sourcing meat from a farm for my sausages now so fingers crossed I can get what I am after soon. I think the bacon is a little like ham but may just be because I can't cut it quite thin enough (next gadget is a slicer). But anyway, here are photos of the first proper batch!

http://clairsfoodtravels.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMG_1265.jpg
http://clairsfoodtravels.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMG_1264.jpg

[NCPaul]

You're making excellent progress. To get the right cut of pork I think a picture would be your best bet. If you can't get the pork cut thin enough, go ahead and slice it into chops about 1 cm thick. I can assure you that it eats just fine that way as well. Have you done some reading about cold smoking?

[crustyo44]

I have been curing bacon in a brine for many years now and have gone over to DRY Equilibrium curing (EQ) in a vacuum bag, 2% salt, 0.25% cure# 1 and the spices I like. No mess and the curing times are not so critical. Robert Goodrick's Blackforest Bacon recipe is also great and I have done many bellies up to now.
My wife even likes it and that is saying something.
http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net ... c4371.html
Good luck,
Jan

[Clairssausages]

Hi NC Paul, Thanks. I have read lots about cold smoking but live in a 9th floor apartment and can't seem to get hold of anything smoke related here no matter how hard I search. It is definitely something I want to move onto but at the moment I am limited. I have tried smoking some of the sausages I made using wood chips and my oven but hot smoking just isn't the same!

I have tried a picture and translating etc but I think their cuts of meat are different so unless I can actually get it from the source I'm going to have to make do at the moment. That is okay though as for now people are happy. It's just me that wants perfection!

Thanks both, I will look through that site.