Following my post about sausage flavours, it seemed sensible to look at the origins of bacon as it is one of our most popular products. This is the first part of my bacon post.

Many of us are aware that in times past, a pig would be killed in the autumn and the meat preserved to provide food for the winter. Originally this would have been simple salting and or drying and keeping in a cool dry place. This would have been fraught with difficulty and even apparently good meat would have had the possibility of the presence of botulism. Botulism is something best avoided as it’s very often fatal. But man found a way of making meat safe for longer with the use of a naturally occurring mineral called Salt Petre. We now know this as Potassium Nitrate which when added to meats breaks down into nitrites which act as a preservative. This is known to have been in use throughout Europe since c1500 and is something our grandparents were familiar with to help make their bacon and hams. In the USA its inclusion in bacon cures is a legal requirement. The problem with Salt Petre is that it is perfectly safe in small quantities but in excess will make you ill. So it is mixed with common salt to make a curing mix that prevents botulism but in a ratio that does not cause illness from the curing mix itself.
There has been much bad press over the years relating to the use of nitrites in food. Much of this is related to its addition to foods we would not traditionally have added it to, ready meals for example. This is done to extend their shelf life. Extension of its life is exactly why bacon and ham were invented – a peasant farmer needed to feed his family throughout the winter.There is also concern now that modern diets have too much salt in them but two rashers of bacon only have one third the daily salt needs of an adult as meat is naturally very low in salt. Now we want to eat bacon because its delicious.

Here at the Blue Pig Company we use a technique called drycuring. This involves simply rubbing the fresh pork all over with the curing mix and then storing in a vacuum bag in our cold store until its ready to eat. It’s then washed to remove any excess salt and allowed to dry before slicing. The dry curing method reduces the weight of meat as the salt draws out moisture which is one of the reasons big commercial bacon curers like the brine method. This places the pork in a bath of what is in effect salt water and this can plump up the bacon by 20% by weight. Very commercially attractive but it leads to the white “scum” in the pan and severe shrinkage. It’s also why brine cured bacon can taste very salty as cooking removes the water but not the salt.