Uncured, Smoked Bacon

[Brian]

Hi all, 
I can't find my question on the boards, unless i missed it..

Q- Do you have to cure bacon before smoking it?
I bought a pork belly, I just want to throw some maple rub on it and smoke it, then cool it, then slice it for breakfast. But every article has someone curing it.  Cant I treat it like pulled pork, smoke it and eat it?
Id like to smoke the bacon(pork belly) now, slice it tomorrow , and fry it on  a skillet for breakfast tomorrow.... What do you all think?

This

 

[DivotMaker]

Brian, you can certainly smoke a pork belly, without curing...many folks do.  BUT...it will not taste like bacon.  It will taste like a pork butt or loin...not bacon.  The cure is what makes bacon!  Do you have an aversion to using a cure?  There are good reasons to cure things like bacon (like not dying), as it kills the botulism bacteria.  It's just nitrites/nitrates, that occur in nature (many vegetables are loaded with them, like celery).

 

[Brian]

thank you for the reply. I just wanted it to be healthy, we read that bacon is full of nitrates and nitrates are bad for you, so they advertise nitrate free, no preservatives bacon. I don't see whats so bad about nitrates, seems to be just a lot of salts...right?

Anyway, healthy, and quick is what i was looking for. I didn't know that curing is whats responsible for making pork taste like bacon. this for the info..

B

 

[kz0m]

And you can make buckboard bacon with pork butt as well!  I cut up a pork but into 3 pieces a while back, cured it with Morton quick cure, added pure maple syrup to it as well and turned the meat once every day for a week.  Took it out of the large Baggie, washed it off, then cold smoked it on my cheap "other" smoker with maple pellets and amaze-n tube smoker for a couple hours, took it off and sliced and shrink wrapped it.  Tastes awesome and great to flavor other foods, beans, soups, etc.  I was told you can make bacon out of any porks meat by curing it, I agree ;-)

 

[SconnieQ]

Be careful of the "no nitrates added" label. Trader Joe's is a big offender of misleading labeling. Nitrates are naturally occurring in vegetables and other places. Please read the attached article to get the "real" facts on nitrates. Trader Joe's adds nitrates in the form of celery juice and celery powder to their bacon, yet many people buy their bacon thinking it is "uncured".

http://ruhlman.com/2011/05/the-no-nitrites-added-hoax/

You've been eating nitrates your whole life. So have many people who have lived to 100+. Nitrates are the least of your worries when it comes to long life and good health.

 

[DivotMaker]

Be careful of the "no nitrates added" label. Trader Joe's is a big offender of misleading labeling. Nitrates are naturally occurring in vegetables and other places. Please read the attached article to get the "real" facts on nitrates. Trader Joe's adds nitrates in the form of celery juice and celery powder to their bacon, yet many people buy their bacon thinking it is "uncured".

http://ruhlman.com/2011/05/the-no-nitrites-added-hoax/

You've been eating nitrates your whole life. So have many people who have lived to 100+. Nitrates are the least of your worries when it comes to long life and good health.

+1!  Nitrates are our friend!