Ok this may be a touchy subject and pardon me for writing a small book, but it's something I've wanted to ask for sometime now. I maybe from Portland and we here can be a liberal, tree huggin, tofu eatin crowd but with all the health concerns regarding preservitives why would anyone use tender quick or 'pink salt'/ sodium nitrate/nitrite in thier bbq?? Especially when it's gonna be eaten within 3-7 days from the cooking date?
I am very aware of the need to preserve the meat and I know it's a common practice that commercial bbq joints use it..it's to protect the consumer and increase shelf life. When I go out for bbq (which is rare cause I got my CS)I can pick up that artificial "too salty" flavor component right away and it's not just a one place...it's all over. Kinda like MSG in cheap Chinese food..it's totally not needed!! It tastes like crap!
Now I'm no health nut and I will NEVER preach here but I really don't want that stuff inside me. So I ask, why is it so important to use and why do I see it included so often with bbq recipes?? Proper brining will yield to 'tender' meat right? Proper cooking methods will also yield a desirable result, yes?
Several months ago I made my first attemp at making my own bacon...one of the things I wanted to do the moment I got the CS. I think commercial bacon is vile, it's commonly smoked with corn cobs or even worse just with liquid smoke.......YYYYUUUCCKKK!!! The good stuff is applewood smoked and usually very exoensive. So I made my own:
After some research I got a couple of small trimmed and meaty pork bellies, scored them, brined them in a soulution of water, apple juice, kosher salt, black pepper, and a few cloves. After 6 days I took out the bellies, dried them in front of a fan for an hour, then rubbed them lightly with light brown sugar. I then smoked them at the CS's lowest setting for about 6 or so hours over apple wood. The results were excellent for my first time, although a bit too sweet for my bacon pleasure so I'll just decrease the amount of sugar next itme. The bacon was rich and smokey and most important not full of chemicals.
My family and I finished off one belly within the first week. All the while I was inspecting the bacon to see if it was still good and there were no problems. I froze the other belly and ate it a month or so later and it actually tasted BETTER than the first...I guess the meat had time to 'settle' a bit or something...but the point is the meat was fine with out the use of preservatives. Cutting it while frozen also helped me get those really thin slices.
OK so shoot me, I'm long winded but I'm really curious...I would like to try to smoke a ham..not resmoke a commercially purchased ham but one I make from scratch..with something that big do I REALLY NEED to use that stuff?? I don't want to. I know there are like a 1000 recipes for ham here but my thoughts are to repeat what I did with the bacon..of course increasing brining and cooking times and temparatures.
Your thoughts, ideas, comments, concerns, apathy???
lynnae
