My Bacon not like 'Commercial' Bacon

[indaswamp]

^^^^^^^That is a lot of digital ink spent on this subject SE! I commend you for the cliff notes of Marianski's work. The greenbook is a reputable authority on this subject.

Cold smoking with 1.5-2% salt 90-130%F is BAD!

 

[indaswamp]

One thing I will add is that smoking was also a curing process with NO2 gas created by the fire. The hams were exposed to the al beit low concentration over a long period of time and the NO2 gas concentraion in the hams steady increase and diffusion through the ham was 100%....just like a dry cure.

 

[Fueling Around]

The Marianski "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages' (green book) is a great primer on pathogens and recommended read for ALL.
Botulism IS the most deadly food pathogen, but is also the slowest forming under ideal conditions of anaerobic (low oxygen), cool temps and the most important TIME.
I'm more worried about Listeria, E-Coli, and Salmonella.
The added benefit of dry cures is the higher concentrations of salt on the surface of the meat (where most of the pathogens live) until time makes it an equilibrium brine. That salt is usually in the range that will disable most bacteria.

 

[indaswamp]

Botulism bacteria need Aw of at least 0.95 to produce toxin.

 

[DougE]

Botulism bacteria need Aw of at least 0.95 to produce toxin.

Keith, part of the problems in this thread have been over technical jargon, so explaining exactly what that means, and how to avoid it, would be more beneficial than just throwing it out there.

 

[indaswamp]

OK, I can appreciate that. Water activity is a measurement of the vapor pressure of the meat divided by the vapor pressure of pure water. Correlation to weight loss is tricky because there are a lot of factors which come into play, and it is a logarithmic scale. A loose conservative estimate is that once a piece has lost 12-15% water weight (assuming no added liquid or water) then the water activity is below 0.95Aw. And botulism toxin can not be created.

*edit to add- this is also assuming 2.75-3% salt used which will lower the Aw of the meat to 0.97 from 0.99. If using 1.5-2% salt then you would need to lose a lot more water to reach 0.95Aw.

 

[SmokinEdge]

OK, I can appreciate that. Water activity is a measurement of the vapor pressure of the meat divided by the vapor pressure of pure water. Correlation to weight loss is tricky because there are a lot of factors which come into play, and it is a logarithmic scale. A loose conservative estimate is that once a piece has lost 12-15% water weight (assuming no added liquid or water) then the water activity is below 0.95Aw. And botulism toxin can not be created.

Salt concentration is a key player here. It binds up water, making it unavailable. The more salt, the less availability of water.

 

[DougE]

Salt concentration is a key player here. It binds up water, making it unavailable. The more salt, the less availability of water.

All right, y'all, it's all useful info in some respect of curing, but since I don't think most are running 2.75~3% salt in bacon, I don't know that it's relevant. In salami/salumi where you are running around 3% salt, yea.

 

[indaswamp]

Salt concentration is a key player here. It binds up water, making it unavailable. The more salt, the less availability of water.

Sugar will also bind water so that it is not free for bacteria to use through osmosis. Not as strong as salt though.

This is why jellies and jams with high sugar content can be shelf stable even though they do still contain a fair amount of water. Syrup is another one....and honey....

 

[indaswamp]

All right, y'all, it's all useful info in some respect of curing, but since I don't think most are running 2.75~3% salt in bacon, I don't know that it's relevant. In salami/salumi where you are running around 3% salt, yea.

Which is even more of a reason not to try and cold smoke between 90-130*F...

 

[DougE]

Which is even more of a reason not to try and cold smoke between 90-130*F...

I get it, you get it, but I think a lot of people are getting lost and no longer following along. And if warm smoking in that range, it's a couple hours worth, then crank up the heat to finish at 145°.