Just to make this perfectly clear...You absolutely need Nitrite/Nitrate Cure in TWO situations. 1) In any Ground Meat products you want to Low Temp Smoke, at <255, like Kielbasa, Snack Sticks, Summer Sausage, etc. Or any Dry Cure Sausage made by hanging the Raw sausage to dry and age such as Salami, Pepperoni, Sopressata, Landjaeger, etc. 2) Cure is used in any Intact Muscle products that you desire a Smoked Hammy flavor with meat that is Pink after cooking. Items like Belly/Streaky Bacon, Canadian/Back Bacon, City Ham, Cottage Ham, Buck Board Bacon, etc.
Carefully handled, which include the initial drying BELOW 40 degrees, of Intact Muscle from Land Animals that are Dry Aged and not typically smoked*, like Prosciutto, Coppa, Guanciale, Bresaola, etc, Does Not Require Cure and can be made with Salt Only. In this case, any bacteria is on the surface and the meat will be heavily salted killing active bacteria, then dried in an Oxygen rich environment. There are no Safety risks. However these items, if not aged and dried with temp and humidity controlled conditions, can spoil from things like Re-contamination in the early drying stage, Bone Sour, Black Mold and Decomposition.
*Smoking Dry Cured Intact Muscle Meat. The debate continues over whether Clostridium Botulinum Spores requires NO Oxygen to grow or can grow in LOW Oxygen environments like in a typical smoker. Read a dozen reports and six say No and six say Low. It may be best to err on the side of caution and add Cure to any dry cured meat you plan to salt/sugar cure then cold/cool smoke one or more days to begin the drying process.
Regarding Cured Smoked Fish. Old school Lox, Gravlax, Nova and the like were made with Salt and Sugar for dehydration with no Cure, with or without smoke. With the increased use of commercial and home Vac-Packing, mishandling, etc, we have seen an increase in illness from Listeria and Clostridium Botulinum. Like Clostridium Botulinum, Listeria can be controlled with the use of a Nitrite Cure. It's use adds a great deal of Insurance with little impact on flavor since Salmon don't have Myoglobin in the muscle and won't get a hammy flavor like Red Meat of land animals and Tuna...JJ
