simple
Smoke Blower
- Jun 27, 2011
- 97
- 11
Don't know how I missed this thread when starting my bacon learnin'... This must be one of the ones mentioned occasionally in other threads...
As a newbie at this, I just read a bunch from an assortment of sources, think on it, look for consistencies, and decide what I want to do. Individual bickering--I mean discussing--between members tends to just go in one ear and out the other. I don't pay much attention to it, and the more heated it becomes, the less weight it's given. At some point, the original disagreement disappears under the "I'm right and you're not!" status that prevails...
USDA? ANY info from the government I take with a large grain of salt anyway. Them boys are out to cover their arses as much as, or more than, anyone. I put more stock in folks who have actually done things and can report on results than i do in "studies".
The thing that lead me to using TQ was the fact that cure #1 is such a small amount to spread over the meat, how consistently can it be applied? And if it's mixed with salt, sugar, and whatever-else-feels-good-at-the-time spices, how evenly is the #1 distributed within that mixture? To my (agreeably newly formed and little tested) way of thinking, the opportunity for the curing process to be derailed is much higher with the #1 mixture than it is with TQ.
All I know for certain is that my TQ-cured bacon hasn't killed me yet, so I'll keep using the TQ until the package is gone. Maybe then I'll try a wet cure, maybe not. Let's face it, it's bacon--not exactly the most healthy of foods in the first place. Nitrates/nitrites/fat/grease/eggs/guv'mint incompetence/whatever--We're all going to die from something anyway, one way or another. Why spend our time making our hobby so antagonistic?
As a newbie at this, I just read a bunch from an assortment of sources, think on it, look for consistencies, and decide what I want to do. Individual bickering--I mean discussing--between members tends to just go in one ear and out the other. I don't pay much attention to it, and the more heated it becomes, the less weight it's given. At some point, the original disagreement disappears under the "I'm right and you're not!" status that prevails...
USDA? ANY info from the government I take with a large grain of salt anyway. Them boys are out to cover their arses as much as, or more than, anyone. I put more stock in folks who have actually done things and can report on results than i do in "studies".
The thing that lead me to using TQ was the fact that cure #1 is such a small amount to spread over the meat, how consistently can it be applied? And if it's mixed with salt, sugar, and whatever-else-feels-good-at-the-time spices, how evenly is the #1 distributed within that mixture? To my (agreeably newly formed and little tested) way of thinking, the opportunity for the curing process to be derailed is much higher with the #1 mixture than it is with TQ.
All I know for certain is that my TQ-cured bacon hasn't killed me yet, so I'll keep using the TQ until the package is gone. Maybe then I'll try a wet cure, maybe not. Let's face it, it's bacon--not exactly the most healthy of foods in the first place. Nitrates/nitrites/fat/grease/eggs/guv'mint incompetence/whatever--We're all going to die from something anyway, one way or another. Why spend our time making our hobby so antagonistic?