# Low Sodium Bacon Recipe



## Bigtank (Feb 14, 2019)

I'm looking for a dry cure brine recipe for low salt content.


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## JC in GB (Feb 15, 2019)

Disco has a minimum sodium dry brine bacon recipe that I used.  It works very well.

1 kg meat
3 g cure #1
19.2 g kosher salt
25.8 g brown sugar

Mix dry ingredients
Remove skin off belly.
Rub mix on meat use all the mix.
Put meat in plastic bag and turn daily.
Cure time based on meat thickness.  7 - 14 days usually.
Remove from bag and soak in water for 1 hour changing water once.
Place on rack in fridge overnight to form pellicle
Smoke at 190 degrees
Internal temp of 140
Bag and put in fridge for 2 days
Slice, cook, and enjoy...


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## daveomak (Feb 15, 2019)

Bigtank said:


> I'm looking for a dry cure brine recipe for low salt content.




How much sodium do you want to limit the bacon to ??  I will build you a recipe.....


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## Bigtank (Feb 15, 2019)

daveomak said:


> How much sodium do you want to limit the bacon to ??  I will build you a recipe.....


I,m not sure what would be a lower percentage, I'm recovering from cancer (tonsil & lymph nodes, they did surgery on my throat and neck followed by chemo and radiation. I'm sensitive to salt.)  Maybe 25% to 50% less salt than normal.


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## daveomak (Feb 15, 2019)

Thanks....  Sorry for you illness and VERY glad you are here with us....
OK, I dry cure bacon all the time....  I weigh everything with a grams scale that is 0-100 grams range for accuracy...
Grams Scale
Coins can be used to check calibration....
A member here Blue Whisper writes technical articles and he addressed that topic....
Coins as Calibration Weights
⦁   Coins are minted to precise specifications, including weight, so they can serve as calibration weights. For example, a U.S. nickel weighs 5 grams. A penny weighs 2.5 grams. These numbers easily multiply, so 10 nickles can serve as a 50-gram calibration weight. Other U.S. coins are less useful because their weights don't fall at such even numbers; for example, a dime weighs 2.268 grams. A 1-euro coin weighs 7.5 grams, and a 0.02-euro coin weighs 3 grams.

Cut the belly into usable sizes... Weigh each slab.....   I like trimming them into a rectangle about 5" wide... 
Make up your dry cure rub....
I am suggesting a....
1% salt (kosher or pickling salt)
1% sugar....  (I like and use white sugar)
0.25% cure#1  (Prague powder etc..  that has 6.25% nitrite)

The cure adds ~0.24% salt... with the 1% salt addition that's a really low salt content for bacon...
The sugar addition helps to neutralize the salt and hold moisture in the meat because it is hygroscopic... and the salt also holds moisture...
The mix would be 50 grams of salt, 50 grams of sugar and 12.5 grams of cure#1.... 
Thoroughly mix those 3 ingredients and add 10 grams of the mix to each 5#'s of meat....  Try to cover the meat uniformly...   Meat side if skin is on...  Both sides if skinless...
Then you can put the meat in a plastic tub or a zip bag...   In the refer for 2 weeks and turn the bag daily or so...  Some moisture will exude from the meat for a few days...  then it should re absorb back into the meat....
Lightly rinse the meat and cold smoke, below 70, from 6-24 hours...  I smoke the belly for about 6 hours per day then smoke again the next days...  It the ambient temp is 38-70, leave it in the smoker...   after the amount of smoke is to your liking, place back in the refer for 5 days on a wire rack...  That is a "dry aging", blooming step that intensifies the flavors like bacon you used to buy in the pre 50's....
My results....







You can try the low sodium salt ......  but be careful....   It can kill you...  
Sodium is a necessary electrolyte that allows for nerves to communicate in your body...


*Low sodium salt*
In theory, low-sodium salt seems like a great idea. It promises all the flavorful goodness of salt without the sodium and could be very helpful for those interested in lowering their sodium intake.

The problem is that you can't have salt without sodium. It'd be like taking the hydrogen out of H2O -- it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Salt is called sodium chloride for a reason: It's 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chlorine, and cutting out most of the sodium makes it, well, something that isn't salt. In fact, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), low-sodium salt isn't even food, as food-grade salt is required to consist of at least 97.5 percent sodium chloride.

This doesn't mean, however, that low-sodium salt can't be consumed or that it won't help you stick to a low-sodium diet. But before we pore over the perks and pitfalls of low-sodium salt, we need to shake out the reason such a product is needed in the first place.

Salt is a good thing, but not in massive or even moderate quantities. Young, healthy people shouldn't have more than 2,300 milligrams of salt per day, which is equal to approximately one teaspoon. Anyone over the age of 40, people with high blood pressure and those of African descent shouldn't consume more than 1,500 milligrams per day. A recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine claims the dangers that come from consuming an extra half teaspoon of salt per day is equivalent to the health risks associated with obesity, smoking and high cholesterol.

You also need to remember that we're talking about salt, not sodium. Nutritional information breakdowns usually only provide foods' sodium levels, and because sodium makes up only 40 percent of salt, you have to multiply a product's sodium content by 2.5 to figure out how much salt is in each serving. So, for example, a single-serve, 1.5-ounce bag of Lay's Salt and Vinegar potato chips contains 580 milligrams of sodium, meaning it really holds 1,450 milligrams of salt. Of course, if you were to replace the salt Lay's uses with a low-sodium brand, that number would be significantly lower. But since you can't take away the salt on processed potato chips (or any other food), it's not surprising that people are willing to sprinkle a non-food additive onto their homemade provisions to lessen their sodium intake.

But if low-sodium salt isn't food, what is it? Low-sodium salts typically replace some of the sodium in sodium chloride with potassium, so they're a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride. Potassium chloride does have a salt-like taste, but there's a reason we've been sprinkling our steaks exclusively with sodium-infused crystals for thousands of years -- potassium chloride can kill you.

Potassium chloride is the principle positive ion in our body's cells and can help lower blood pressure. Unfortunately, it can also stop your heart. In fact, potassium chloride, while safe in small dosages, is the toxin of choice for many states' lethal injection procedures, so it's definitely not something you want to ingest in excess. Most low-sodium salts advise you to consult a doctor before consuming, but if you ask us, it's safer to just stay away from non-food products, especially if they can kill you.


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## chopsaw (Feb 15, 2019)

Nice job Dave .


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## Bigtank (Feb 15, 2019)

Thanks for the expertise


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## daveomak (Feb 15, 2019)

If you have any further questions, you can always PM me....   Dave


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## kawboy (Mar 15, 2019)

My mother is just getting out of the hospital with congestive heart failure, so I may have to steal this recipe to make her some bacon. Of course she would wait until I have about 15 pounds of Bear style bacon in the freezer. Oh well, the things we do for our mothers.


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## Bigtank (Mar 16, 2019)

You're welcome to the recipe, I hope mother does well.  Mine is ready to smoke,  I plan to do it either today or tomorrow.  I will post results.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 16, 2019)

kawboy said:


> My mother is just getting out of the hospital with congestive heart failure, so I may have to steal this recipe to make her some bacon. Of course she would wait until I have about 15 pounds of Bear style bacon in the freezer. Oh well, the things we do for our mothers.




Bear also has "Congestive Heart Failure", along with "Chronic Kidney Failure", both caused by a DR screw-up, along with High BP. 
I deal with it with small portion control, and though I use TQ, I use it properly & have never had salty flavored Bacon. That's not to say using Cure #1 isn't easier to control the amount of salt, because it is, but I doubt that your mother would sit down & eat a pound of Bacon at a sitting like I did in my younger days.

Bear


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## kawboy (Mar 16, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> Bear also has "Congestive Heart Failure", along with "Chronic Kidney Failure", both caused by a DR screw-up, along with High BP.
> I deal with it with small portion control, and though I use TQ, I use it properly & have never had salty flavored Bacon. That's not to say using Cure #1 isn't easier to control the amount of salt, because it is, but I doubt that your mother would sit down & eat a pound of Bacon at a sitting like I did in my younger days.
> 
> Bear


I was under the impression the TQ was higher in salt. If not I'll keep using it. Makes dang good bacon.


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## Bigtank (Mar 16, 2019)

Tender Quick has more salt. I use it on my dried beef and do not ad any more salt.  Below is my 1st attempt recipes at reduced sodium bacon all percentages are of the meat weight. They will go in the smoker tomorrow.
*Reduced Salt Bacon #1 *

0.25% Pink Cure #1 (Prague powder etc. that has 6.25% nitrite)
1% Salt (Kosher)
1% Sugar (white)


*Reduced Salt Bacon #2*

0.25% Pink Cure #1 (Prague powder etc. that has 6.25% nitrite)
1.2% Salt (Kosher)
1% Brown Sugar


*Reduced Salt Bacon #3*

0.25% Pink Cure #1 (Prague powder etc. that has 6.25% nitrite)
1% Salt (Kosher)
1% Sugar (white)
.5% Coarse Ground Pepper


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## Bearcarver (Mar 16, 2019)

kawboy said:


> I was under the impression the TQ was higher in salt. If not I'll keep using it. Makes dang good bacon.



IMHO TQ has the perfect amount of salt in it, when used properly.(Right amount of TQ & Sugar per pound)
The only bad thing about the salt content is if you want less than normal, you can't do it with TQ.

The only time I ever had Bacon that I had to soak to get rid of extra salt was the one time I used "Hi Mountain Cure & Seasoning", and I followed their instructions. (Hi Mountain uses Cure #1)

I never had a problem with salt consumption until Nov 8, 2012, when a "Dr" screwed up with a catheterization (poking a hole in my Aorta), causing me to have emergency Open-Heart Surgery. Then because I went 9 hours in surgery without blood going to my Kidneys, I got CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease). My Kidneys were Perfect before that day. I also have Congestive Heart Failure since that Fiasco, and High Blood Pressure. Consuming too much sodium causes me to hold water. Diuretics remove the water, but also depletes my Potassium. So I have to take Potassium, and the Potassium causes my "GFR" to drop, putting my Kidneys in jeopardy.
So like I said, that's why I avoid sodium whenever possible, and limit my Bacon portion to 4 of my slices per Breakfast. 
Note: 4 of my slices are equal to 2 store bought slices in length.

Bear


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