Aussie BBQ Forum

So, I spontaneously bought an 800gm tin of Bradley Sugar Cure, as I was keen to try my hand at bacon.

To my delight, the bacon turned out great (I haven't died yet, so must have gotten it safe), but I'm keen to see if I can pimp out some of the flavours in my future smallgoods experiments. I'm thinking this would be a good enough base, but needed a little extra zing, whether from salt, maple, or spices.

The Bradley pack contains Salt, Dextrose and Sodium Nitrite, although it doesn't specify percentages. The packaging specifies 3 tablespoons per 2.25 kg of meat, which works out to 23 grams of mixed cure per kilo.

Would I be right to add more salt, spices, and/or maple syrup, to the calculated weight of the commercial cure? I understand this would alter the percentage of Nitrite in the final mix, but the absolute volume of Nitrite absorbed by the protein would remain the same.

I'm hoping my thinking is correct, but want to validate it before starting to experiment. If I had my druthers, I'd just buy some pink salt and make it from scratch.

No more salt.
There is not much more you can add other than spices.
If you add more sugars you will run into burning problems while cooking.
Id suggest you get a grounding with the premix and then attempt your own mixes from scratch.
With Bacon, Less is more. Let some of the pork flavor shine

Jemlok wrote:No more salt.
There is not much more you can add other than spices.

Thanks for the advice. Is this due to the % of salt in the curing process?

I'm most certainly not complaining about the flavour of my first attempt, but I'm a creative cook, so like to experiment a little. Just so long as it's still safe.

Yeh, The salt is pre set.
Unless you thought your last batch was not salty enough, Id leave it.
The sugar % is unknown so you could try a little pure maple syrup or even throw in some dried red currents, wolf berries (goji), Taz pepper berries, Sumac ,,,,, Any spice you care. The more sugar you add, The more gentle you fry it and sometimes it can be tougher
on the chew

higher sugar on the surface = higher risk of burning when u finally fry the bacon to cook.

theres some really really good bacon threads here.. have a look into those if your starting with bacon.. i posted on there recently as well since it was my first time making it with nitrites (only eveer done this without nitrites).

Jemlok wrote:Yeh, The salt is pre set.
Unless you thought your last batch was not salty enough, Id leave it.
The sugar % is unknown so you could try a little pure maple syrup or even throw in some dried red currents, wolf berries (goji), Taz pepper berries, Sumac ,,,,, Any spice you care. The more sugar you add, The more gentle you fry it and sometimes it can be tougher
on the chew

Hello Mick, back again ?