Salt for curing meat

grahamc2003

Made some home cured bacon the other day - while it turned out better than shop bought, it wasn't as great as I was expecting. Think I've got it down to the salt - I used normal table salt, which contains iodine, and this, apparently, is what makes the cured meat not as fantastic as it should be.

So my question is, where do I buy Kosher salt (which is what most recipes call for)? I know what Kosher means, but in this context, does it simply mean no added iodine? Anyhow, I haven't been able to find Kosher salt anywhere, so does anyone know what other salt I should be looking for, i.e. salt without added iodine. Would cooking salt do?

I should add that I have the saltpetre already, so don't want to buy any curing mixes which include it.

Thanks for any help.

daveyjp

Surely you have heard of Google?

http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/catalog/799/bacon_curing_salt_beef

grahamc2003

Thanks for replying, even though it was served with a dollop of acrimony.

Yes, I do know Google.

I can't find in the link you supplied the answer to any of my questions. I notice they sell 'speciality curing salts' (at £9.99), but they already contain contain saltpetre, and I excluded 'curing mixes which include it'.

I'm really after pretty bog standard salt, preferably from a supermarket, which doesn't contain iodine. The problem with curing mixes is that they contain a tiny amount of saltpetre and for that they charge 20 times the value of what is almost all salt.

I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to find.

frugal_shopper_2

Kosher in this instance does indeed mean non-iodized (no added iodine), you also want to avoid anti caking agents if possible.
I can't comment on supermarket brands as I don't tend to shop in them so you will have to check the labels yourself to see if they have anything suitable.

A couple of types you could buy online would be:
http://www.peacocksalt.com/products-food-salts/vacuum/pdv0025.aspx
http://www.peacocksalt.com/products-food-salts/sea-salt/paff0025.aspx

rachbc

kosher salt has no caking agents and slightly coarser crsytals (though not as big as rock salt). I got hubby to bring back kosher salt from the states - his collegues thought I was mental! i did read that the size of the grains affect the rate it cures at but this could well be guff!

Natural sea salt form the supermarket would be fine too (maldon is pricy but geo atlantic is ok), though you might wants to whizz it in FP if its terribly coarse.

just looked on mysupermarket and it looks like SAXA coarse and rock salt are caking agent free but the fire stuff isn't.

Browntoa

I've had to get saltpeter from ebay ( food grade) to cure meats , produces the red colour needed and kills botulism

anniemf2508

our local butcher lets us purchase curing salt from aslong as we buy our meat there too, we get about 10kg of salt for a tenner

grahamc2003

Thanks for all the replies, all very useful. I think I've now realised that Kosher salt simply isn't for sale in the UK under that name. Good links for the equivalent pure salt for those who want loads of the stuff. After lots of reading labels, it's surprisingly difficult to buy plain old salt with nothing added. The various sea salts would be ok I expect, but named ones from the supermarket seem expensive when used for curing. Also, we go to Noirmoutier quite a lot, where sea salt is harvested, and that is grey, so not sure what else it naturally contains and whether it would taint my bacon (and it's expensive).

So I finally got Sainsbury's rock salt crystals, with nothing added. Next 'problem' I've just realised is mixing the saltpetre with the salt to make curing salt, due to the massive difference in grain size.

PLRFD

I can't remember exactly how much but Aldi sell tubs of sea salt that are reasonable.

Gigervamp

If you have a blender or food processor, you could wizz the salt up in that to make it finer.