Popped bacon? Anyone?

[Robstreperous]

Had the oddest thing happen to me prepping dinner this evening. Wondering if anyone else has run into it.

Recipe called for 8 oz finely diced bacon. Cook on medium high until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon. Leave 2 TBSP of grease.

OK. Done this many times before. No problem. Selected some uncured bacon (attempting to be healthier). Slice it up into a 1/8" dice. It goes into a 6 1/2" dutch oven (I'm making fish choweder).

As the bacon's going from glazed toward crisp it starts popping and jumping out of my kettle. Closest thing I can compare it to is popping rice. Weird.

For what it's worth I had very little liquid grease in my kettle but the bottom was browned (deglazed easily with vermouth).

Any thoughts on what went on here?

[Carter]

It was your cardiologist saying no more bacon.

Have had the same thing happen with thicker cut bacon....figured maybe there was a little pocket of moisture that exploded and made it jump.

Love fish chowder....I use a 100yr old recipe from a Bahamian fellow that lived in Miami....wish I had some now.

[Robstreperous]

Love Caribbean fish chowder Carter. Sherry pepper saauce, conch... just love it.

It was cold and rainy up here today. Called for cod, shrimp, mussels, a little vermouth and lots of hot smoked paprika. Did it white style of course... leaning toward New England. Spent too much time in Manhattan this week. Was so weird watching that bacon pop out of the kettle though.

[Carter]

Save me a bowl....love all things conch...having withdrawals up here in the mtns. I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas as a young child and have wonderful memories of diving for as many conch as we could get in gin clear water....we would have: cracked conch, salad, fritters, chowder, conch w/ eggs, etc....when we got tired of conch, we would spear as many lobster as we wanted.....ah, the good ole days!

[Lepus]

Carter is right, it's the moisture in the bacon evaporating violently. Good problem to have.

[Jason H]

It seems to me that for some reason, bacon comes to the market with more water weight than it used to. I have noticed in the last year or two that is more difficult to fry it crispy due to the water floating in the pan. Is this just me?

[Nmiller21k]

It seems to me that for some reason, bacon comes to the market with more water weight than it used to. I have noticed in the last year or two that is more difficult to fry it crispy due to the water floating in the pan. Is this just me?

More and more companies use a wet cure versus a dry cure.
Wet cure... more water.
Take it low and slow.

IF you want to get it crispy and not popping, put in enough water to cover the bacon, then let it cook out the water and the bacon will turn extra crispy.

[gladius]

More and more companies use a wet cure versus a dry cure.
Wet cure... more water.
Take it low and slow.

IF you want to get it crispy and not popping, put in enough water to cover the bacon, then let it cook out the water and the bacon will turn extra crispy.

—-
That’s how i do it, it renders the fat better too.

[Jason H]

Is water cure less expensive and if not, why is this done?

[gladius]

https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/f ... ing-bacon/

[Hari Itami]

Is water cure less expensive and if not, why is this done?

The bacon absorbs the water and since it is sold by weight, we, the consumers, pay more for less product.It’s why I look for dry cured bacon.

[Nmiller21k]

It's less expensive, you are buying water weight, and it's about 3 days to cure bacon via wet curing, or 11 days via dry.

[J david]

BTW, there is no such thing as "uncured" bacon. If it is not cured, it is not bacon. The curing process gives bacon it's characteristic flavor and color. This is achieved by the addition of sodium nitrate either applied dry or in a wet brine. The FDA will not allow a manufacturer to use the term "cured" as applied to meats unless a specific safe minimum (and maximum) amount of sodium nitrate is added to the product. Due to variances in sodium nitrate levels in natural products, the FDA requires the use of commercially produced sodium nitrate to insure safe levels for a cured meat. Since sodium nitrate has gotten a bad reputation as of late, manufacturers started using naturally occurring sodium nitrate and slapping a "un-cured bacon" label on the product to give the sense that it is better for you or that it doesn't contain nitrates. If you read the label carefully you will see that it indeed has sodium nitrate added in the form of natural products like celery powder or such. The commercially produced sodium nitrate and that found in celery are chemically identical.

[Robstreperous]

Such an eloquent reply --- I hate to interject but --- it's actually syntehtic sodium nitrites (from added sodium nitrates) we're looking to minimize due to their correlation withe certain forms of gastrointestinal cancer in certain populations.

At the end of the day our household doesn't consume so much that it would present a significant increase in risk whether we consumed it "cured" either way. However, taken as a set and series of mindful behaviours and what we hope are healthier choices it becomes a habit and is at minimum benign and hopefully helpful in the longer run.

Short form: Like chicken soup --- It couldn't hurt.

[J david]

I agree eating less cured food regardless of the source is a healthy choice. I was just trying to dispell the myth that Uncured bacon is healthier than cured bacon. There are a lot if marketing terms that give the illusion of a healthier product. These terms are not regulated and often have no definition beyond what the marketer wants you to believe. There may be science that says celery powder nitrates are healthier than commercially purified nitrates but I have not seen it. All the science I've read says there is no difference. This is an excerpt from University of Wisconsin meat science :

What are “Natural” Nitrates and
Nitrites?
Because nitrates and nitrites are considered so
important for safety, quality, and health by so many
people (the government, scientists, manufactures,
and many others), natural sources of these ingredi-
ents have been explored, identified, and success-
fully used to replace purified nitrate and nitrite.
Vegetables high in naturally accumulating nitrate
and nitrite (such as celery) are now commonly
used to cure meat products with a natural, plant-
based source for curing. Interesting, there is no
difference between purified or plant based nitrate
or nitrite. They are the exact same molecules...just
from a different source.
Unfortunately, because USDA labeling rules do not
yet exist for products cured using plant-based ni-
trate and nitrite, they are required to be labeled
“uncured”. As one would expect, it can be quite
confusing to find some products that are labeled
“uncured” yet having cured properties such as a
pink color. Updated labeling is being planned by
USDA to clarify this unfortunate confusion. How
can you tell if a meat product is cured using a puri-
fied or a natural source? If cured with a purified
source, you will seed the words “sodium nitrite” on
the label. If cured with a natural source, you will
see the words “celery powder” or other similar
vegetable ingredients on the label instead

[gladius]

...it's actually syntehtic sodium nitrites (from added sodium nitrates) we're looking to minimize due to their correlation withe certain forms of gastrointestinal cancer in certain populations.

At the end of the day our household doesn't consume so much that it would present a significant increase in risk whether we consumed it "cured" either way.

there's no proof of cancer risk from consuming sodium nitrite...

https://www.thespruce.com/sodium-nitrat ... cts-996129

[Robstreperous]

The funny thing here is.... in my household I'm generally considered the less rigorous one when it comes to food selection and diet ... I'm definitely no puritan in that regard. Heck... I'm the one who put the bacon in there in the first place. It's not like I was making a kale salad!

Think of it this way maybe... apologies if it's a little graphic.. no intention to be callous here.

If there's a bullet with your name on it it's going to get you one way or the other. But if you limit your exposure to guns your odds of getting shot certainly shouldn't go up.

[Nmiller21k]

To die from "cured" bacon
A person would have to eat 17 pounds of bacon a day for two weeks
It's pretty minimal

[jacko9]

To die from "cured" bacon
A person would have to eat 17 pounds of bacon a day for two weeks
It's pretty minimal

Ahh damm, now I'm going to have to cut back

[Robstreperous]

To die from "cured" bacon
A person would have to eat 17 pounds of bacon a day for two weeks
It's pretty minimal

Exactly my point. It's not any one thing. It's all of them together over time.