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Bacon Curing Systems: From Antiquity till Now.

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Bacon Curing Systems: From antiquity till Now.
Eben van Tonder
18 June 2021
(Revised 4 June 2023)

Introduction

In the development of bacon curing technology, four iconic curing methods stand between the old dry-cured system and the modern system of the direct addition of nitrites to curing brines and the latest development which is the fermentation of meat creating nitric oxide directly from L-Arginine without the use of nitrate or nitrite. In my book on the history of bacon curing technology, Bacon & the Art of Living, the following chapters are dedicated to these different systems of curing.

In my book, I presented the story in narrative form. This style may be annoying to some but it proved to be a very useful investigative technique as it forced me to think through every process in the 1st person and allowed me to see relationships between seemingly unconnected bits of technology in a completely new and holistic way. By, as it were, “living in the moment,” I gained insights I would never have seen if I simply reported the features of each system separately.

Bacon by Robert Goodrich. A man who inspires me more than he can imagine!

The Progression of Curing Systems

Here are different chapters that deal with the various stages in the progression of curing systems.

– Dry Cured Bacon

The bacon curing system existed for hundreds of years and included only dry ingredients and later dry ingredients with wet brine added.

– The Empress of Russia’s Brine

During the time of Catherine, the Great of Russia, salt was heavily taxed. She had a lively interest in the latest developments in food technology and the excessive cost of salt was a major concern for her. It was under her rule that she or someone in her court suggested that instead of discarding old used brine, the brine should be boiled, impurities removed, and it should be used repeatedly. Her brine, called the Empress of Russia’s Brine contained salt, sugar and saltpetre. Bacterial reduction of saltpetre (nitrates) to nitrites in the old brine would have caused the curing of subsequent batches to be sped up considerably.

Westphalia hams were famous for their use of the Empress of Russia’s brine from a time before it was introduced in Ireland and the cold smoking process which was unlike anything being done at the time when “chimney smoking” was the order of the day.

– Mild Cured Bacon

Mild Cured Bacon is the industrialisation of bacon production. Invented by William Oake in Northern Ireland some time before 1837, a key concept namely the re-use of the old brine was a progression of the Russian brine of Catherine.

William Oake’s main progression of Catherina the Great’s brine was “not to boil” the brine between batches and all that was required was to replenish the salt, sugar and nitrates (saltpetre) as was prescribed by Catherine the Great. Interestingly enough, he managed to eliminate curing from a technical perspective by adding sal prunella to the brine which contains sulphites. The result was preservation, but not through curing. The bacteria were impacted by the sulphites and nitrate was not reduced to nitrite. This reduction happens microbially or through enzymes in mammalian physiology. In curing, these enzymes are active in bacteria which reduces the amino acids in the meat protein. This is unfortunately a long process as is witnessed in dry-cured systems where only salt is used. So, in Oake’s system curing did not take place and his bacon was pale.

At the time (mid-1800s) in the UK, a lot of work was done to convince the public that “paled bacon is healthy bacon”. One of the biggest curers to have ever lived, Aron Vecht, described why this was seen as healthier in an interview which I publish in “Interview with Aron Vecht 1894.” He lived through these marketing campaigns as a child in London and he reflects on this in his interview.

Bacteriology was in its infancy and the dissemination of knowledge of them was not universal and in England, the mechanisms and chemistry in curing and the effect of bacteria on the process were poorly understood as you will see if you read Vechts interview. The result of all of this was, as impactful as Oake’s system was on industrialising bacon production, the result was pale bacon.

– Sweet Cured Bacon

Invented by Harris in Calne, early in the 1840s, the “sweet” in the name for the system and Oake’s “mild” refers to the same thing namely a less harsh salty taste. Both Harris and Oake, at around the same time addressed the same issue in two different ways. Harris did not reuse the old brine but a combination of smokehouse development, the inclusion of brine soaking in the curing process and the injection of meat allowed them to reduce the salt levels, yielding a “sweeter”, less salty brine.

– Pale Dried Bacon and Wiltshire Curing or Tank Cured Bacon

Pale dried bacon was invented under John Harris in Calne in the 1890s and without a doubt in response to the success of mild cured bacon by William Oake and the marketing campaigns which persuaded the public that pale bacon is healthier bacon. In pale dried bacon, the bacon is dried without smoking it. Over time the curers in Wiltshire with the help of work from the University of Bristol “corrected” the Oake system by removing the sulphites and further used the system almost completely unchanged which yielded what became known as Wiltshire curing or Tank curing in the closing years of the 1800s or early 1900s.

Wiltshire Cured and Ice-Cured Bacon

Before the Wiltshire cure was firmly established, the Harris operation launched Ice Cured bacon which incorporates refrigeration technology into meat curing.

– Auto Cured-, Rapid Cured- and Tank Cured Bacon

Auto curing was invented by William Harwood Oake, the son of William Oake from Limerick in Ireland who invented mild curing. William Harwood Oake brought mild curing to England when he opened a curing operation with two partners in Gillingham, Dorset. He invented auto curing which is a progression of Rapid Cure invented by Robert Davison, an Englishman working in America.

– The Vecht’s Curing Method and Mild Curing by Henry Denny

Henry Denny from Ireland invented a mechanical method of singeing pork and used refrigeration to achieve less salty bacon. His process was effectively copied by the Dutch Orthodox Jewish master curer, Aron Vecht, who incorporated this into the Oake’s system, retaining the use of sal prunella and yielding pale meat. His intention was not always to produce bacon as he was responsible for supplying what was called mess pork to the shipping industries. He used the system to create bacon also and established curing operations and bacon brands in New Zealand and Australia. He did not only copy but also made important progressions based on the use of refrigeration.

– The Direct Addition of Nitrite

The work thus far was focussing on an “indirect” formation of nitrite. Ladislav NACHMÜLLNER invented the first curing brine legally sold containing sodium nitrites directly in 1915 in Prague. The system was made popular around the globe by the Griffiths Laboratories. The direct addition of nitrites to curing Brines is covered in two chapters namely:

– Grid Bacon

A system pioneered in Germany in the early 2000s. This final article of interest is not part of Bacon & the Art of Living, but it fits here because it represents the latest thinking about the most modern curing system.

– Bacterial Fermentation of Meat

Where nitrite was previously accessed in England through brine fermentation, it has been discovered in recent years that bacteria are able to ferment the meat itself and create Nitric Oxide from the proteins in the meat to effect curing. I dealt with this probably the most extensively in Chapter 02.00: The Curing Molecule.

Doing this summary made me realise that I need to add the following chapters.

  • A chapter dealing with the quest to “commercialise” a brine system using bacterial fermentation. Together with Richard Bosman in a South African company we appropriately called Oake Woods (Pty) Ltd, we are actively involved in this pursuit.
  • I realise that I also must do a chapter dealing with plant-based curing where nitrate is accessed through bacteria to produce nitrite and thus cure meat. There are major benefits to this system, but Richard and I are not satisfied with it but seek to provide nitrite-free bacon through continued bacterial action. Like the fermentation brine, our work is housed in Oake Woods. We commercialise this through BeetBacon.

From Antiquity Till Now: Health Considerations and History

The final chapters of Bacon & the Art of Living put the health considerations and the future development of bacon in perspective. Even though Richard and I are heavily involved in creating nitrite-free bacon, the fact is that nitrite itself is not something to be frowned upon under all circumstances. In the closing chapters, I deal head-on with this matter and provide the vision and road map to changing bacon into a super-food.

The Story of Bacon

I summarise the development of curing in one chapter in Bacon &the Art of Living:

Generally, what you have in Bacon & the Art of Living is the most complete work on the history of bacon in existence! I have to say something about the plotline. The story takes place in the 2000s with each character referring to a real person and actual events. The theme is a kind of “steampunk” where modern mannerisms, speech, clothes and practices are superimposed on a historical setting. The characters are modern people, most of whom are based on real people and they interact with old historical figures with all the historical and cultural bias that goes with this. As the title indicates, it is far more than only the history of bacon as it relates these events to a personal quest to find purpose in life through the pursuit of bacon. In the process family, friends and concepts such as nationalism and faith are examined in a way relevant to the pursuit of excellence.

The index page to Bacon & the Art of Living: Bacon & the Art of Living

“Canadian Bacon” by Kevin Clees. A master at the art and a true inspiration!

Please make contact!

Any contributions or comments can be directed to me at:

Email: ebenvt@gmail.com
Phone Number and Whatsapp: +27 71 545 3029
Cape Town
South Africa

The complete history of bacon.

Meat-on-Meat Injection for Bacon and Ham Production: Injection for Profit and Taste

eben van tonder best bacon on earth, meat-on-meat injection, reformed bacon , , , , , , , ,

Meat-on-Meat Bacon and Ham:  Injection for Profit and Taste
Eben van Tonder
December 2020

Introduction

After many years in the bacon industry, and working on sausage technology, I was able to conceptualise a complete bacon line, almost fully automated, exploiting a selection of different equipment and sets of technoligy, and in cooperation with a few key players in the industry, to design a bacon line which will deliver volume, at a cost never achieved before.

The new technology will, for example, make vastly reduced nitrite and possibly nitrite free bacon a reality which is not based on smoking-mirrors, as is currently wide spread in offerings to consumers. Plant based brines are used where nitrites are produced by the plants in large concentrations due to how the plants are cultivated and by exploiting loopholes in legislagion, producers are not declaring the nitrites since they did not add chemical nitrites. They only declare the plant juices but do not have to say that by adding these, the also added extraordinary additional quantities of nitrites.

New technology we are working with makes it possible to produce bacon with either very low nitrite levels or, possibly even, removing it completely. (Removal of Nitrite from Meat Curing Systems)

The fact that the system we are conceptualising is continus with minimal handling becomes a powerful hurdle against clostridium and botulinum poisoning which is the reason why nitrites is allowed in meat.

The main contribution I want to focus on here is, however, the possibility for meat-on-meat injection with a scope of application that has not been possible before. Further, I want to put it in the context of the best bacon system on earth since it is only one additional building block to a complete system.

Much of the thinking was inspired by sausage technology.

From Sausage Technology – Back to Bacon

I have been working most of 2020 on fine meat emulsions (Nose-to-Tail and Root-to-Tip: Re-Thinking Emulsions). Most of my work was on re-working the formulation. I started by grouping the different chemical reactions together along with ingredients which links to the reactions. From this I produce a number of emulsions (emulsions is an old and incorrect industry term – meat paste is more accurate). The different pastes are created seperate using the new super emulsification system. The different pastes are then combined through a mixing step, where spices and showpieces are also added. It was during this phase of trails, creating the different meat pasts, when I bacame aware of the possibility to apply the technology to reduced nitrite or even nitrite free curing systems.

After blending, we move to filling through a filler and a hanging line into a continuous smoking system. No trollys required. The sausages goes in on the one end, are dried, smoked and schillied in one continuas system and comes out on the other end at 4 deg C and packed immediately. It easily adds another hour production time, reduce staff cost and handling and improves product quality, consistency and safety! On the back end, we are looking at continuous and automated packing solution and a man who designed and implemented one of the largest of these lines in the world will be assisting me.

The Relevance to Bacon

I started my career in meat processing as a bacon man and as I was working today, I thought about BACON! The applications of what I learned this year are enormous.

  • Meat-on-Meat Injection, through the use of the super emulsifier, becomes the most obvious application in brine injection. Inject lower cost trim with spices added into whole meat muscles. Around the world, super quality meats are produced using the general concept of injecting meat into meat. It has, however, never been this easy or commercially viable! The list of possible raw materials used for such injection is also tremendously expanded.
  • In formulating the brine, we are able to use components such as tendon and rinds which for the first time is now injectable! Other systems exist, but not one as simple, clean and wide in application as this one.

Below I introduce you to the equipment which will produce the brine. This innovation may very well be the biggest breakthrough in brine technology over the past 100 years since the direct addition of nitrites to curing brines. (Best Bacon and Rib System on Earth)

Meat-on-Meat

We can now continue to place the new technology in the context of the broader bacon system.

  • The injected bacon logs are rested and loaded into bacon grids which we designed (Best Bacon and Rib System on Earth). We opted for individual baskets which are filled and pressed individually after which the entire log with the basket can be loaded into the smoking/ cooking/ freezing chamber. It will be easy to see how it works if you study the baskets and the pressing system shown in Best Bacon and Rib System on Earth. The fact that the baskets are ONLY removed at the end of the line, after freezing, speeds the smoking and freezing process up due to the effect of the stainless steel and its thermal properties.
  • The same approach to the continues drying, smoking, cooling of the sausages has been adapted with a freezing step at the back. It is envisaged that bacon logs will be de-gritted at slicing temperatures or slightly above if manual Treif-type slicers are used. An automated de-grid system is being designed that must allow the grids to slide into the system which removes the lid from the basket, tips the basket over for the bacon log to fall out from where it moves directly to the slicer or, alternatively, to a boxing station where they are boxed and palletised before storage in a freezer for later slicing.
  • The basket are then either sent to the manual cleaning station or into an automated high pressure spray cleaning system.
  • Slicing/ packing solutions have been developed over the years which makes automated slicing and packing possible with minimal human handling. Several very good system is available commercially.

Pasteurisation?

The one major issue I don’t have clarity on is Pasteurisation. High-Pressure Pasteurisation, for all its claims, does not seem to add up to a viable investment compared to heating systems (PPP) which can be constructed in-house or at much lower cost by contractors. This is the consensus opinion of production managers from around the world whom I consulted on the matter. I have had no time to look in more detail into the matter myself. The fact is that some form of eliminating contamination during packing should be part of the total system. The effectiveness vs total cost of ownership of the different systems must be thoroughly understood. Systems working with light and ultrasound should also be considered and combination systems. I would love to receive comments and input on this matter especially from production managers. In South Africa, there seems to be a wholesale rush to HPP, but I am not convinced. It may be, but I would love to see the data for myself and get more input from production managers and business owners with first hand experience.

Conclusion

I feature new technology in terms of brine preparation, but set out new thinking about drying, smoking, chilling and freezing through one of the most advanced Smokehouse producers in Europe. We developed a bacon grid system which fully integrates into this drying, smoking, chilling and freezing system and skilled designers are completing the work by focussing on an automated offloading and de-gritting system from where the bacon will either be sliced or stored.

The possibility exist to use the new brine preparation technology featured here, to create vastly reduces nitrite or even, possibly, nitrite free curing systems.

All-in-all, claiming that this is the most advanced system on earth is not an exaggeration!

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