pink curing salts

they (Ruhlman and Polcyn) discuss it at length. it's not weird or unnatural, it's what is used in curing regularly.  used to be salt-petre, which varied in concentration. 

it's necessary to use pink salts if you want the truly cured texture and flavor that comes with it.  you can cure with salt alone, but you don't get the same product.  and that's fine.  prosciutto is salt cured.  but it is not at all like a brine-cured city ham.  and both of those are different from a country ham, which can be dry-cured with salt alone, or a combination of both

ruhlman makes a great case for their use.  it's not correct to toss them out entirely based on all the internet chatter about nitrites/nitrate.  some studies actually show they are healthy.

in the end, do what you feel comfortable doing.  but in a purely practical snse, you can't really have 'bacon' like you are familiar with, without using nitrites.  even the organic "no nitrites added" bacon for sale at Whole Foods and the like is cured with nitrites.  they use celery powder, which is high in nitrite just like celery is.

if you like celery, spinach, carrots etc., you are already 'enjoying' nitrite.  in some cases there's less nitrite in many cures than there is found in some vegetables

even cheaper.  these guys are GREAT.  fast shipping, very cheap.

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=237_12&zenid=ccd045224474cc2bb91c8878f7d26040

you want the pink salts.  they refer to it as DQ curing salt.  it's also referred to elsewhere as DQ#1, or Prague Powder #1

it is a very small percentage of the actual nitrite mixed with much more kosher salt.  this is because the stuff (nitrite alone) is pretty powerful, and measured incorrectly could be toxic.  it is colored pink (with beet juice i think) so that it will not be confused with regular kosker salt, since otherwise it would look the same.

holy smokes.  i went to their web page.  they are correct that #1 is for quick cures and #2 for dry-cured stuff that is to be aged... but they have the pictures reversed with the description.

big mound of pink salts with the description "#2 cure" under it.

that's a big mistake...

Didnt mean to scare anyone. Just weird that they have a pic of pink salts and called it no.2. So, like, if i ordered it, whichwould i get? They are similar but the difference is critical

Zackly. I didnt mean you goofed, but just thought for a second that a first timer might order straightaway without knowing, and get the wrong thing

If you live near an " Academy Sports " you can get the pink salt during Deer season.