Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hyeon Een]

I want to make some ham. The meat is cheap as chips, about 4,000 won a kilo, but I can't find any of the chemicals which give ham (or bacon) its delightful pink colour (and kills botulism).

Does anyone know where I can buy curing salt, or straight up nitrites to make my own? (6%nitrite 94% salt).

I tried the baking market. I explained to a baking shop guy what chemical I wanted. He laughed and told me I'd need to order 20kg of it. Unless I make a year's supply of ham for the whole peninsula that will be an excessive amount.

Any leads? Anyone make their own ham or bacon?

I might try a straight up old fashioned non-chemical salt based wet-cure instead, but I'm kinda scared of botulism. And it'll be grey instead of delicious pink.

Anyone know where I can get the chemicals I want in small enough amounts? Is there by chance a meat curing district in Seoul?

[guava]

I know a couple that have a Elementary school age child that has leukemia.
I googled nitrate health and came up with numerous reports linking childhood leukemia (and other diseases) with nitrate consumption.

Food for thought...

Nitrate news and articles
http://www.naturalnews.com/GoogleSearchResults.html?q=nitrates&cx=010579349100583850635%3Aw_kzwe9_yca&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8#0

Above list of links includes...

How to give yourself cancer in five easy steps
http://www.naturalnews.com/002079_cancer_disease_preventions.html

If you're aiming for a raging case of cancer, the first thing you've got to do is start consuming food ingredients that actually promote cancer. One of the most powerful cancer-promoting food ingredients of all is called sodium nitrate.

[Hyeon Een]

Hmmm so.. Traditional salt methods + pink food coloring and skip the chemicals instead? I'm still scared of botulism haha..

[Jane]

Guava has it right. You should run from nitrates. Not something you want in your body. When I was in Canada recently (and able to read all the ingredients on packages), I was astounded at how many products use nitrates.

[interestedinhanguk]

[Diqquad]

More nonsense. I will continue eating ham, bacon and green leafy vegetables just like people have done for years.

I'll have a good few pints everyday and smoke cigs too.

[pkang0202]

I would pay someone good money for salty, country ham.

[interestedinhanguk]

[PCRamplified]

Nitrates are a controversial topic. If I remember correctly from class, back in the 70s? 80s? There were congressional hearings concerning the use of various food additives thought to be harmful and the FDA banned many of them. Nitrates managed to avoid the axe, even though there was substantial evidence linking them to increased cancer risk, principally because of concerns about botulism and because they had been in use for so many years. We were told that many EU countries have banned (or strictly limited?) the use of nitrates, and that they do have a higher rates of botulism poisoning. It seems a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation to me, you've gotta decide what you would rather take a risk on. (My guess in the case of ham: botulism. It can only grow in an anaerobic environment, which will only occur down in the meat (unless you're wrapping the whole thing in plastic or something). Most of the microbes inhabiting the meat will be found on the surface unless you are stabbing things into it or otherwise introducing bacteria into the interior of the meat.)

I enjoy a good slice of ham from time to time and don't worry about nitrates too much. I don't eat hot dogs or sausages, or bacon though. The only other kind of processed meat I will eat is deli turkey, and I do worry a little about the nitrates in that since I eat it a lot more than I eat ham.

[guava]

I forgot to mention in my first post that the number one food consumed by the kid with leukemia is meat that is processed with nitrates.

Thats why I googled nitrate health.

[bossam]

im going to bump this up. does anyone know where to get some?!?

[somethinginmovement]

guava, I'm in no way supporting chemical nitrates, but you have to be weary of the correlation here. You mention the child with leukemia eats primarily cured meats, but what is the quality of the meat consumed? Where are these hogs from, what are they fed, what is the condition of the (probably factory) in which they are raised, etc.? And unfortunately, in North America, the consumption of cured meats such as ham, bacon, and the like often correlate with increased amounts of junk food intake, as bacon is delicious and associated with unhealthy eating, just like other junk such as white flour and sugar.

It's an interesting concept, and I generally avoid sodium nitrate/nitrite-cured meats for a myriad of reasons, but blindly accepting correlations of A->B without considering C (or any of the other letters of the alphabet, for that matter) is why the conclusions made in garbage like The China Study are so widely accepted. All I'm saying is that there are plenty of other factors to take into account.

Despite this, I'm weary of modern curing methods, but would gladly accept a traditionally-cured slice of pork. Conclusion: you want ham? Cure it.

[Hyeon Een]

[alljokingaside]

Salts? no.
Real ham? Yes. Costco has Black Forest Ham on sale for a slightly bloated price (something like 14K), but oh is it worth it.

[matthews_world]

I usually make ham & beans with the Costco Kirkland ham steaks in the winter. This dish can also be pureed down to make refried beans.

Make sure you soak the pinto beans overnight. The worthless beans will float.

Good stuff.

Actually, the Costco Hormel brand of ham slices claim to be nitrate, gluten & MSG free with a small amount of sodium which preserves the product.

If you all don't have the luxury of having a Costco near you, check out EZShopKorea. They'll shop for what you want and you pay shipping.