them off clean with a sponge and rub them
with oil. Then hang them in smoke for two
days, and on the third day rub them with a
mixture of vinegar and oil.
Then hang them in the meat house, and
neither bats nor worms will touch them.
— Cato, On Agriculture, 50 BCE
Bacon, to dry: Cut the Leg with a piece of
the Loin (of a young Hog) then with
Saltpeter, in fine Pouder and brown Sugar
mix’d together, rub it well daily for 2 or 3
days, after which salt it well; so will it look
red: let it lye for 6 or 8 Weeks, then hang it
up (in a drying-place) to dry.
— William Salmon, The Family
Dictionary: Or, Household Companion,
London, 1710
Nitrate and nitrite can react with other
food components to form possible cancer-
causing nitrosamines. This risk now appears
to be small (p. 125). Nevertheless, residual
nitrate and nitrite in cured meats is limited to
barry
(Barry)
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