What's Inside SPAM with Bacon

It's a match made in chemical heaven ... the combination of two of the most delicious substances in the Universe. Behold, SPAM With Bacon!

Patrick Di Justo of Wired Science explains what exactly is in this magical concoction:

“The cured belly of a swine carcass,” says the USDA. “Mmmm, bacon,” says most of America. Large-scale curing is usually done by injecting a brine solution into the belly of a butchered swine. The brine contains sodium erythorbate, an antioxidant that’s chemically similar to vitamin C. But it’s not here to prevent scurvy; instead it boosts the conversion of the sodium nitrite in bacon into nitric oxide, which minimizes the production of carcinogens when the pork belly is fried up. The brining increases the meat’s weight by 12 percent, but a trip through a 128-degree smokehouse dries the bellies back to their original weight, ready to be combined with the pork and ham in this canned pigfest.

Link - via Discover's 80beats

Do we have Bacon and SPAM stuff on the NeatoShop? Of course we do! 

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"Large-scale curing is usually done by injecting a brine solution into the belly of a butchered swine."

That really isn't how you make bacon. Well it's how you make cheap modern mass produced bacon. Manufacturers and vendors like it because it pumps up the volume of meat with liquid so the rashers look big and the shopper seems to be getting a lot of meat for their money. However when cooked the meat loses a load of mass as the liquid cooks away.

Traditional Bacon properly done is dry cured and as such liquid leaches away during curing. Not only does dry cured bacon taste better, but if you weigh the cooked product you will find that wet cured bacon is actually a false economy.
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