I guess it may be because it's not ground like a sausage would be. However when I cure pork loin for smoked back bacon it does use curing salt.
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That process requires sodium nitrate or nitrite....not just salt. Good luck
I think it was last year I saw a good video of a smokehouse in the states that used only salt and brown sugar for their cure to make bacon, so it can be done without nitrites or nitrates. I finally found it on line, it's a good watch. Looks like they do their hams the same way.
https://www.eater.com/2019/2/18/1822...-process-video
Cheers
You should have a humidity chamber to grow the proper mold on it if not using nitrates. And I think you are making venison prosciutto, not pastrami....
You said “from what I’ve read”....you need to read more....
Never mind GW ...I see that the people ( inBosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro) who inventing the process didn't have fancy 'humidity chambers'....they used mother nature HaHa..
Quote:
The cuts are first brined in solution of salt and garlic (locally "salamura"), to enhance flavor and help preservation, commonly together with continental-style bacon ("slanina" locally), lardon (also called "slanina", sometimes "white bacon" or "soap bacon") and ribs. Then they are cured by hanging them in freezing winter winds, over a smoldering lumber (smoke being essential part of the flavor) for typically up to two months, because the freezing continental temperatures and lack of insects in the winter help curing and preservation. The smolder is occasionally extinguished completely to expose the meat fully to the freezing wind.