Can bacon (or curing salt) react with metal cooling rack?

[frayedend]

I just finished cold smoking some bacon. It had cured for about 9 days (EQ) and I put it on a cooling rack on a sheet pan in my fridge to form a pellicle for a day. Today I threw it on the smoker to cold smoke for about 7 hours. I left it on the cooling rack and put it in the smoker.

I believe my cooling rack is stainless but I can't be sure. It's shiny silver but I bought it years ago. Anyhow when I was washing it there was an odd metallic smell that won't go away completely. I noticed some dark spots on the fat on my bacon. Also some dark lines on the bacon where the cooling rack wires would have been. I assumed this was just some ash or smoke accumulation. But after the weird smell from the wire rack I'm not so sure. I cut off the dark spots and put in the fridge to rest. I'm sure the bacon will be fine but I definitely want to avoid this issue.

Anyone ever have something like this happen?

 

[IamMadMan]

Salt can react with aluminum. Even ionized aluminum can have a reaction with salt.

Your best bet is to use a non-reactive container (Glass, Stainless, or non-porous plastic.

Ziplock bags, Vac-seal bags, and plastic food film also will work just fine.


Baking cooling raks can be made from aluminum, but if your cooling rack is shiny; it's probably not aluminum, but rather chromium plated. Can't say what went wrong without being there.


We all learn from our mistakes, and mistakes of others. Give curing another try.

 

[thirdeye]

I've never noticed a weird smell from a rack. Sometimes the seasoning on cast iron skillets will have an off odor if it has not been used for a while.

Likewise, i've never had a color transfer from a rack to any food and if you rinsed/soaked your bacon before letting the pellicle form there should be minimal surface salt on it.

Some stainless alloys are magnetic, and some are not. About the easiest trick is to check it with a magnet, and if it is non-magnetic you have stainless. The next thing is that stainless is not actually stain proof, it just stains less than say carbon steel.