I found skinned pork belly at Costco today for just over $2 a pound. I'm very excited to make my own bacon again.
Although you can make cured meat without pink salt (nitrates), there is a very good reason to put it in. It severely retards bacterial growth. You could get ill if you don't use it. It also keeps it a pretty color, but that's a secondary concern.
+1 to that!
I've made "gray" bacon without nitrates and while it tastes really good (reminds me of the bacon my grandmother used to get) it doesn't look good and I would be wary of leaving it too long before eating it.
+2.
Technically, you can do salt/sugar only cure on whole muscle meats (bacon, coppa, etc.) and the chances of getting botulism are quite miniscule. I have no concerns about someone doing a salt-cured pork belly, smoking it, freezing it, and calling it bacon. However, I would never, ever, ever do a long dry cured sausage like salami, etc. without pink salt/Instacure #2.
I take issue with the "nitrates and other artificial ingredients" fear mongering around cured meats. You know what contains a TON of nitrates? Celery. Beets, lettuce and arugula are also particularly high in nitrate. When you see hippie "uncured" bacon or hot dogs at the supermarket, that bacon or hot dog is
lying to you. All those products are nitrate/nitrite cured through the use of celery powder or celery salt. So instead of a highly consistent product with a known quantity of added nitrite, the companies are using a natural "sounding" equivalent source of nitrate, which breaks down into nitrite at levels which may or may not be consistent, and may or may not actually leave more nitrites in the cured meat than the "big scary chemical" would have in the first place.
Lies! Damned expensive, hippie-manipulating lies!
Okay, I'm done. Bacon is awesome.