How does store-bought bacon/salo retain its pinkish colour when they cook/boil it? Homemade salo turns weirdly grey.

Question

This is what store bought looks like (also reference for westerners if they dunno what salo is):

https://www.nyerthus.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/D%C3%A9vay-cs%C3%A1sz%C3%A1rszalonna.jpg

Homemade ones seem far less colourful and grey.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

The pink depends on how it was cured. Raw pork is pink. Salt-cured pork is also pink when raw. When cooked they both turn grey.

However, you can also cure with sodium nitrate & nitrite, which makes it pink and keeps it there even after cooking. This is why bacon stays pink.

If you use paprika during the cure that will also turn everything red and won’t go away during cooking.