Cured meats span a surprisingly wide range, from everyday bacon and deli ham to specialty charcuterie like prosciutto and bresaola. Any meat preserved through salting, brining, smoking, fermenting, or drying qualifies as cured. That includes pork, beef, poultry, fish, and even game meats.
Cured Pork
Pork dominates the world of cured meats. The most common examples include bacon (cured pork belly), ham, prosciutto, pancetta, and coppa. Country ham and its European counterparts, including Parma ham, Serrano ham, Bayonne ham, and Westphalian ham, are all dry-cured from whole legs of pork and aged for months or even years. Capocollo (also called capicola) comes from the pork neck and shoulder, while pancetta is cured pork belly that’s rolled rather than smoked like bacon.
On the fermented side, many familiar salamis are pork-based: Genoa salami, sopressata, pepperoni, chorizo, and saucisson. These go through a controlled fermentation process where lactic acid bacteria lower the pH, creating their characteristic tangy flavor and firm texture. Summer sausage, Lebanon bologna, and the German-style landjäger also fall into this category.
Cured Beef
Beef curing typically starts with tougher, more flavorful cuts. Corned beef is made from brisket, round, rump, or similar cuts soaked in a salt and spice brine. Pastrami begins the same way but adds smoking and a peppery spice crust. Bresaola, an Italian specialty, is air-dried lean beef (usually top round) that’s sliced paper-thin and served raw.
Dried beef, beef jerky, and biltong (a South African dried meat) are all cured through salting and dehydration. Basturma, popular in Middle Eastern and Central Asian cuisines, is air-dried beef coated in a thick paste of spices. Beef prosciutto follows the same basic technique as its pork counterpart but uses beef eye of round.
Cured Poultry, Fish, and Game
Poultry curing is less traditional but well established. Turkey ham is made from boneless turkey thigh meat that’s cured and sometimes smoked. Turkey jerky and turkey pepperoni are common as well. Duck prosciutto, made by salt-curing a duck breast and hanging it to dry, has become a staple on charcuterie boards.
Fish curing has deep roots in many cultures. Lox is salmon belly cured in a salt brine, traditionally for about three months. Gravlax follows a similar approach but uses a cure of salt, sugar, and fresh dill, sometimes with juniper berries or aquavit. Smoked salmon is first salt-cured, then either cold-smoked or hot-smoked. Nova lox combines both methods: the salmon is cured and then smoked. Smoked mackerel, kippered herring, and salt cod are other widely available cured fish.
Game meats can be cured too. Venison jerky and venison biltong are popular examples, and droëwors (a South African dried sausage) is sometimes made from game. Pemmican, a traditional food of Indigenous peoples in North America, combines dried meat with rendered fat and sometimes berries.
How Curing Actually Works
All curing methods work by making meat inhospitable to bacteria. Salt draws moisture out of the meat and creates an environment where most harmful microorganisms can’t survive. Nitrites and nitrates, the other key curing agents, serve a dual purpose: they block the growth of dangerous bacteria like the one that causes botulism, and they react with the pigment in muscle tissue to create the characteristic pink-red color you see in ham, bacon, and salami. Without nitrites, cured meat would turn an unappetizing gray-brown.
Fermented meats add another layer of protection. Beneficial bacteria produce acid during fermentation, dropping the pH low enough to inhibit pathogens. Drying removes even more moisture, which is why products like jerky and biltong can last so long.
The “Uncured” Label Is Misleading
If you’ve seen packages labeled “uncured” or “no nitrates or nitrites added,” the product inside is still cured. These meats use celery powder or celery juice instead of synthetic sodium nitrite. Celery contains about 2.75% nitrates by weight, and when combined with a bacterial starter culture during manufacturing, those nitrates convert to nitrites, doing the same chemical work as the synthetic version.
Current USDA rules require products made this way to carry the “uncured” label and a disclaimer in fine print that reads something like “except those naturally occurring in celery powder.” Consumer surveys have shown this labeling confuses people into thinking the product is nitrate-free, when it isn’t. A petition to the USDA has asked the agency to stop requiring these misleading labels, but the rules haven’t changed yet.
Shelf Life and Storage
Not all cured meats need refrigeration. Fermented products like hard salami, pepperoni, and sopressata are typically shelf-stable at room temperature, as are salt-cured whole muscles like prosciutto and country ham (before slicing) and dried products like jerky and biltong. Shelf stability depends on the meat having low enough moisture and acidity to prevent bacterial growth during storage.
Once sliced or opened, though, most cured meats should be refrigerated. Bacon, deli ham, and other wet-cured products always need refrigeration. Vacuum-sealed whole-muscle cured meats last longest, while sliced products from an open package are best consumed within a few days.
Health Considerations
The World Health Organization classifies processed meat, which includes all cured meats, as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence that it causes cancer in humans. Specifically, the link is to colorectal cancer: an analysis of 10 studies estimated that eating 50 grams of processed meat daily (roughly two slices of bacon or one hot dog) increases colorectal cancer risk by about 18%. The risk climbs with the amount consumed, and the available data hasn’t established a safe threshold.
This doesn’t mean cured meats are as dangerous as other Group 1 carcinogens like tobacco. The classification reflects the strength of the evidence that a link exists, not how large the risk is. A WHO recommendation from 2002 suggests that people who eat meat should moderate their intake of processed varieties. For context, 50 grams a day means eating cured meat at nearly every meal, so occasional consumption represents a much smaller increase in absolute risk.