A comparison of the sensory characteristics of plant-based, nitrite-free, dry-cured and brine-cured bacon rashers with temporal dominance of sensations and partial napping with ultra-flash profiling

• Plant-based bacon exhibited distinctive temporal and static sensory profiles • Plant-based samples were characterised as "artificial" and "grey" and "brown" in appearance • Curing technique (dry vs. brine) influenced the sensory profile of the bacon while nitrite removal had no impact • The need for qualitative techniques to assess novel and unfamiliar products emerged • "Saltiness" emerged as the attribute with the highest dominant rate for all the brine-cured samples