Cold Smoke Questions

[deanoaz]

Okay, I read all the forum posts about making bacon.  But, what I keep running into is the term "cold smoked it for XX hours".  I read other posts for gradually increasing the temp's from cold smoking to higher temp's.  I am a newbie to this and don't really have an understanding of what cold smoke means.  What is the temperature range of cold smoking?  I have read about bacon smoking with starting temp's of 180 and up.  Please help me understand "cold smoking" better!

 

 

[linguica]

Cold smoking means to keep the temperature under 100 deg F. Cold smoked meats must be cured in a rub or brine containing  pink salt to inhibit bacteria growth first. In most areas cold smoking in Fall-Winter time practice.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I just smoked 12 lbs of Bacon 2 weeks ago. 10 hours of Cold Smoke...10 hours with the smoker off and interior at Ambient temp, I used an AMNPS Pellet Smoke Generator. It was 70*F all day. Cold smoke is basically anything below 100*F. Used for Belly Bacon, Cheese and a few traditional cured meats like Speck. Done this way the Bacon is Smoked but not cooked at all. Some people will gradually raise the smoker temps to get the Belly Bacon, Canadian Bacon, Hams and Smoked Cured Sausage up to an internal temp of 145 to 165*F so it is Ready To Eat without further cooking...JJ

 

[diggingdogfarm]

In a nutshell.....
Folks define cold smoking differently, I'm with those who define it as smoking at to no more than 75 degrees, definitely no more than 85 degrees because fish begins to cook at about that temp!!!!!!!
The main advantage to cold smoking is flavor.
Smoke penetrates the meat much better.
Hot smoking bacon is insane, IMHO. :biggrin:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking

HTH

~Martin

 

[smokinhusker]

When I first started curing bacon, like you I didn't know which would be better - hot smoking it or cold smoking it - I eventually tried both methods and for myself it's cold smoking. I like the texture of the finished product and can fry it as much as I want. 

Try both methods and see which you prefer. Just remember if you cold smoke it, you have to cook it.

 

[brentforsberg]

You mentioned pink salt is needed for curing for a cold smoke.  Is there any way to cure without using a salt that has Nitrates in it?

 

[deanoaz]

These posts filled in the gaps of my bacon smoking education.  You're right, I have heard all methods of smoking, from purely cold to cold ramped up into a hot smoke to take it up to IT of 165 degrees, for full ready-to-eat.  I guess I can see the logic in doing a long cold smoke, to develop the flavor, then ramping it up to 165.  Logically, that sounds like you get the best flavor at the beginning.  It would seem to me that this would work best in making Canadian bacon, so that you can pull it out of the fridge and eat it like cold cuts.  But, hey, who the hell am I to know (still a newbie).