Cold smoke confusion

[lemans]

So you can't keep raw meat safely between
41-117 degrees in your smoker and salmon must be kept cold or it will be unsafe to eat ( unless you brine) so I can only cold smoke in the winter?

 

[atomicsmoke]

Would you leave your meat outside in the july-august sun for hours then consume it?

I cold smoke and dry meat only in the cold season. Which could be as long as 8 moths up here LOL.

 

[metrakay]

I've had a thought -- what about adding dry ice to the box -- how would that effect the smoke processes?

 

[lemans]

Make sence

 

[rgautheir20420]

Meat doesn't take smoke too well the colder the temps are. This is the reason that Cure #1 is added to most products that are to be cold smoked such as bacon and andouille. The cure helps protect the meat in that danger zone. I'm sure it's doable, but I'd imagine cold smoking at around fridge temps just takes a little longer.

 

[humdinger]

So you can't keep raw meat safely between

41-117 degrees in your smoker and salmon must be kept cold or it will be unsafe to eat ( unless you brine) so I can only cold smoke in the winter?

Unless something new has been published that I am unaware of; the danger zone is actually 40-140 F' , and you have about four hours to take the meat from 40-140 before it is considered unsafe.

Also if you can't get dry ice, another popular method is to fill old two liter soda bottles with water and freeze them. Once frozen, place them in the smoker to aide in keeping the temp down while cold smoking

I primarily cold smoke cheese and jerky (cured) so not sure what to tell you about uncured Salmon. As for other meats, I know many folks like to let a good steak sit out on the counter for a half hour or so to bring up to room temp before grilling (it promotes more even cooking). Based on that, I'll bet that if your smoker can be kept below 70 degrees for that time, there would be no harm in cold smoking that same steak for 30-45 minutes before throwing it on the grill. Just make sure your smoker grates are cleaned good before and after. If any out there disagrees, please chime in and set me straight!