Warm Smoked Bacon Question

[rvachewlover]

Hi All,

Yet another bacon question. I've been smoking a cured belly at 115 (lowest I can get the offset to go). Is this a safe temp to smoke and then eat at? It's cured, it's about 4 weeks past the sell by date and didn't have a whiff of spoilage before the smoker.

Thanks

 

[BigW.]

At that low temp you will still need to fry/cook the bacon before eating.

 

[rvachewlover]

At that low temp you will still need to fry/cook the bacon before eating.

Thanks BigW - I was planning on slicing and frying as needed!

 

[DougE]

You do not need to take bacon to a safe eating temp. (145°) so long as you're cooking it before consuming.

 

[Winterrider]

You do not need to take bacon to a safe eating temp. (145°) so long as you're cooking it before consuming.

We had a little discussion on this about ring sausages, chorizo, etc., whether it had to be taken to safe eating temp. A few say if smoking for just a couple hrs, then cooling, wrapping, freezing and then cooking before eating,your good to go. They don't take theirs to 160° or even probe at all. I've been cold smoking most of mine so I was out of the realm. ??? Right or wrong

 

[DougE]

Ain't wrong with cured bacon to cold smoke only so long as the end product is brought to safe cooked temps before consuming.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Or held at a certain temp for certain amount of time for pasteurization. I didn't go look but if not mistaken there's times and temps in sausage section if I recall correctly...please correct me if I'm wrong. Of course ground meat is different than whole muscle meat. Would belly be considered whole muscle?

Ryan

 

[DougE]

Would belly be considered whole muscle?

Yes.

 

[SmokinAl]

The 40-140 rule does not apply to cured meat, the temp you are smoking it at is just fine. As said above you will need to fry it up before eating it. But your perfectly safe doing what you are doing. When I made bacon in my offset, I would put a smoke tube in the firebox & that was all the heat the bacon got. Usually I would cold smoke for 10-12 hours.
Al