I follow the usual Canadian bacon instructions to the letter but am wondering if I need to take the internal temp up to 140 (ie fully cooked) if I always intend to cook the bacon afterwards - I want to make a more equivalent to british bacon which is just cured only with some smoke too but uncooked texture ahead of actually cooking ?
Any safety reasons I have to fully cook if I intend to refrigerate after t=smoking and then freeze ?
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?311-Canadian-Bacon&p=500#post500
Thanks in advance for the advice
Rob
Rob,,,
I have made 100's of pounds of Canadian bacon over the years and always take it to 140 F I.T.. I feel it is better to be safe then sorry later,,, i feel that some of this is debatable from what i have heard,, everything from the curing process protects the meat and at that point is cooked,, to its not done till it hits 140 F in the first go round,,,
my opinion it is always better to play it safe and go the extra distance ,, cure the meat and cook / smoke till 140 F... i have done 15 to 20 lbs on average and generally smoke at 225 F to an it of 140 - 145 F and pull,,, and am totally done with up to 20 lbs generally under 4 hours, some times 5 depending on the meat, outside temps and conditions,,
beef
I have fully cooked Canadian bacon to 140°F, and also left it completely uncooked and unsmoked, to make peameal bacon, which is not cooked until you are ready to consume it. I will slice, dip it in egg wash, give it another coat of cornmeal on all sides, and then fry it prior to consuming it.
I don't see why you can't, since it is fully cured, and curing extend the self life. It would be similar to smoking belly bacon to only 132°F; which several members do, then fully cooking it before eating it, or if you leave it completely raw, it would be the same as how I make peameal bacon.