This is my first smoke ever in my new bradley 4 rack smoker.......I'm curing my pork bellys and on day 5 now using a maple cure posted by 10 point. I have a few questions about the smoking process if anyone can help me out. The instructions tell me to smoke at 120-140 for 1-2 hrs. then raise the temp to 160 and cook/smoke until an internal temp of 150 is reached. I'm kinda confused....I also have a friend that's done my bacon for me in the past tell me that he only smokes his stuff to get the flavor into the meat then finishes it up in the skillet in this case (for bacon). My plan is to smoke the bacon for the 1-2 hrs. with apple wood and cut, package and freeze for later use and finish it up in the skillet as needed. Is this correct or does it need cooked/smoked the additional time to bring it to internal temp of 150 before cutting up and freezing? Just want to make sure so that I don't screw up 15 lbs. of bacon
When I did mine I only brought the IT to 128* so I could finish off in the frying pan. If you do bring th IT all the way to 152* than it is considered safe to slice and eat. Not my idea of real bacon.
Like devo stated with the IT at 152 it considered fully cooked, nothing wrong with that, but you dont need to take the IT that high and be safe.
For me cured pork is fully cooked at 145.
I cold smoke some of the bacon I make and the smoker temp never goes above 80-85 F then a brief rest in the fridge, 24 hr, before slicing and packing up for the freezer.
Its all good. ;D
Trust the recipe and take it to the temperature that you want. I like 138F.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Just put it in the smoker a few minutes ago. Anxious to try my first batch!