how is bacon “smoked” but still raw?

Question

how is bacon “smoked” but still raw?

In: 66

Answer 1

A lot of bacon you buy at the store is “cold smoked,” where the temperature isn’t hot enough to cook the meat or fully kill all pathogens – it just adds a smoky flavor and helps to preserve the bacon, while leaving the meat raw.

You can buy nice quality bacon and other cured/smoked meats that are safe to eat raw. But bacon is fatty enough that we usually just want to cook it anyways, rendering out some of that fat and leaving us with something crispy, instead of greasy.