- May 12, 2011
- 22,172
- 7,150
Any Ground meat, that does not contain a Cure, should not be allowed to sit out at room temp before going in the smoker. When meat is ground, any Bacteria that is on the surface of the meat, butcher's grinder, hands, etc., gets mixed into the meat. Since most of the really bad bacteria love to grow in any Oxygen free environment, the middle of a Sausage or Meatloaf looks like an, " All expense paid vacation in Tahiti! " The only value of letting ANY MEAT warm to room temp is for even cooking, like the even edge to edge cooking, of a Steak or Roast that will be eaten Rare to Medium, that is avoiding well done edges with just a thin strip of rare down the center. This warming is only relatively safe because Intact Muscle, no injection or having the surface broken in any way, only has bacteria on the surface and it will be killed as soon as the meat is exposed to the typical heat of cooking or smoking...JJ
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