Too Cold to Cold Smoke? AskCulinary

(I'm a professional, but I'm new to the world of smoking.)

I'm interested in cold smoking, but I'm apprehensive about the safety of it. I'm not a huge fan of listeria.

My question is about cold smoking--why does it have to be done at such high temperatures? Everything I read says that cold smoking is done slightly higher than room temperature. Definitely in the danger zone.

What would happen if I bought a refrigerator, cut a hole in the side, attached some duct work, and pumped smoke into it? Would the meat still smoke if it was <40 degrees? My feeling is that I would get less smoke penetration at lower temperatures. But, I feel like this could be countered to some degree by smoking it for much longer. Would it dry out too much?

Is there a temperature at which it becomes too cold to cold smoke (assuming of course that the meat isn't freezing)?

Submitted September 16, 2016 at 12:12AM by LDL707 http://ift.tt/2cySmcr AskCulinary