HerbcoFood, I’ll record a video for you when I make bacon next. My aunt (she’s from N.Dakota…not sure if that is relevant or not) got me hooked on eating a piece of bacon raw, whenever I’m cooking some. I’ve consumed raw bacon more times than I can count and have avoided any sickness. It’s defiantly not the safest thing to be doing but it doesn’t taste bad lol. The town I went to college in, raw beef burger was a big thing as far as local delicacies go…Volga German settled town. The local butcher shops still make it. It is heavily salted and seasoned, you eat it on a cracker. I like that too.

If memory serves beef is fine to eat raw if you process and eat right away (like the burger you mentioned and obviously beef tartare) however from my understanding pork and chicken have a different meat fiber which won’t prevent bacteria from entering it. I am sure that the cure would kill some and the smoking may also help but I believe that only heat (pasteurization) helps with killing others.

On a side note, I’ve eaten raw meat several time and never got sick, so YMMV

Jonathon I like the assuming you may not cook the bacon prior to consumption. Who used to eat bacon fresh off a cure without cooking it in some fashion? That is the interesting question to me.

Unlike charcuterie where you reduce the water activity (and cure/age) the product to make it safe for consumption without cooking, I doubt that bacon would have enough “curing/aging” to make it an eat without cooking product… but as you said, it is a great question.