You guys ever do any cold smoking? About a month ago I bought a A-maze-n pellet smoker. Pretty nifty little contraption and I've used it a half dozen times or so to smoke up some cheddar and pepper jack cheese. I'll have to go through my pic files and see if I've got a pic or two since I'm not actually smoking anything right now. I bring it up cause I just opened the first batch after letting it "mellow" in the fridge for a few weeks and it's some darn good stuff. edit: As I get older, time seems to fly faster and faster. I actually got my cold smoker about 3 1/2 months ago. Not that it matters for this thread but...sheesh.
Oh, and before anyone even asks, the answer is yes...I did smoke up a 2lb brick of velveeta. It was delicious.
Well, checked back through my pic files but I apparently didn't get photographic proof of the Velveeta Adventure. Here's the only pic I could even find of cheese being cold smoked (I think this must be from when I got the cold smoker - just some cheddar basking in hickory smoke). When I bought my cold smoker, I also bought a couple "grill-matz". They're just a teflon mesh that I cut to fit the top rack of my Weber kettle. Pretty handy for cheese. Since I didn't take a pic of the Velveeta, as a consolation pic I found this one of some spare ribs I did this Spring (to celebrate the first robin sighting of the year. It doesn't take much to get me to throw some ribs on the smoker.).
I cold smoke my own bacon. Yup. I said it...bacon. Don't attempt this unless you never want to eat store bought bacon again. I use my gas grill...a bowl of chips...and a plumbing torch. McGyver smoking.
Yeah lukem. Bacon is another item on my cold smoking list. The next chance I get, I'm heading to the big town (Missoula in my case, about 80 miles away) to hit Costco for a big batch of bacon and a bunch of almonds. I figure I've got til the end of June or so to cold smoke before the summer temps make it difficult. Spring time it's easy to keep the temp around 70 F but July and August are a different story around here.
lately I have been sucked in to buying and eating Dofino Smoked Havarti cheese. Good thing I don't smoke food myself or those 65 lbs I lost would be quickly back on. Your cheddar must have tasted awesome.
I'm getting a whole hog in July. I get the belly sliced so cold smoking it only takes a couple hours. I can usually get up early one morning and get it done before it gets too hot out.
I love Havarti cheese. My costco list just keeps getting longer and longer. And yeah, the smoked cheddar is great. Very tasty when melted on a burger! I'm also looking forward to trying out a batch of almonds. A guy I duck hunt with smokes his own then puts them in a big ziploc with a bunch of salt and jalapeno powder and gives 'em a good shake...delicious!
Nice! I'm pretty much equi-distant from both Missoula and Kalispell. I usually go to Missoula for costco runs just because it's located right on the edge of town and real easy to get in and out without having to actually deal with going into town. That Seeley Lake area is awesome. My Mom lived up there between Seeley and Swan lake for about 10 years before moving a little closer to Missoula. Great fishing and hunting. Oh, and if you make it out this way, you'll have to give me a heads up. Smoked cheddar cheeseburgers and a couple cold beers certainly wouldn't hurt anything.
Sort of a cold, rainy, miserable type of day around here so I did what any right-minded person would do...went to town and got some beer and some cheese. Figured I'd post some pics of the cold smoking process that I use. This first one is the little cold smoker I have. Gonna use a mix of oak and cherry pellets. Tray is filled up and then just use a little propane torch to light both ends. Let the ends burn with an open flame for about 10 minutes, then blow out the flame and put the smoker in the bottom of my weber kettle. Let the smoking commence. I picked up a 2 lb. block of medium cheddar cause it was on sale. Cut it into quarters and away we go. I'll leave it on there for about 9 hours or until the pellets are gone.
Just pulled the lid off to get one more pic before I go to bed. Cheese is looking great, although it did sort of sweat a little bit. Not a big deal as long as it doesn't actually start to melt. Anyway, smoker will probably go for another couple hours and in the morning I'll pull the cheese off, vac seal it and put it in the fridge to mellow for a few weeks.
That's awesome. I've never seen the tray/pellet method before. I'm sure its common...I just don't know that much about it. Thanks for the education.
My pleasure Lukem. It's so easy even I can do it. Just got it vac sealed and labeled. Should be ready to go in a few weeks...just in time for cheeseburger season.
I like the way you think Lukem. On a side note, my neighbor just stopped by with a dozen eggs from his chickens (I give him smoked cheese, he gives me eggs...pretty good system). I might try to smoke a few hard-boiled eggs. I've actually heard of folks doing it, but I've never tried it myself. Might be pretty good. I'll report back when I give it a shot.
