I've smoked Cheddar, Gouda and Mozzarella. Just finished reading "Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food" by Warren Anderson and he is a STRONG advocate that you can get better smokes by using processed cheeses instead of natural cheeses. The theory is that natural cheeses contains a lot of exposed butterfat and that butterfat absorbs foul odors readily, and that not ALL smoke 'odors' are tasty ones. Processed cheeses such as American (cheese food products) have a bunch of additives (emulsifiers, conditioners, flavorings, etc.) that attach to the butterfat and seals it off, thus depriving foul odor attachment points.
Well, I like American cheese anyway (call me a heathen) so I had to test this one out. One nice thing is that American cheese is fairly inexpensive compared to some of the other types, so not a huge exposure. Got 6 lbs. of American in block form and cut it up into smaller pieces (nominally 1.5"x4"), put it on frogmats and into the garage overnight to dry out a bit before smoking as Anderson suggests. This morning set up the BDS for cold smoking with my mailbox attachment and two 2-liter ice bottles, loaded up 3 hours of Apple, and slid in the cheese into the chamber. Hope this works out as smoked American should go great with the Maple Cured Canadian Bacon, and I'm all out of my cheddar!!
(http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/5166/cheese1s.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/cheese1s.jpg/)
Nice looking batch of cheese.
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3 hours of smoke later (chamber never got above 63F) and out comes the cheese:
(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6819/cheesedone.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/594/cheesedone.jpg/)
I know it gets better with aging, but went ahead and gave it a taste test. Very good, smoke flavor is somehow clean and not ashy like it was on the fresh cheddar. Now have stuck the cheese in the fridge to chill down before vacuum sealing and boy, opening that fridge door right now gets you a blast of smoke aroma right in the face! Looking forward to my omelet tomorrow morning ;D.
So no that the cheese is done, on to the next smoke of the day - Jerky. Here it is stacked and racked and ready to go into the BDS:
(http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3489/stackedjerky.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/stackedjerky.jpg/)
Details please ;D. What type? Flavor using?
It's like saying I bought a brand new car ;D. And not giving any other info ;) ;D
Looking forward to the pics. :)
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Mike, used London broil and the wild west recipe from the recipe site, but kicked up the chipotle powder by a teaspoon this time. Smoke is rollin' as I type.
Nice.
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I like cheese but American and processed is all oil! Wouldn't have thought it would hold up to any heat. even 60 degrees. Could be oil takes flavor different then a milk product though.
Viper, Anderson swears by the processed stuff. The early taste was good; I'll post what it is like over time.
That cheese looks real good. I can attest to the different tastes with different cheeses. I just opened a pack of Jalapeno Havarti that was smoked about 2 months ago with 1hr 20 min of Hickory and it is great - no ash taste at all. It even has a milder smoke taste than what I would like. But the Cheddar I did 5 months ago with 2 hr of hickory still has a very strong almost overpowering smoke taste. Two different cheeses and 2 totally different smoke absorption.
The jerky looks good too. Let us know how it turns out.
I have a question...the "processed American Cheese" you refer to...like a Velveeta kind of cheese?
Lq, Velveta can be done, but it your climate might me a prob. I have to partially freeze to keep it together even in the mild temps of San Fran. It does not require the amount of smoke as the harder cheese. 1 hour is fine on the ones that I have done. I think the soft cheese sucks up the smoke quickly. Even if it is below 60 here I still use ice in the cab using the cold smoke adapter.
It sure does make a killer grilled cheese sammy!
Quote from: La Quinta on March 29, 2012, 06:35:18 PM
I have a question...the "processed American Cheese" you refer to...like a Velveeta kind of cheese?
American is closer to Velveeta than to cheddar in that it is processed and creamier than cheddar. But it is not a soft as Velveeta and has a somewhat higher melting point. It is great when you want to melt a cheese such as over veggies, in a grilled cheese sandwich, on an omelet, etc.
Last night made burgers. No special spice blend, just garlic salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce and chopped onions, all mixed in well. The difference this time was that I put that smoked American cheese on them. All I can say is WOW! That was an incredible burger! The smokiness of that cheese came through 10 times better than the cheddar ever did and the cheese melted beautifully all over the top of the patty. Tomorrow morning it be a canadian bacon omelet that gets the cheese.
It's official, I'm a believer in this smoked American cheese recipe.
SS...I usually don't smoke cheese unless it's below 50 here...as the window is closing...I might try the Velveeta just to see if I can...fill the racks with ice and go for an hour...what the hell right? Use the cold smoke adaptor. Maybe put a pan on the second rack juuussst in case!!!! Go for an hour and vac seal...do you have to wait as long as a whole milk cheeses? I go a minimum of two months on those...
Fishrman you have inspired me!! ;D
LQ, this is the first time I've done the American cheese. I've been perfectly happy with the taste and texture starting the day after the smoke. I did vacuum pack the majority of it, so will have to wait and see how they improve with age. Go for it! I want to hear how Velveeta does!
Quote from: fishrman on April 01, 2012, 08:43:30 AMI did vacuum pack the majority of it, so will have to wait and see how they improve with age.
How long are you gona let it age? I thought tat you had to let all cheese age after you smoked it or you would get a bad taste.
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Quote from: tturaider on April 01, 2012, 09:22:52 AM
Quote from: fishrman on April 01, 2012, 08:43:30 AMI did vacuum pack the majority of it, so will have to wait and see how they improve with age.
How long are you gona let it age? I thought tat you had to let all cheese age after you smoked it or you would get a bad taste.
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It'll age as long as it lasts. Since it is so good now, I'm not going to wait on it. Every natural cheese I have smoked did require a waiting period of several weeks at least, but the american, perhaps because it is a processed cheese, is good right away.
That is good to know! I may have to try some American. Is just getting warm down here in Texas so I've got to do it fast.
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Quote from: tturaider on April 01, 2012, 11:04:30 AM
That is good to know! I may have to try some American. Is just getting warm down here in Texas so I've got to do it fast.
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Go for it! Would suggest you put a couple of two liter bottles of water in the freezer the day before, then put them on the drip pan if you have a remote cold smoke attachment or on the first rack if you have the SG directly mounted on the bradley. That'll help keep the temps down. Let us know how it works out for you!
I don't have a cold smoke smoke attachment and don't think I have the time to make one right now so I will try the frozen water bottles. Thanks for the idea!
What other kinds of cheeses would you suggest?
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Try any cheese you like. I had good luck with Cheddar and Gouda, not such great luck with Mozzarella (came out dry). Will have to let those age for a few weeks though or the flavor may be kinda rough and even ashy.
Awesome I'm gona send my wife to the store today since im at the fire station and have her get a pound each of American, Cheddar, and Gouda....I can't wait!
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I have done American cheese a few times with great results. Just a pain in the butt taking all of the slices out of their little wrappers!!!! ;D
The few times a year it is cold enough I smoke about 10lbs of it. I get the 5 lb blocks at sams or restaurant depot that are already sliced and divide into 1 ib blocks. It does take the smoke well and the slices still come apart easily. I will admit it is not my favorite cheese but it is hard to beat the convience of being sliced and smoking sure makes it a whole lot better. The first time I tried it I gave my dad a pound of chedder, american and provelone he like the american the best. Like someone else mentioned it takes the smoke really well. I have always aged mine for at least a month like all other cheese, I never thought about trying it any earlier. Assumed it would taste like ash as with most all cheese. I have noticed though the longer it sits does not add anything to it. I accidently "lost" some chedder and american in the refridgerator. It sat in there for about a year. The cheddar dried out some, got harder and a little sharper but the american never changed.
I have not tried smoking velveeta. We really like using it for queso with chili and salsa in it I think smoked velveeta would only make it better.
Fishrman I like the idea of the two liter bottles, I have laoded mine with ice before and forgot to watch out and empty the bowl and found out that the Bradley is not water tight!!! Luckily it did not get any of the electronics or electrical wet, will never do that again.
Daryl
I did the velveeta...and tried an entire "brick" cut up...I did cut off one little piece and vac sealed it seperately...just to try it...well I opened it today and mixed it with a little heavey cream and rotel toms...cooked up some pasta and added it...really nice..I like (as we call it) crappy cheese smoked...surprising actually...and only 5 weeks smoke wait..(could be because I added stuff)...anyhoo...thanks for the idea to try it in the first place!!