Today's Bacon Cheddar Dog Treats

[Saber 4]

I start off with an apology to Pensrock for my epic failure on his bacon and chive smoked cheddar creation. I used a smoked sharp Tillamook cheddar that had been smoked a couple of months ago, fresh chives and cooked up the last of the Hi Mtn cured bacon as little chunks. The cheese had a good smoked flavor but seemed a bit dry before I started. I followed the recipe and the cheese melted but had a lot of oil separation.



Mixed all the ingredients up and the oil seemed to mix back into the cheese.



Into a plastic wrap lined pan for a trip to the fridge.



After slicing and tasting, the cheese has a good flavor still but it is extremely dry and grainy in texture, almost like chewing on sand and so bad in fact that I couldn't even finish chewing it up. Fortunately the Bassett Hounds will eat anything with cheese and bacon.



Has anyone else had this problem with Tillamook cheese or do you think something went wrong in the smoking phase or the melting phase? This is the only cheese that I have smoked that was dry and not as good or better after smoking than it was out of the package.

[devo]

Ya I think your Bassett Hounds found a way to sabotage your recipe when you were not looking

[Tenpoint5]

Im with you Don

[Saber 4]

Those Devious little Bassett's :D

[Habanero Smoker]

Lucky dogs!

It seems cheddar cheese will be "gritty" every time I melt it. I now use a tip I learned for Cook's Illustrated; use evaporated milk instead of regular whole milk. Or if you don't have evaporated milk, blend in some Velveeta. Either one of these has a compound (I can't recall the name) that helps the cheese melt smoothly.

[OldHickory]

Thanks for the tip Habs, I too have had trouble with melting cheddar.

[beefmann]

sneaky basset hounds,, they know when something wont turn  out  right

[Saber 4]

I got the straight info from Pensrock on what I did wrong on this, I used a sharp cheddar and I was supposed to use a sharp American cheese or some form of block American cheese. Hope this gets people on the right track to try it themselves.