Should I have cold smoked it??

[Roget]

I smoked 2 trays of double stuff Chex mix yesterday. (along with 2 trays of chile lime peanuts)
The Chex mix was on the 2 bottom racks
I heated it in the oven at 225F for 30 min., then put it on cheesecloth & smoked it for 3 hours @ 200F.

The problem.....
The mix on the bottom rack totally burned up. It was mostly black!!!

The second rack of mix is just ok., very crispy & not very seasoned ( even though I used more than enough seasoning)

Would I have been better off to heat it in the oven & then cold smoke it?

I thought I followed Saber 4's recipe to the letter, but it sure did not turn out good.
I love Chex mix & really want to get this right.

[tailfeathers]

I had a similar situation the first batch I made. I've made several since, and I bake it forty minutes, stirring every ten like the recipe says. Then I cold smoke it for two hours and it turns out perfect. Just be careful not to turn a whole baking sheet full upside down into your oven! (Don't ask)


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[Roget]

Thanx tailfeathers.

I have an idea that it just got way overcooked by hot smoking it.

What temp do yoou smoke yours at?

[TedEbear]

I thought I followed Saber 4's recipe to the letter, but it sure did not turn out good.
I love Chex mix & really want to get this right.

Well, Saber's recipe calls for baking it in the oven at 275*F for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, and then transferring to the smoker for up to 3 hours.  He doesn't really say how high the smoker temp should be.

Here's the way I do it.  I've done 2 batches so far and they turned out real nice.  I bake them in the oiven at 275 for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Then I put them in the smoker at 180*F for 3 hours. I use the middle 2 racks and I rotate them around about halfway through.

I used hickory for my first batch and everything had a rather powerful smoke flavor, on the verge of too powerful.  Two weeks in ziplock bags calmed it down a bit.  My last batch was done with cherry.  It was excellent right out of the smoker.  No need to wait two weeks on that one, we munched on it right away.

[Roget]

Well, according to your results, mine should have turned out good.
I'm not sure what went wrong.
Maybe stay away from the bottom rack for one thing.

The smoke wasn't too strong. Just way overcooked.

[devo]

I do mine in the oven @ 275 ----> stir every ten min. for 40 minutes. Than transfer to the smoker for a two hour cold smoke. No more heat is needed.

[tailfeathers]

Devo-
What is the material you have your racks lined with in the chez mix pics?


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[Saber 4]

That's my bad for not being more specific on the temps, when I first started making it I was smoking it with other stuff and using the top two racks so there was no issue, 2 batches ago I made a mistake and had 4 racks to smoke and didn't have the V tray in place because I had been cold smoking salt and since Chex had no oils to drip I left it out. Smoked for 3 hours at 200 to get lot's of smoke out of the pucks, forgot about rotating racks and ended up with a bad tray, the others were ok though. No I "cold" smoke for 3 hours, and I put it quote's because in Texas cold smoking may get above 100 in warmer weather but it hasn't caused a problem with the Chex Mix. Hope that clears things up from my end.

[devo]

Devo-
What is the material you have your racks lined with in the chez mix pics?


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That would be stainless mesh that I get from work, just for nuts and such

[TedEbear]

Well, according to your results, mine should have turned out good.
I'm not sure what went wrong.
Maybe stay away from the bottom rack for one thing.

I'd say being on the bottom rack the whole time without rotating the racks would make a difference.  I might try cold smoking my next batch after the initial 275*F for 40 minutes in the oven, although they've turned out pretty well the way I've been doing it thus far.  If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?   :)

One big difference that my wife likes is when I switched the pretzel sticks in the recipe with these little pretzel waffle squares in the pic below.  They have a buttery flavor and aren't as salty as regular pretzels.

[Roget]

Thanx fellas.
I did not rotate mine, so that probably contributed to the bottom rack burning.
Next time I am going to try cold smoking (after the oven time)
We will see how that goes.