Join me in smoking cheese!

[Smoking Duck]

Thank you very much, Mike.  Yours is in the mail  :D

Sorry, SS.....I don't have the smellavision installed on this computer  ;D

And LQ, you know without a doubt that I will gladly trade a brick of cheese for a round of golf anyday ;)

On a side note, all of the bricks of cheese were in the .5 to .75 lb range.  I simply sliced the bricks in two and smoked them that way.  If storing in the vac seal bags, I found that at that size, the quart bags work perfectly if you cut the bags in half and seal them in their own half-quart bags.  Very little waste in bags and you only have to open one bag at a time and the other half stays in the vac seal.  

[pensrock]

Looks good SD!  :)
How long was it in for smoke? I'm guessing two hours?

[Smoking Duck]

Nope.....I kept some in for 2 hours but the majority (which were softer cheeses), I kept in for 4 hours.  I keep upping and upping the time every time I do it until I reach what I feel is the perfect time to reach a heavenly smoke effusion.  To date, I don't think I've reached it with the softer cheeses but I think I may be close.  This is also the first time I've done cheese with pecan, so we'll see how that turns out.

SD

[La Quinta]

Lets just say Giggles...you don't need to trade cheese for golf...the golf is here...I have peeps...you bring the cheese...I get you free golf in the most amazing desert you have ever seen ( good news is I think you've never seen a desert!!!)  ;D Anyhoo...it really is the golfing megamart out here in the winter...you and the family are always welcome...uh...bring some cheese???  ;)

[FLBentRider]

Nice looking Cheese, SD

LQ, did I hear "will golf for cheese?"

Are you going to caddy for Giggling Duck?

[Smoking Duck]

LQ,

As always, my friend, you are a darling for offering up your home and beautiful weather.  I have seen a desert unfortunately.  The only thing is I was carrying a weapon versus golf clubs.  I do, however, prefer to be carrying golf clubs these days.  ;D  I'm probably a little more lethal with a 4 iron than I am with a weapon at the moment  :P

SD

[KyNola]

SD,
Sorry to be late getting in on this.  That is a tremendous looking load of cheese.  Did you use a cold smoke set up or were you able to maintain the low temp just by putting ice in the bowl?  I haven't put together a cold smoke set up as of yet and I have difficulty holding the temp low even with opening the door just a smidge.

I think I can almost taste the smoked cheese and mac!

KyNola

[Smoking Duck]

Hey KY...... no, this wasn't done with a cold-smoke set up.  Just ice in the tray and SG only.  It took me quite a while to vac seal it, but the bottom drawer of my refer is now filled with Canadian Bacon and Cheese...........mmmmmmmmmm ;)

Here's an update on the garlic.  After resting a night in the refer, I broke apart the 6 heads of garlic and this is what I was left with:



It doesn't look like a whole lot until you mince it up in the food processor (Thankg God for food processors; I'd have hated to do this by hand):



Now, the minced garlic in olive oil and vac sealed for keeping in the refer.  It's quite a bit for only 6 heads of garlic, but much, much less expensive than buying minced garlic in the grocery store.  Plus, it's SMOKED! :

[mybad]

Great looking job...it all looks so good!!

[FLBentRider]

What is the target temp to keep "under" when smoking cheese?

We are supposed to have a cool snap later this week, so I bought some cheese @ Sams today.

[westexasmoker]

FL,

I have a heck of a time doing cheese out here, I try to keep my box in the 80's and thats with ice in the bowl and some blue ice on the lower rack and the door proped open.  Not much help, but not much of  a cheese expert.....

C

[Smoking Duck]

FLBR,

I would think that anything you could do to keep it under 90 would work.  I really try not to get over 80F when doing cheese.  Ice will really help as will keeping the door open.  I've also never tried it and am not sure if it would work or not but if you kept the door cracked open and perhaps utilized a small fan in front of the crack of the door, that might help keep the temp inside down.  Additionally, a small piece of dryer vent hose and a cardboard box is a really easy and inexpensive way to keep it down even further.  Course, might be hard to do with the shoulder.

I think everyone should have an opportunity to try and smoke their own cheese......give it a shot...the worse that could happen is cheese soup  :o ;D

[Mr Walleye]

SD

Do you take your cheese out of the fridge to let it come to room temp before smoking?

I just wonder if it would sweat if you put it in the smoker directly from the fridge.

Mike

[Smoking Duck]

Mike,

I have done it both ways and haven't really noticed any difference to be truthful. I do think there is something to the sweating though I have yet to experience it.  I guess I do more cheese that is at room temp because now I preslice the cheese into smaller chunks rather than doing the whole brick together.  The one thing I do like about doing the smoke in the colder temps (like last night) is that you don't have to wait to seal the cheese as the cheese is much lower than room temp at that point.  Hope that helps.

SD

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks SD

I have never done cheese... I don't know why???

I have read a number of people say to allow it to get to room temp before applying the smoke. They claim if it sweats the smoke can condense with the moisture and cause it to be bitter. Seems to make sense but again I have no experience with it.

I'm going to have to try it though.

Mike