First and second smoke: Eggs and cheese

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lav25

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 28, 2011
81
34
Osaka, Japan
OK, this mess goes in the newbie section. 

I live in an apartment, been reading the board for a little while now, and it was suggested that I try making a flowerpot smoker, so I did.  Here it is, and the results of my first and second outing with it.

First, the wood.  I live in Japan, and they have a product here made for smoking food called "Smoke Wood."  Good name.  It's a sort of brick of compressed sawdust, available in several woods (hickory, walnut, apple, and Japanese cherry off the top of my head, there are others).  It works just like an incense cone or punk (the kind you light fireworks with), you just light one end (with a torch or your stove burner) and chuck it in the bottom of your smoker.  One brick is supposed to last 3-4 hours, I haven't used a full one but had leftover from a half brick after about two and a half hours of cold smoking (more on that later).  Here's a couple shots of the brick:

f6252b21_DSCN2275.jpg


c93e250d_DSCN2274.jpg


It's easy to use, if you need less you can break it with your hands.

I first tried to smoke some eggs and tofu (I know it isn't food, I was just testing the concept of my smoker).  I hardboiled the eggs, peeled them, and cold smoked them for about 30-ish minutes.  They came out great, even better deviled.  The tofu tasted a little bit "dirty ashtray," so I've got it wrapped up in saran wrap for a while to see if it gets better like cheese is supposed to.

df8949e8_DSCN2277.jpg


I'm going to insert a break here, not sure how many pics are allowed per post.

-val
 
Well, the eggs came out nice.  I don't have a thermometer yet (I know), but it didn't seem to get very hot inside when I was doing the eggs and tofu, so I thought I'd try cheese.  Here's my basic setup:

2542c6dd_DSCN2284.jpg


be1ff3c7_DSCN2285.jpg


That's a smoke wood brick at the bottom, not lit yet, just for posing.  The top diameter of the flower pot is only around 12-13 inches, that lip partway down holds a 28cm round grill (a standard size here) perfectly.  I bought 500g of cheddar (about a pound), 500g of gouda, and a round of Havarti.  Pretty much what my local import food shop had on offer.  I found a smaller grill and thought I could do two layers.

Bottom grill with about 1/4 pound each cheddar and gouda:

f8c7c933_DSCN2286.jpg


We'll see how that turned out later.

Top grill with the rest of the cheddar, gouda, and the Havarti round:

a5b0d1dd_DSCN2287.jpg


I'm sure there's someone with, say, a week's more experience out there screaming "NOOOOOO!," but like I said, it didn't seem to get very hot in there when I did the eggs.

Top on, all lit up, smoking away:

fd3e36aa_DSCN2288.jpg


The smoke wood brick is supposed to last for 3-4 hours, depending on conditions, so when the smoke slowed down after an hour and a half, I figured it was cashed and opened things up to put in the other half of the brick:

5d17fdc7_DSCN2293.jpg


I see.  The cheese melting through the lower grill and falling on it smothered it.  Hmm.  Well, we can salvage the upper layer at least.  Lower was mostly a loss, bottom of the grill pic:

7819fe31_DSCN2290.jpg


In the end, the cheddar bled most of its oil, the Havarti turned into a gooey pancake, and I was only able to salvage about half the gouda:

Havarti

320477b8_DSCN2291.jpg


Cheddar and gouda:

a15ca878_DSCN2292.jpg


The bottom of the smoker looked like a wildebeest had been sick in it:

f6a927e8_DSCN2294.jpg


On the plus side, I snuck a taste of some of the scraps I peeled off the lower grill, and they do taste pretty good.  I've got the cheese that more or less survived wrapped in saran wrap in the fridge, and I'll check in two weeks and see what I've wrought.

more later

-val

ps I've also got a thermometer on order (Maverick 732), and I'll figure out how to add some ice to things before I try this one again!
 
Well it looked like a good idea. Maybe a small metal bowl with ice on the lower rack

and cheese on top.

And remember, if you salvage anything edible it wasn't a total loss. (At least not for me)

Happy Smokin'

Mike
 
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