I've been wanting to try smoking cheese for a long time:
I finally have the means for a good cold-smoke! There is no way to get my MES to smoke below 90*. I had bought a "Big Kahuna" Smoke Daddy, but I guess I'm not smart enough to operate it. I tried everything, and all I could get was either too much smoke, or I would have to be constantly tapping it or jabbing it with a big screwdriver to get the dust, chips, chunks, and/or pellets to drop down through the lump of gooey black tar in the bottom of the chamber. You can't fix stupid (ME), so I just figured it was my fault, and quit using it.
Then I had the opportunity to test drive another smoke generator. Now I found out I either wasn't so dumb, or any idiot can use this "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER". I just loaded it up according to the simple directions, and put it in my MES. I checked it very often, because of my experience with my Smoke Daddy. As it turned out, with the exception of turning the pieces of cheese over at the 2 hour mark, I had no reason to go near my smoker for the full 4 hours. It just sits there smoldering nicely without any hands on. I used just about half of the dust I put into the "MAZE", which means I could get 8 hours of steady light sweet smoke with one load of dust. With opening & closing the door every now & then to check, the temps in my MES ran between 66* and 76* the whole time. With the door closed for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, it never got above 76*, with an outside ambient temp of 49* to 55*.
Here are the Victims for the day. Instead of having to list them, you can see the packages. The one on the plate is 1/3 of the "Colby Jack". Another third is in the jar of hot pepper juice, and the other third is in the pickle juice (I'll try anything once). They were in for an overnight soak:
Here they all are sitting out, getting ready for the smoker. The pink pieces of Mozzarella were soaking in a jar with my pickled eggs (see I told you I'll try anything once):
Don't know if you can see the light smoke coming out of my vent:
This is after one hour of smoke:
This is after 1 1/2 hours of light smoke:
Here is the "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER" after a nice light steady 3 hours of smoking:
After 4 hours, I pulled the cheese out. I used 2 1/2 rows from the "MAZE". I scooped the rest of the dust out for a future smoke:
Here is all of my completed Smoked Cheeses. As you can see, one of the sticks is missing. I had to try something!!! It tasted pretty good already, but everybody says to give it a nap for two weeks, so that's what I'm doing:
Now they are vacuum packed & I put them to bed in the fridge for their two week nap:
See you in two weeks, and thanks for lookin',
Bearcarver
EDIT: Link to "Cheese Tasting Party":
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/93375/smoked-cheese-tasting-party
I finally have the means for a good cold-smoke! There is no way to get my MES to smoke below 90*. I had bought a "Big Kahuna" Smoke Daddy, but I guess I'm not smart enough to operate it. I tried everything, and all I could get was either too much smoke, or I would have to be constantly tapping it or jabbing it with a big screwdriver to get the dust, chips, chunks, and/or pellets to drop down through the lump of gooey black tar in the bottom of the chamber. You can't fix stupid (ME), so I just figured it was my fault, and quit using it.
Then I had the opportunity to test drive another smoke generator. Now I found out I either wasn't so dumb, or any idiot can use this "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER". I just loaded it up according to the simple directions, and put it in my MES. I checked it very often, because of my experience with my Smoke Daddy. As it turned out, with the exception of turning the pieces of cheese over at the 2 hour mark, I had no reason to go near my smoker for the full 4 hours. It just sits there smoldering nicely without any hands on. I used just about half of the dust I put into the "MAZE", which means I could get 8 hours of steady light sweet smoke with one load of dust. With opening & closing the door every now & then to check, the temps in my MES ran between 66* and 76* the whole time. With the door closed for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, it never got above 76*, with an outside ambient temp of 49* to 55*.
Here are the Victims for the day. Instead of having to list them, you can see the packages. The one on the plate is 1/3 of the "Colby Jack". Another third is in the jar of hot pepper juice, and the other third is in the pickle juice (I'll try anything once). They were in for an overnight soak:
Here they all are sitting out, getting ready for the smoker. The pink pieces of Mozzarella were soaking in a jar with my pickled eggs (see I told you I'll try anything once):
Don't know if you can see the light smoke coming out of my vent:
This is after one hour of smoke:
This is after 1 1/2 hours of light smoke:
Here is the "A-MAZE-N-SMOKER" after a nice light steady 3 hours of smoking:
After 4 hours, I pulled the cheese out. I used 2 1/2 rows from the "MAZE". I scooped the rest of the dust out for a future smoke:
Here is all of my completed Smoked Cheeses. As you can see, one of the sticks is missing. I had to try something!!! It tasted pretty good already, but everybody says to give it a nap for two weeks, so that's what I'm doing:
Now they are vacuum packed & I put them to bed in the fridge for their two week nap:
See you in two weeks, and thanks for lookin',
Bearcarver
EDIT: Link to "Cheese Tasting Party":
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/93375/smoked-cheese-tasting-party
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