If I smoke up some cheese now will it be ready to eat by Christmas?

[forktender]

Chris gmc2003 turned me onto dust for cheese and I am indebted to him for sharing as it was the answer to my problems. Total game changer. When I tasted it immediately after 6hours it was 10x better than any of the cheese I ever smoked. I use the real dust from Todd for cheese. Not saying you can't get there other ways (crack the door/long offset/wait a year) but no other way for me. I have since started using homemade dust for all my smokes and think it is an improvement.

I made up a bunch of dust today from Lumber Jack pellets that I had. I put a damp sponge in a plastic bag and added a few handfuls of pellets, they basically fell apart. Then I spread them out on a square pizza pan and baked them at 200* until they were dry.

 

[forktender]

I can't speak for everyone, but the first batch of cheese I ever smoked I used Hickory. Took forever to mellow out. I use apple dust now with far better results.

I used 100% apple dust that I made from Lumberjack pellets the other night. After 2 hrs with my maze it was pretty good but I wanted it smokier tasting, so I Topped off the maze with the Comp dust I made using Lumberjack pellets. And I lit both ends and let it smoke for another 1 1/2 hrs. The smoke flavor was maybe just a touch heavier than I was shooting for but it should mellow a touch before Christmas day. I'll taste it and if it's just a bit strong still I will tell everyone to wait until New Year's Eve before trying it. And if it's still to smokey for them to give it another week or two and it should be fine by then.

I don't understand how some people say that they smoke theirs for 6 hours using hickory dust and it's ready to eat right off the smoker. The only I can think of is that they are using much larger smokers with a lot more air flow. I just used my maze and put it in my Camp Chef pellet grill that was unplugged it has a 3'' vent. I put the maze under the defuser and 2 plates of salt on the lower racks, one had kosher salt and the other had coarse sea salt on them and the cheese went on the top rack with the vent cap removed for better air flow. I'm going to Costco in the morning for some gouda, horseradish cheddar and some mozzarella to smoke tonight. It's perfect temp for cheese smoking this week with temps in the 30's the smoke box never even got slightly warm to the touch, absolutely no oils formed on the cheese.
If you don't have a smoke maze you need one, they are worth every penny, and they flatout work awesome for cold smoking or adding more smoke to your pellet pooper during low and slow smokes, pick up a 10'' smoke tube while you're at it, you won't be sorry.

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate all of your knowledge and expert advice.

Dan

P.S. I still don't like it right off the smoker, it needs a few days to mellow in my opinion. (even with dust)

 

[gmc2003]

Hi Dan. It sounds like your well on your way to perfecting your cheese smoking process. It took me many experiments to get mine to where it is today and I still consider it a work in progress. As mentioned in prior posts I also use dust(usually apple but sometimes hickory). I use my WSM as that's the biggest smoker I have. I also have a grate that is used only for cheese. Once I open the cheese I don't touch it with my bare hands(dirt and oil). I use tongs to transfer the cheese from the cutting board to the grate. In my WSM I remove the charcoal ring(this allows for unrestricted airflow), set the lit maze on the charcoal grate, and keep all vents wide open. Once the maze is in the smoker I'll put the WSM back together and add the cheese. After two hours - I'll take the sacrificial block of cheese off the grate, slice a piece of it and test it for smokiness. If I'm satisfied then I'll remove the rest of the cheese. If not then I'll put them back on the smoker and try again in another hour. Once I pull the cheese I'll let it sit on the counter for a few hours on a cookie rack. Then I'll loosely cover them with plastic wrap and pop the rack into the fridge for an overnight rest. The next morning I'll take another slice off the sacrificial block and taste it(just to make sure). If it's got the profile I'm looking for then I vacuum seal it and put it into the fridge until I need it. If you see cheese sweats then pat it off with a paper towel before vacuum sealing. If you see the oil from the cheese then leave it on. If I think it needs more smoke then I'll put it back on the smoker for an hour and start the process all over. I normally smoke for 2 to 3 hours, but have gone as many as 5. The hourly taste test is what tells me the cheese is done. I don't worry about color - as I've had cheese take on a dark color that didn't taste all that smokey, and likewise I've had light colored cheese that was too smokey.

Chris

 

[toysejr]

Nice Process Chris ..