MES40, AMNPS< and first cheese run, with Q-View

[jnelson]

I recently pulled the trigger and bought the MES40 after Sam's marked it down to $284.  Then, my lovely wife bought me the AMNPS for my birthday.  I spent Saturday afternoon seasoning both the MES and the AMNPS, and then spen yesterday smoking the first batch of cheese.

My wife suggested a small batch, to make sure we liked the results.  I used Traeger Apple pellets for 3.5 hours.  Here is the Q-View:

The victims:

2012-08-19 12.34.41.jpg

• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

Arranged in all of their naked glory:

2012-08-19 12.40.04.jpg

• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

In the smoker.  You can see the ice layer beneath the cheese.  I used a frozen 2-liter bottle.  I cut away the bottle in case the heat got too high. 

2012-08-19 12.50.50.jpg

• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

Out of the smoker:

2012-08-19 16.32.40.jpg

• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

Packaged and into the refrigerator:

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• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

You may notice that a few of the string cheese sticks are missing.  We have a rule in our house called "Chef's Option".  If you are the cook, you can sample as much as you want!

Now to wait the two weeks to see how it turned out.

Once that was finished, I threw two pork tenderloins on the grill.  Those had been marinating since Saturday afternoon.  This will be supper for the week:

2012-08-19 17.31.42.jpg

• jnelson
• Aug 20, 2012

Thanks for looking, and even more thanks for the wonderful forum where I learned to smoke cheese.

Brad

 

[smokinhusker]

Cheese looks great as do the tenderloins! You don't have to wait the 2 wks for the mozzarella to mellow. 

Here's a tip I learned too...Traeger Pellets are for heat in the Traeger units and they will add quite a bit of significant heat. I use Smokehouse Brand pellets which add some heat,

but not to the extent Traeger pellets do.

 

[scarbelly]

Looks like a great start with the new MES. Congrats on the success. Now comes the hard part. The wait