Sunday Smoked Cheese

[DrewJ]

Ran out of smoked cheese and have been waiting for the temps here in MN to warm up enough to do a cold smoke. Sunday was perfect with ambient temps around 34f. Here is the newest batch of cheese going into the smoker.

My 3 and a half year old helper wanted to be in a pic too.

Here we are all loaded up and ready for the smoker. I added that little block of dill Monterrey Jack from the fridge as an experiment.

Loaded up and ready to go.

Trying out my version of the popcorn tin mailbox mod for the first time. It worked great! Ran it for 2.5 hours with apple pellets.

Two and a half hours later. Didn't take on much color but I'm not worried. They will get darker and the flavor is there. I think smoking at temps near freezing cause the color to be faint but the flavor is there for sure. I did a batch last year at about zero degrees and it was great tasting even with little to no color.

Sealed up and ready to rest and age in the fridge. Can't wait to tear into some of this in a few weeks!

I will be labeling each one with a sharpie today but I ran out of time before I had to get dinner on the table for the family. Thanks for watching!

 

[crazzycajun]

Good looking cheese have had the same trouble with color and cold temps. I believe this is the first time I’ve read of someone waiting for it too warm up to cold smoke

 

[gmc2003]

That's a good looking batch of cheese. I understand about the cold. It's been in single and negative digits here for at least a week.

Point for sure.
Chris

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Good looking cheese! I agree with the temps. I smoked some back in November when it was freezing cold outside. Didn’t take on a ton of color but damn was it good

 

[SonnyE]

Great post Drew!
Color smuller, we smoke for taste!
Warms my heart to see your Son helping. Do include him as much as his interest lasts.
Lessons from interest can last a lifetime, and they are endearing longer than we ever imagine.
I was LOL! It finally warmed up enough to Cold Smoke.

You can set your smoker to 100 degrees and monitor what you are cold smoking with a probe.
My first Inkbird I had for cold smoking got burned due to my own stupidity. Right when I was getting ready to cold smoke Bacon. So I set the controller for 100 degrees, and in 6 hours my Bacon was still only up to 90 degrees and done smoking.
So file that away for a freezing day to try out.

Great results Drew!

 

[pushok2018]

That's a lot of good looking cheese, Drew! Your post just reminded to me that I still have four-five pieces of smocked cheese resting in my fridge for three weeks already. Time to try...

 

[crazymoon]

DJ, Good looking cheese and a good looking helper !

 

[DrewJ]

Warms my heart to see your Son helping. Do include him as much as his interest lasts.
Lessons from interest can last a lifetime, and they are endearing longer than we ever imagine.

Thanks! I love having him and his little brother (21 months) in the kitchen with me. I even built them a "helper tower" so they can stand at counter height and help in the kitchen. Last summer my wife took the boys to an event and one of the activities was for the little kids to say what they wanted to do when they grow up and Sam, the older one, said he wanted to be a cook like daddy. Melted my heart.

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement! I would never in a million years figured I'd be smoking my own cheese but info from this site has made it possible.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Great post and for sure a great helper keep him going don't discourage him.

Warren

 

[DrewJ]

Managed to hold off for 4 weeks to cut into one the bricks of cheese and it was great! The smoke flavor was much better with my popcorn tin mod than it has been in the past with the tray in the smoker. Much smoother with less bitterness. That Trader Joe's sharp cheddar smoked up really well and it's a bargain at 5 bucks a pound. I will smoke at least 4 more bricks next time I do it. This brick is already almost gone between my son, wife, sister in law and myself we ate most of this block last night. Here is a pic of the final product. Never mind the table cloth, we really need a new table or at least a new tablecloth. :)

 

[bregent]

Managed to hold off for 4 weeks to cut into one the bricks of cheese and it was great! The smoke flavor was much better with my popcorn tin mod than it has been in the past with the tray in the smoker. Much smoother with less bitterness.

I've got a similar setup and find I don't need to wait at all for it to mellow - I usually start consuming some right off the smoker. Big difference compared to when not using the long flex tube.

I like your popcorn tin idea. My mailbox is trashed and may make one myself.