Well, Light the Coals and Cut the Cheese!

[czarcastic]

Had perfect weather this weekend to try out my new AMNS,  Since SWMBO approved purchase of said appliance for the purpose of smoking cheese, this was a golden opportunity to give it a shot.

Selected several of her favorites, plus a few of my own.

The AMNS was burning clean and slow, with some beautiful TBS.  

I actually pulled the cheese off after 6 hours, but still had about a row-and-a-half of sawdust. I just thought they looked like they had enough smoke.

So, into the Food Saver bags they go, and in 10 days I'll let you know how they came out.

 

[les3176]

Looks great!! i really like the gouda and the dill havarti!!!! NICE.

 

[fpnmf]

Looking good!!

   Craig

 

[beer-b-q]

Looks Great... I am going to smoke a bunch this week sometime after the weather straightens up a little...

 

[rdknb]

they look good. 

 

[thebarbequeen]

Nice bunch of cheese there!  Looks like you got some really nice color.  What sawdust did you use?  I can't wait to hear how the blue cheese comes out - that's one of my favorite smoked cheeses.

 

[porked]

Great post with all the different cheeses. Nice job.

 

[czarcastic]

Nice bunch of cheese there!  Looks like you got some really nice color.  What sawdust did you use?  I can't wait to hear how the blue cheese comes out - that's one of my favorite smoked cheeses.

I used the hickory that came with the AMNS.  Gotta admit that I sliced off a tiny sliver of each one to try before vacuum sealing.  

.  The blue was pretty awesome, but my favorite as  far as I could tell was the habanero cheddar.  It tasted like it added chipotle to the cheese and had a whole second level of heat/chili pepper flavor.  We'll see in another week if I still feel the same way.

 

[czarcastic]

I really tried to wait the full two weeks before cutting the cheese, honest and for true!  

But I had an out-of-town guest at the house last night and needed something to serve while we waited for my wife to get home from work before we went out to dinner.

So, I cut open the vacuum bags and sliced up some of the cheese, along with a log of my cracked pepper and jalapeno summer sausage to go with our drinks.

I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed.

The cheese was very nicely flavored.  Not overly smoky but flavorful with a great aroma.

I think the smoked mozzarella was the biggest hit overall, but as soon as I tasted the smoked dill havarti, I knew that one was destined for some mac-and-cheese later in the week.

The one I was not crazy about was the smoked blue.  It was my wife's favorite, but to me smoking it brought out too much of the "mold" taste.  Dunno.  Maybe it would be good over a burger or some wings.

So, now that it's open and partially eaten,  SWMBO has already informed me that I need to make another batch this weekend - so that she does not have to wait for two weeks again to enjoy it.