Smoked Cheese. Better than anything in the store.

You've seen that stuff in the store. Smoked cheese for insane prices. But did you know most of the time, that dark color and grate impressions on the store bought stuff are not from the actual smoking process, but rather food colorings? Yup. Check the label sometime. Most say made with "smoke flavor and coloring" What the.......?

Making your own couldn't be simpler. In fact, you don't need a smoker to do it?
Cheese, as you know, melts. Well then how do you do it? By "Cold Smoking".
Basically the same way one would smoke bacon.

I have seen several styles of smoke boxes made up just for the sole purpose of smoking cheese.
A large cardboard box works GREAT for this. Just cut a hole in the top about 2" in diameter for the chimney and a large soup can with a hole drilled in the side right near the bottom and insert a prong type soldering iron. Fill the can with sawdust or fine wood shaving, about the size you get from when a chainsaw cuts wood,  and put the lid back on the can. This helps to push the wood down and in the unlikely event it would catch fire, keeps the flames from popping up. ( I have never heard once where the sawdust actually caught fire, but better safe than sorry). And for safety reasons, this should be done outdoor, out of the wind if possible. (Never smoke indoors) If needed, you can set a brick or something on top of the box so the wind won't blow it around.

For the cheese racks, the best things are those cheap bakers racks that you get at Wal-Mart, Target and such. The kind that stack on top of one another. You will probably need to use some brick to set them on so the racks are up a few inches from the can of wood chips. That's it. It sounds more complicated that it is, but it is very simple, and effective, and I promise you, your end results will rival anything you buy, for a fraction of the price.


The Chipotle and Jalapeno ones are In the upper right hand corner, I have one block of cheddar that I rubbed with a Chipotle hot sauce, the one to the left of it, I let sit in the leftover juice of some pickled jalepeno slices.  The upper left is plain pepper jack, and to the right of that is pepper jack with 50/50 paprika and chille powder.
The bottom ones are both Gouda. One on the left has a layer of Dill rubbed into it, the one on the right, just plain.

Ready for the smoker.



4 hours on the smoker with a cool stream of Alder and Cherry woods.
 

All bagged up and ready for a nice cold nap in the fridge so they can age a bit the smoke mellows. Letting your cheese age for AT LEAST 2 weeks is minimum. A month is better.
These guys are going with us ice fishing for some nice snacks.
By the way, I highly recommend you seal your cheese in FoodSaveer bags as it gets all the air out.
If you don't have a FoodSaver system, wrap TIGHTLY in a few layers of plastic wrap and tape shut.

Howz about some Pulled Pork?

Started with 2 nice butts. Trimmed a little of the thicker fat off the top and scored it. Injected these guys with a mixture of cider vinegar and apple juice. 1 part vinegar to 4 parts apple juice with a tbl of garlic juice/oil added to it.


All rubbed up and getting ready for a overnight nap.

The next morning, on the grate at 10am along with some of most delicious beans you ever had on the bottom rack. I'll post a recipe for them later, but believe me when I tell you, if you serve them at your next BBQ, you be looked upon as a GOD!!!


Several hours in, looking pretty good. Foiled them when they hit an internal temp of 175 and let them go until the internal temp hit 205 degrees.


Smoker hummin away at around 235 give or take a few degrees. Smoked these with lump charcoal and Hickory chunks.

12.5 hours later, and a short rest period, this is what I ended up with.



Took the drippings that were in the foil and set that in the freezer to separate the fat. Tossed the fat and ended up with what is commonly referred to as "Liquid Gold". Just before serving, I made a fantastic vinegar based finishing sauce. If you never had pulled pork with a finishing sauce, you don't know what your missin. Pulled pork on a fresh bun with coleslaw and finishing sauce. WOW, thems some good eats right there.

When doing pulled pork, it's always a good idea to make more than you are going to eat at that time. Take what you don't eat and freeze it in family size portions. Makes a killer pork enchilada dish.