Homemade Sausage Making

Yesterday I fired up my smoker and cold smoked some cheeses, Colby, Gouda, and some Jarlsberg

Who's going to eat all that cheese? Little Mace?

Yes little Mace will get his share. Daughter #1 and her tribe will gobble it up, daughter# 2 will take some and son#1 will clean up the rest. I better get eating if I want any. LOL

What kind of wood smoke are you using Big Guy? Temperature?
Oh no... are you still trying to smoke using wire insulation?

I used a mix of hickory and apple wood. I just put my amazing smoker in the bottom of my smoker,lit it and shut the door I came back 8 hrs later. It just smolders and I don't have to monitor the temp. Did you notice the shiney grills, I cleaned them just for you chuck old buddy.
This mornings breakfast was grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches using some smoked Jarlsberg cheese

Yup, ol' pard! When I scrolled down and saw the reflection from those spiffy, dazzling, grills... I went blind temporarily. I just put on my welding mask and can now see how hard you must have worked on them.
Bacon and melted cheese sandwiches? Believe it or not, out here in the sticks, that is called "chuck wagon chicken with cow salve". It`s great for breakfast... with tomato soup!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

That looks great!

I need to get off my 'cheese-smoking' duff and start cold-smoking some before outdoor temps start climbing.

I'v discovered that smoked cheese does need an extensive resting period post-smoke (3-5 weeks sometimes) to mellow. A lot depends on the type of cheese, the wood used, and one's own taste preferences. Right out of the smoker, the taste can be harsh, bitter & overpowering, but once the cheese blocks are vac-sealed & allowed to rest in the fridge for weeks, I find the results delightful.

Applewood still my favorite for cheese.

Kevin

BG, I've been smoking some cheese lately too. Just removed these three pieces this morning. I left them in the smoke for two days and have vac sealed them and put in the cooler to equalize. I wanted to experiment with some parmesan (L), and have gouda and jarlberg as well. Smells delicious.

Great minds think alike. LOL

Those cheeses look great! At what temperature should cheese be smoked at. My smoker has a range of 60-250° and I'd really like to try smoking some different cheses while it's cool outside. RAY

Ray, your smoker will not cold smoke. If you set the temp at 60 or 70, I don't think it will get the smoke going. BG uses the Amazen smoker, and even that raises the temp to around 10F above ambient. I would not take it above 70° when smoking cheese.

This is the Amazen that I use. Works like a charm, and while expensive for a little aluminum tray, you save a bundle in fuel. A couple of handfulls of pellets will smoke for 8 - 10 hrs.
http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDe ... e=AMNPS5X8

I have pretty high ambient temps so I don't worry with applying any heat at all just smoke and hope it doesn't get hot enough outside to make it melt. But I think below 90F and you are fine.

I'm probably going to upset a purist with this but if your smoker is well used and your smoker has a good amount of smoke buildup in it like mine I have found that simply putting the cheese in the smoker for a few days gives the cheese a nice pleasant smoky flavor. Of course that is too easy so its probably wrong.

Hmm, 90° is a bit too high for cheese, I think. The outside will start melting and there will be a change in the texture. But then, maybe that is what you like, so who am I to judge?

BTW the best smoked cheese I have ever eaten was in Croatia. A woman was selling cheeses out of a basket on the side of a road. We bought a good size round and consumed most of it before we got to our destination that evening. I wish I knew what it was made from and how it was smoked.

Stan has a good common sense section on cold smoking.
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-sm ... ld-smoking

Anything or body that spends much time in a smoke filled room will come out smelling like smoke. And it takes weeks for the smell of smoke to leave a conference room.

ssorllih wrote:Anything or body that spends much time in a smoke filled room will come out smelling like smoke. And it takes weeks for the smell of smoke to leave a conference room.

I've worked fire jobs where smoke abatement companies were making a fortune getting rid of the smoke smell, not always with great results. I do have another source for a bit cooler smoking but I'll go with BB's idea, if anything, not hat high on my smoking bucket list, Heck, smoking two picnic this coming Friday while simultaneously pounding out a ten pound batch of my new thought-of pork maple-apple breakfast sausage, my dance card is pretty darned full. I'm going to pick a bit from Rytec, Big Guy, Bruce, and maybe a little something from CW for this effort. Just got done reducing a quart of apple cider down to syrup while dehydrating six pounds of Fuji apples for nine hours, this sausage will feature some Grade A MacDonalds 100% pure maple syrup too. I'm thinking of calling it Ray's Mapple Breakfast Sausage. More to come! RAY