Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Ooo good call on the immersion blender too. Means you can use an entire stock pot for blending. And they're usually pretty small.

I passed up a 200$ Vitamix I saw on Facebook the other week and I'm kicking myself already. Was a commerical unit but was normal size.

Good call. I don't have one, I might try one next year.

 

I did multiple batches of scooping, blending, dumping into another container, repeat when making supper.

Once.

An immersion blender was purchased shortly thereafter.

I like my salsa less chunky than most, too. Makes short work of a jar.

 

I’ve never gone straight to vac sealing, I’ve always wrapped them in butcher paper for a week in the fridge then vac sealed. Have you always gone straight to the vac seal? I’ve been wondering if it’s necessary to do the week of butcher paper but never wanted to risk not doing it and ruining my cheese…but it adds a week to finally getting to enjoy the cheese so I’d like to cut it out.

 

I always go straight to vac and refrigerator for two weeks, then freeze whatever I won’t eat immediately. I’ve never had flavor or texture issues

 

Biggest concern after coming off smoker is moisture/sweating. I always wear gloves and use tongs to transfer to paper towels. Dry thoroughly before vac-seal. Any moisture coming from hands or fingerprints can cause mold after sealing. This method has always worked well for me. Wrapping in butcher paper might accomplish the same to reduce the moisture?

 

I usually wait closer to 3 weeks to open but it’s very subjective to personal taste/smoke length. I went 2 1/4 hours with this batch.

 

Awesome, I believe the butcher paper is to get the moisture out of the cheese but your process seems to work for you and gets the moisture out. I think I’ll go that route next time. I’ve only smoked cheese a couple of times and have really enjoyed it so I’ve Been looking for ways to improve. I wasn’t aware of touching the cheese after smoking causing issues but it makes sense, I’ll have to implement that into the process now.

 

I think the process I’ve used was about a week in the paper and 2 in the vac seal. Probably using the straight to vac method would cut a week off but could still go 3 to allow it to mellow a bit?

 

I don’t see why not, go for it

 

I suppose it’s a lot like aging good wine. So many variables.

 

I use my hands and vac seal right after smoking into the fridge. Anytime after a week and you're good.

I just do simple cheddars though so I don't overthink it.

 

What temperature is the cooking chamber when you’re smoking? I wait until ambient temps are 40° or below to maintain the “refrigerator” environment inside my pit (or Weber, depending on quantity).

 

You didn't ask me but anything under 90 is fine with me. Smoke and no melt.

 

You can always fill the water pan/bowl or a disposable aluminum foil pan with ice to keep the chamber cooler.

If the ice melts, save the water. Strain it and use it to make smoked ice cubes for a whiskey drink.

I pat my cheese dry after an overnight stay in the fridge and vacuum seal it.

 

This was my first cheese smoke since moving to AZ from WA 2 years ago. In WA I would usually smoke around 40 to 50F and try to keep below 70F. Ambient temp was 26f. I put a bag of ice in the WSM water pan. Running a blower the temp never made it to 40F. I had maybe a cup of water from melting ice in the pan. This definitely was the coldest cheese smoke I have done. Hardly any moisture on the cheese after smoking. Also no noticeable color change but could readily smell the smoke. I didn't check ambient humidity as we had clear skys.

 

I’m not sure what the temp is inside the chamber but I use the green mountain smoke tube inside of my traeger and that seems to work great. I put the tube on one end and the cheese on the other.

 

Smoking a butt today

 

I use a smoker tube for cheese.

$10 Smoke Tube - 12'' Smoke Tube for Pellet Grill 5 Hours of Billowing Smoke, Stainless Steel Pellet Smoker Tube for All Grill or Smoker, Hot or Cold Smoking

https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Tube-B...1670700771&sprefix=smoker+tube,aps,132&sr=8-5

Any outside temp below about 60º and out of the sun and you are good to go. I have seen it smoked in a cardboard box with the food grate resting on rods pushed though the cardboard, worked great. Just have to keep the smoldering smoker tube from coming in contact with the cardboard. I use a Little Chief with just the tube in the bottom. If I smoke a couple pounds, it never last long enough to worry about storing.

 

Done. I didn’t use my normal homemade rub, much less flavor. Ah well, that’s what they make BBQ sauce for.

 

Pork was on sale at the store today so I got a rib center roast, smothered it in mustard and “the usual” seasoning, threw it on the grill in smoker mode with some cherry chips for a few hours until I ran out of propane then transferred to the oven to finish. I was happy with the result, not a ton of smoke flavor but was definitely there.