# SMOKING VELVEETA



## larry maddock

:roll: hello hello,
i put a 2lb block of velveeta in a pyrex baking sheet.
and set on top grill of my smoker.

at this time i find that  my honeys grown kid has drank all the alcohol in the house.---terrible start.
this means i could not ignite the wood chips per steve gaskins instuctions
on how to get a fire or smoulder going.

it was about 30 degrees and wind was about 18 mile a hr.

so i turned my electic smoker to the high position to get chips smoking.

then i put on low setting and put the velveeta back on top rack.

i had never used the low position so i was hoping for they best.

after 1 hr  i took it out.

my inside thermometer showed it to be 135 degrees.

the result was a melted goo.
  and smoked on top only.

it was about 5/8 to 3/4 inch thick.

it tastes a little smokey and therefore i will use it.

maybe a taco stuffer??


im thinking the original plan to use only smoldering wood chips ,and no heat source will improve the smoke into 3 sides of block.


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## Dutch

Valiant effort there Larry. Lots of times you just don't know what's going to happen unless you try.  Smoking cheeses require a COLD smoke- around 90-95 degrees. With Velveeta being softer than most soft cheese, I'm not sure if you still have a melting problem or not.


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## ggnutsc

Larry,
I've had some limited sucess with smoking cheese.
The best luck has been with monteray jack. It seems to resist melting better. Even at the lowest temps that I can get in my LPG smoker I've experienced the same thing as you did with the Velveeta. Consider smoking some pepper-jack, it doesn't get gooey and has become a favorite amongt my family and friends.

No matter what cheese I'm smoking, I use a fine mesh rack made for jerky and that seems to help give it more support and prevent the droops. I also cut the cheese down to smaller pieces rather than leaving it as a whole brick so I can limit the exposure time and still get some smoke in it. 

 The last time I smoked, I tried something different... I got my wood smoking real well with the propane fire and then shut off the fire completely. Then I lit a can of sterno alcohol/gel fuel and set it on the burner under the smoke box and let it go. The reduced heat seemed to help quite a bit where the melting of the cheese was concerned, but wqas enough to keep the smoke going.

This approach may not work with an electric smoker but did OK with my GOSM .


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## bob-bqn

ggnutsc here's another trick you might try. Instead of using propane, just light 4 or 5 charcoal briquettes and put them in the bottom of the wood box and place some smoke wood on top of them. With cheese you're not trying to cook it so you really don't need any heat, per say, just smoke and enough draft to keep it from going stale.


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## dennis

Lar,

I've smoked a lot of cheese, and I know the gooey mess technique well.  
These days I seem to be able to control it better, not get carried away with the heat.  I usually freeze the cheese before smoking, I don't think it is harmful to the taste, and it holds up better.  When I remove it from my smoke stove after two hours or so, it is completely thawed.  Like meat, I like to rub olive oil all sides of the cheese, then shake herbs and spices into the oil, pat it down a bit.  I generally use a cheap processed cheese that is available here, kind of like velveeta.  The smoke and spices really picks up the flavor, turn it into some gourmet taste, and the processed stuff is a lower fat content I'm told.  Sometimes I substitiute honey for the olive oil.  It gives a milder taste. Either the honey keeps some of the smoke away, or the sweetness balances it out, not sure which.  Either way, very delicious!  I don't smoke directly over the heat, so even if the cheese drips down into the foil placed below, I can soften it up again in an oven toaster and mold it together again (not a pretty thing to watch though).  A portable propane torch can give a little color on the outside if once you have the mess together again there are outside parts that haven't been browned by smoke.  When people ask how I mange to get the spices into the middle of the cheese, I just tell them, "advanced technique"!  It sounds better than gooey mess I think.

Don't let the gooey discourage ya.

Dennis


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## dacdots

I actually smoked a block of cheddar once and it came out good but have also ended up with the gooey mess.I guess cold smoking is the answer but is hard to controll.I saw on a site where a guy had a seperate smoke source where the smoke went through a 3/8 piece of tubing ran through a pan of ice water.One of these days I will fab a similar set up and try it out.Good luck,David


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## dennis

i think what ggnutsc said, about using a fine mesh below the cheese instead of more widely spaced bars, it's an important point.  When I went to using mesh I had much better results. If you have too much heat though, whatever you do the cheese is going to melt on you.  It really doesn't take a lot of smoke to give you a good taste with cheese.  I like cheese because even if I'm broke, I can usually swing the cost of a block of the processed stuff and still feed my smoke habit, not have to be off in the corner somewhere shaking.....ha!
Let us hear if you get a good result.

Dennis


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## snowman

Just got done smoking some cheese.  Colby Jack, Pepper Jack, Swiss and Extra Sharp Cheddar.  All went well.. I have a side by side Brinkmann and all that I did was used my electric charcoal starter and put the smoking chips right on top of it.  Plugged it in and let it start smoking... I monitored the temp closely and went it started to climb I opened the lid for a few seconds and let it cool.  Turned out great..

Mike


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## Dutch

Mike, thanks for the tip about using the electric charcoal starter and wood chips for smoking cheese.

That what this forum is all about-tips and tricks and learning from each other!


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## snowman

I am going to make more tonight or tomorrow night but I think I am going to try and use wood chunks to see if they will smoke without catching on fire....
I will let you know how it turns out...

Mike


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## jlloyd99

Along the same lines as the electric charcoal starter.  A hotplate with a tin pan of chips or sawdust would also be a good way to produce smoke with little heat.  Still haven't tried cheese but we're hoping to someday soon.


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## joed617

Maybe I'm a cheese snob but I didn't think "Velvetta" was cheese. I thought it was more in line with "Cheese Wiz" or something like that. Must be the Italain in my cheezy blood. 

Joe


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## snowman

It is cheeseish  :D   It has its place in life..... I don't know if I would try smoking it but it makes great grilled cheese samiches...

Mike


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## Dutch

Velveta~That's what I use to fish for trout with when I ain't tossing a fly at 'em. :D


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## joed617

Hmmm Velvetta and Spam a Cheeseish,  meatish samiche. Sounds so umm delictableish.


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## joed617

Ohh nevermind .. I think I beat this to death


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## Dutch

Aw, come on Joe, don't feel that way!! Maybe this will make you smile-Monty Python's Spam Song  :D

Trust me on this-You won't hear a song like that about Velveeta!! :P


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## joed617

Your right Dutch, Velvetta wouldn't exactly roll of the tongue .. Thanks for the laugh


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## cajunsmoker

Don't know about smoking it, but mix a pound of velveeta, a can of hot RoTel chili's and tomatoes and melt it down and it makes a hell of a cheese dip :twisted:


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## joed617

Rodger, My wife is a health nut.. and one of those "All natural food types" you know what I mean.. so I can't get velvett a in the house ..  She wants me to live a long life so she can torture me longer .. ya know ..long and slow .. lol 

Joe


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## snowman

Add some smoked chicken and see what you think....


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## cajunsmoker

Yea, I have had that.  Real good.  Try it with a extra hot Jimmy Dean fatty crumbled in it :!:


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## prplptcrzr2003

Question: Would having a drip pan with sand in it help keep the temp down? I heard that some people smoke with sand in the drip pan instead of water to ensure a "cooler" smoke. Anyone concur or do you all think I'm crazy like my wife does for  mentioning that I wanted to try smoking a hunk of gouda?


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## cajunsmoker

The sand just does the same job the water does.  It adds something else to the smoke chamber to absorb and _hopefully_ slowly release the heat.  If you use sand in your drip pan, put foil on top of the sand to catch drippings so as not to have rancid sand in your smoker :mrgreen:


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## prplptcrzr2003

Great point about the foil on top of the sand, Cajun. Thanks!


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## smokngun

It's been awhile since anyone commented on this thread, was just wondering if anyone has tried smoking velvetta using A-MAZE- N smokers?


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## pc farmer

I am going to try it soon.  I love Velvetta cheese.


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## maumee smoker

A trick I have used with Smoking Cheese and butter is to place a pan full of ice under the soft cheese to keep the temp of the cheese or butter cooler. I love the taste of smoked cream cheese makes great cheeseballs


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## smokingpigfoods

I have been Smoking Velveeta for about a year now, it is killer on a sandwich with Tomato Soup.  The best way I have found to do any cheese is the A-MAZE-N Pellet smoker.  Only once did I have a problem and it was just to hot outside in the first place.













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__ smokingpigfoods
__ Oct 14, 2013






How is Smoked Butter????


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## hagisan

Smoked butter is very good as well.  Great on grilled cheese and cooks well with many other recipes IME.


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## smker

Cold smoking is the main reason why i got the AMNPS.  and that was just before christmas last year but by spring time and got to hot to cold smoke velveeta cheese,   i ended up smoking 3 2lb Reg bricks and 3 2lb bricks of the Mexican velveeta that i bagged and vac packed and held in the fridge till the end of july so the smoke flavor would mello out.  at that time i gave out small samples and sold it all and i  ended up with over $15 a brick.

Velveeta has a very low melting point that makes it allittle hard to smoke without coating the bottom of your smoker with melted cheese.

my Fav is a blend of  hickory and pecon.


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## smokingpigfoods

Did you leave the blocks whole or cut the down in size?  I have been debating on wether or not to add it to my list of products.


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## diggingdogfarm

A better approach would be to smoke some regular cheddar and then make a pseudo-"Velveeta" using sodium citrate.
You'll end up with a better all-around product without the issues of smoking Velveeta.

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

~Martin


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## smokingpigfoods

Have you tried doing this?  How was it when it cooled back down?


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## diggingdogfarm

It's like Velveeta, it's the essence of J. L. Kraft's invention.
If you're making a pseudo-"Velveeta" to be sliced it benefits from the addition of carrageenan.
You can find more info via a Google search.
I'm not sharing all my secrets! :biggrin:


~Martin


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## smokingpigfoods

I was thinking I might try it with pepper jack


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## smker

LOL it doesn't take much heat to melt velveeta thats for shure. 

found the picts i took smoking this cheese last spring,  by the time that it got to hot to do this i had over 3 2lb bricks each of the Reg and the Mexican with samples to give out.  i had it vac packed and didnt get into it till the end of july where it was really mellowed out.  even tho i smoked it at  32 deg or below  the cheese never froze during the 5 hr smoke.













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__ smker
__ Oct 22, 2013


















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__ smker
__ Oct 22, 2013






also tried some mixed nuts that didnt work out so well and hot smoking was the better call in doing that 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			


















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__ smker
__ Oct 22, 2013






anyway im smoking alot more velveeta cheese this winter so i have more ready from the start and end of summer next year.


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## smker

heres that Mexican velveeta.













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__ smker
__ Oct 22, 2013


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## driedstick

smker cheese looks great, Martin thanks for the link great info on that clip but where can one pick up this so called salt??


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## diggingdogfarm

@driedstick...

On Amazon or The Spice House or Modernist Pantry.


~Martin


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## driedstick

WOW!!!! That was fast thanks Martin


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## chuckerg

in my MES30 just use the amnps and a good temp probe keep the temp below melting point by opening the door now and then or fill extra space with frozen 2 liter bottles


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## smker

ive been smoking more of this cheese too since it turned cold,  ill post those pics later today


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## smker

the Velveeta Queso Blanco also turned out really good.













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__ smker
__ Jan 4, 2014


















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__ smker
__ Jan 4, 2014


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## oldschoolbbq

Some cheeses like Cream and Velveta beg for a cold day , an AMNPS (loaded and smoking courageously ) , a cardboard box and a rack.
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  Just sayin' . . .


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## smker

your right on tha,t after getting a AMNPS a year ago i never considered smoking cheese.


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## driedstick

Looks great now for a grilled cheese Sammy huh?? in two weeks or so, dang waiting time


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## smker

driedstick said:


> Looks great now for a grilled cheese Sammy huh?? in two weeks or so, dang waiting time


excellent on omelets too 













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__ Jan 6, 2014


















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