# smoking camembert on my ECB



## thinblueduke (Feb 19, 2015)

Most Friday nights, I play guitar and sing at a local bar, and occasionally, I'll bring along some of my smoked goodies.  The Japanese are big into snacks with their drinks, so they seem to appreciate it.  A few weeks ago, I gave smoked camembert a shot, and it went over pretty well, so I thought I'd give it another go today.

I get these little hockey-puck-sized thingies at the supermarket for about $2.50-3.00 each.  They start out almost completely white (sorry for the overexposed photo).













camembert1a.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Feb 19, 2015






The first time I did it, I used large sakura (cherry) chunks on a hotplate that was set at the smoke threshold (lowest possible temp that will produce smoke).  I also filled my water pan with cold water.  After an hour of that, with temps topping out around 100F, I turned off the hotplate and used half a brick of pressed apple sawdust for another hour or so.

This time around, I figured I'd skip the hotplate and just use the pressed sawdust brick.  It's slightly bigger than a pack of 100s cigarettes.













camembert1b.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Feb 19, 2015






Since this was the only heat source, the temps stayed well under 70F.  The brick is supposed to last 90 minutes, but it was still going after 120 minutes, so I went out to run some errands.  The outdoor temp today is in the low 40s, so I figured it'd be safe to leave them out a few extra minutes.

I brought them inside when I got home, wrapped them tightly in plastic wrap, then nestled them back into their original packaging.  For the first batch, I waited a week to let the smoke get deeper into the cheese, and since that seemed to work well, I'm going to do it again this time.













camembert1c.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Feb 19, 2015






I hate not being able to taste the finished product right away, because I like to know immediately what I've done right, and what I've done wrong.  For now, I can find one thing to improve on.  In the picture below, you can see that the unwrapped cheese on the right has a tiny bit of gray dust on the top.  My guess is that this resulted from opening the lid on my ECB too quickly.  The pressed sawdust creates a very fine ash compared to regular wood, and by removing the lid too briskly, I must've created a bit of wind that carried the ash upwards.  Next time, I'll remember to open the access door first, then slowly remove the top.













camembert1d.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Feb 19, 2015






I'll let you know in a week or so how they turned out!


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## kc5tpy (Feb 23, 2015)

Hello.  Looks good.  Hope all turns out well.  Keep Smokin!

Danny


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## crazymoon (Mar 7, 2015)

TBD, How was the cheese ?


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## thinblueduke (Mar 9, 2015)

I think it could've used some more smoke.  My daughter, who has a more sensitive palate, said she could taste the smoke, but I couldn't.  Then again, I don't have an unsmoked one to compare it to.  I'll definitely try again.


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## gary s (Mar 9, 2015)

Nice,  Mmmm   smoked cheese


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## jameswalker (Mar 13, 2015)

That is really nice smoked cheese.Can it be taken with dessert? I have read an article on smoking cheese there he has written that, smoking cheese is good for health only if,it is being baked on high smoke.Is that really..! because in the above image it doesn't seems to be like that.


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## thinblueduke (Mar 13, 2015)

Jameswalker, I understand your question.  Smoking fish and meat is safer when hot-smoked.  However, this cold-smoked camembert is safer because it's not raw meat.  I smoked it for a few hours, then put it back in the refrigerator, and it's fine.


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## leah elisheva (Mar 14, 2015)

That sounds absolutely beautiful! Cheers! - Leah


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## thinblueduke (Mar 16, 2015)

Spring is coming, so my cheese-smoking days are numbered.  I decided to give it another go, this time slicing the camembert into wedges.  After smoking, I'll reassemble, wrap and age them.  In the pic, the darker camembert is from my last batch.  I also had a little room for some cheddar.













camembert again.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Mar 16, 2015






I ran out of apple bricks, so I went with sakura (cherry) this time.


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## thinblueduke (Mar 16, 2015)

Almost three hours into the smoke, with about 30 minutes of smoke left in the brick.  One of the pieces of camembert started to get a little too soft, so I had to push it back together.  The other two held up fine.  The exposed cheese really took on some color.  The cheddar has started to sweat ever so slightly.













camembert 2a.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Mar 16, 2015


















camembert 2b.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Mar 16, 2015


















camembert 2c.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Mar 16, 2015


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## gary s (Mar 16, 2015)

Nice, gunna be good

Gary


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