# Christmas Cheese!



## xutfuzzy (Nov 13, 2012)

Due to a gross miscalculation and communication error, I ended up with way more pork belly from my butcher than I had planned on.  This will be covered in a post late into the weekend.   In the meantime, the wife and I will have a ridiculous amount of bacon on hand, and to problem solve I suggested that we give out homemade "baskets" of smoked goods that I have made as Christmas gifts.  The gift baskets will have my homemade bacon, homemade smoked cheese, my recently made homemade bresaola, homemade smoked salt, and homemade smoked peppercorns.  To ensure that the cheese was ready for consumption by Christmas, I smoked them tonight.

I went with apple pellets, and decided to make a point by lighting two ends.













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__ xutfuzzy
__ Nov 13, 2012






The wife and I picked out these cheeses, based on our wild guesses about what our friends/family would prefer.













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I grabbed a small paper towel and a sharpie to make myself a "map" so that I would remember which was which when they came out of the smoker.













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Here is the "before" shot.  As you can see, I cut the bricks into two.  It worked out to be around $1.70 a slab this way.













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Thin blue smoke, doing its thing.













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Here is the "after" shot.













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Normally, I have been using the Sharpie to write directly on the package.  The wife wants to use some fancy label machine we supposedly have somewhere, so I used masking tape to remember later on which brick was which.













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DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS!













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The details:

Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS

Wood: Apple pellets, lit on two ends

Smoker Temperature: Cold smoked

Ambient Temperature: About 45 degrees

Duration: 2 hours


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## tjohnson (Nov 13, 2012)

Great Looking Cheese!!!


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## tatonka3a2 (Nov 14, 2012)

How do I get on your Christmas list!!


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## scottphillips1 (Nov 14, 2012)

Your cheese looks delicious, but you really got my attention with "homemade smoked salt, and homemade smoked peppercorns."

How do you smoke salt and peppercorns...time, temperature and method?

Thanks!

Scott Phillips

Star, ID


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## smokinhusker (Nov 14, 2012)

Looks great and such a wonderful "personally made" gift!


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## humdinger (Nov 14, 2012)

Wow gift baskets! You definietly outdid me. I was just going to hand out smoked salt this Christmas. Nice job and good pics.


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## driedstick (Nov 14, 2012)

Looks great "smoked pepper corns"???? no you have  my attentions I have done smoked salt before but never pepper corns please let us in on your secret


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## fuzzyb (Nov 14, 2012)

Yum! Looks great.


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## xutfuzzy (Nov 15, 2012)

driedstick said:


> Looks great "smoked pepper corns"???? no you have  my attentions I have done smoked salt before but never pepper corns please let us in on your secret





scottphillips1 said:


> Your cheese looks delicious, but you really got my attention with "homemade smoked salt, and homemade smoked peppercorns."
> 
> How do you smoke salt and peppercorns...time, temperature and method?
> 
> ...


For the smoked salt I did a bunch of tests, and here are my results from that:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125996/the-great-smoked-salt-experiment

As for the peppercorns, I will be cold smoking them for a few hours as the heat will hurt the oils that are in them.


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## themule69 (Nov 16, 2012)

looks great. i wish i was on your christmas list.


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## josh morrison (Nov 17, 2012)

I handed out smoked cheese last year. I was surprised at how well the smoked mozzarella turned out. I loved it and everyone clamored for it. I'm not even bothering with swiss this year. I'm increasing my mozzarella from 5 pounds to 15 pounds for Christmas gifts this year. I'm hoping my salt and peppercorns turn out well.


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