# Tis the season for giving...Bacon and Cheese



## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 26, 2018)

Been awhile since I have been able to post anything. But I have still been smoking and watching the posts when I get a free minute. Decided this year was going to try something different as far as Christmas presents go.

Went to Costco and bought 2 of the thickest bellies I could find(not very thick). Work with what you can get I guess! Used TQ and brown sugar in the cure. Both bellies were about 10 pounds a piece.

















Cured this bacon for 14 days flipping daily. Soaked for about an hour in cold water then patted dry and into the beer fridge to rest for a few days to get that pellicle.
















Covered 2 of the slabs in fresh cracked black pepper. Decided to use the Smoke Vault for this one and really happy with the results. Used to use the MES40 for this but get a lot more ventilation from the SV24. Loaded up the AMNPS with apple pellets and let her rip for 11 hours.





















Back into the fridge for a couple days then sliced up 3 of the 6 slabs.











Vac sealed all that up and then got busy on my next project...Cheese. Found a 10 pound hunk at a closeout grocery store in the area. Cut it up into 8 oz blocks and then got out the other cheese I had been stashing for a the last couple months.





















Love that Cabot Hot Habanero. Anyways same procedure fired up the AMNPS with apple pellets and let her rip for 4 hours.





















Let it rest in the fridge for a couple of days and then vac sealed it all up.






Put a pack of bacon and a block of cheese together and taped it together.











Don't know about you but looks like the perfect Christmas present to me! Family loved it and it gave me an excuse to do what I love to do. Win Win. Plus I still have 10 pounds of bacon and a lot of cheese leftover! Merry Christmas!


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## TomKnollRFV (Dec 26, 2018)

I'd like to be on that receiving end of gift giving my self!

Love the colour the cheese took!


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## yankee2bbq (Dec 26, 2018)

You’ve been busy!  Everything looks good.

Dilly Dilly!


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## chopsaw (Dec 26, 2018)

Nice work , looks great .


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## crazymoon (Dec 26, 2018)

SVF, Awesome post and great goodies ,love the beer fridge too ! :) like


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## jcam222 (Dec 26, 2018)

Looks great! I’d love that as a gift for any occasion. I gave away most of my first batch of bacon and Canadian bacon as gifts. Was a huge hit. Next year I’ll be going baskets of various bacons, pastrami, homemade sugar free bread and butter pickles and sf sweet hot peppers.


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## SecondHandSmoker (Dec 26, 2018)

Now that's a real Christmas present.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 26, 2018)

Thank you for the likes! I don’t know what it was but using the smoke vault rather than the mes40 made this stuff taste so much more flavorful. Obviously I didn’t use any heat just cold smoked with the amnps it was around 40 outside both times. Love using apple wood on bacon and cheese. Def be doing this method again.


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## RiversideSm0ker (Dec 26, 2018)

Feel free to send some my way. Thumbs up.

George


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 26, 2018)

crazymoon said:


> SVF, Awesome post and great goodies ,love the beer fridge too ! :) like



Usually like to keep the beer fridge with a better selection of brews in it but the wife loaded it up with bottled water and the kids juice boxes haha


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 26, 2018)

jcam222 said:


> Looks great! I’d love that as a gift for any occasion. I gave away most of my first batch of bacon and Canadian bacon as gifts. Was a huge hit. Next year I’ll be going baskets of various bacons, pastrami, homemade sugar free bread and butter pickles and sf sweet hot peppers.



I’ve been wanting to do pickles for a long time but seems like it’s hard to find the pickling cucumbers around here. How do you do the sweet hot peppers?


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 26, 2018)

TomKnollRFV said:


> I'd like to be on that receiving end of gift giving my self!
> 
> Love the colour the cheese took![/QUOTE
> 
> Thanks! Made a big tray of stuff I smoked a year ago for a Christmas party a few days ago and every bit of it was gone. One of these days I’ll get some of that good Wisconsin cheese!


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## TomKnollRFV (Dec 26, 2018)

Hennings has online ordering ;)

http://www.henningscheese.com/index.html


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## drunkenmeatfist (Dec 26, 2018)

Thanks for this. I got an Amazin Tube for Christmas yesterday and was researching how to smoke cheese today. I have a Smoke Vault 18 that hasn't been used in about a year so I was trying to decide if I should use my kamado or bring the SV out of retirement. I think I will use the SV


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## gmc2003 (Dec 27, 2018)

Ok I see a few things wrong with this post. 

1st: The mailman has yet to deliver my gift package.
2nd: Rolling Rock really!!! where's the PBR's
3rd: I'm sure the folks from Oscar Mayer aren't to happy with you cutting into their profit margins. Be prepared for a visit from their lawyers in the next week or so.
4th: That hot habanaro is gonna be good. I love that stuff. 

That is one fine looking smoker and fridge full of homemade goodies. Nicely done. 

Point for sure.
Chris


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## Bigtank (Dec 27, 2018)

Looks wonderful, I'm motivated to smoke some cheese.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 27, 2018)

drunkenmeatfist said:


> Thanks for this. I got an Amazin Tube for Christmas yesterday and was researching how to smoke cheese today. I have a Smoke Vault 18 that hasn't been used in about a year so I was trying to decide if I should use my kamado or bring the SV out of retirement. I think I will use the SV



I put my amazen tray right on the wood chunk burner in the SV24. You have an air vent on both sides for ventilation so the amnps never goes out. The water pan sits about 3 inches above it so you the smoke distributes evenly and you don’t get any direct heat or hot spots from the pellets on the cheese/bacon. Good luck with your cheese let us know how it turns out!


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## lovethemeats (Dec 27, 2018)

If I send you my Christmas stocking can I have it filled to. Lol. Looks good. 
Likes for sure


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## Bearcarver (Dec 27, 2018)

Awesome!!
Great Job, VolFan!!
Fantastic Gifts!!
Like.

Bear


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## wbf610 (Dec 27, 2018)

Looks real good.  I need to get off my rear end and smoke some of the 20 lbs of cheese I have in the fridge.


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## wbf610 (Dec 27, 2018)

Looks real good.  I need to do some of the 20lbs of cheese I have in the fridge.


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## rbnice1 (Dec 27, 2018)

I need to order more cheese blocks from Wisconsin!  Been over a year since I smoked any cheese.

If you want to try something different try cream cheese smoked for an hour!  Fantastic on crackers.


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## ab canuck (Dec 27, 2018)

That looks pretty darned good in all angles, Cheese, Bacon and Beer.... Mmmm. 
Congrats on the carousel ride. Like....
 We are heading east in the spring to visit family, going south through the US on the way there. I know I will be buying some of that Habanero cheese.


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## chilerelleno (Dec 28, 2018)

Fabulous! *LIKE!*


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## SmokinVOLfan (Dec 28, 2018)

Thank you for the likes. Used some of the leftover smoked cheddar I had for sausage balls and garlic cheddar biscuits. Would highly recommended if you haven’t tried it!


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## nanuk (Dec 30, 2018)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> Put a pack of bacon and a block of cheese together and taped it together.
> View attachment 383689
> 
> View attachment 383690
> ...




WIN WIN WIN!!!!!

I'd be singing "Merry Christmas to ME!"


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