# Wheew! I cut the cheese! with Q-view update



## teeznuts (Aug 28, 2011)

Just got my A-MAZE-N smoker the other day and it was time to break her in. Did a burn out on the gas grill and waited for dark to do a midnight cold smoke. Lit a row of Oak with Cherry on top and gave it about 10 minutes to get a steady burn. Blew it out and watched the sweet smelling TBS rising up perfectly.








My plan was to de-virginize the A-MAZE-N on a Buckboard Bacon smoke but I'm saving the BBB for tomorrow. Cheese was less time consuming as I was starting around 11pm and didn't want to be up all night. I smoked the cheese for 3 hours. I put a block of ice in the water pan and the temp in my MES stayed right around 73. It was a warm night so I was happy with the temp.











Love the way the sweaty cheese took on some color. Only thing that sucks is this 2 week wait to dig in. I've seen some folks on here say mozzarella does't need the 2 week wait. Feel free to chime in with any info regarding the wait time on mozzarella.


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## bluebombersfan (Aug 28, 2011)

Looks great and the waiting is well worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!  I waited on my moz so can't tell ya if it was any different.


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## tyotrain (Aug 28, 2011)




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## venture (Aug 28, 2011)

Looking good.  You will love that cheese.  Ya just gotta love those little AMNS and AMNPS, too!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## SmokinAl (Aug 29, 2011)

The cheese looks perfect!

Nice color!


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## tjohnson (Aug 29, 2011)

Way To Go Teez!

Pretty good start for a "Maiden Voyage"

Your cheese looks PERFECT!

Just started to sweat

Todd


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## jak757 (Aug 29, 2011)

Great looking cheese, Teez!

You are going to love your AMNPS!


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## czarcastic (Aug 29, 2011)

Looks great!  

Can't wait to break in my AMNPS, but it's been in the 90's + here every day and doesn't get much lower at night.

The only way I'm going to get a decent cold smoke right now is to carve a smoker out of a giant block of ice!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Last time I smoked cheese, SWMBO had me make two bricks of Mozzarella.  One for "right now" and one for "OK, if I have to wait."

The mozz right off the smoker was really pretty good, so I can see why people think its OK to eat right away.  

But the one that we let rest for a few weeks was significantly better.

If you gotta try some, I would cut the brick in half and see for yourself.  But in the future, do what I do and make two bricks.

Enjoy!


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## teeznuts (Sep 11, 2011)

Today marked the end of a treacherous 2 week wait to cut into the cheese I smoked. Definitely worth it.





















And some Bear View to check out the color.







Special thanks to Todd, creator of the AMNPS. This was the virgin smoke of the AMNPS and it is an amazing piece of equipment.


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## slownlow (Oct 11, 2011)

Nice job on the cheese, the color looks great!  I can't wait to do some with my AMNPS


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## africanmeat (Oct 11, 2011)

It looks great


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## tjohnson (Oct 11, 2011)

Hey Teez!

You better start on another batch, cuz you're gonna run out!

Looks Great My Friend!

Todd


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## rdknb (Oct 11, 2011)

oh weather here is getting cooler which means smoked cheese.  Yours looks great


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## teeznuts (Oct 11, 2011)

TJohnson said:


> Hey Teez!
> 
> You better start on another batch, cuz you're gonna run out!
> 
> ...


One step ahead of you. I've actually done 3 batches since this thread was started. I believe in keeping up the cheese smoking ritual so that as one batch gets eaten, another is finished with its 2 week wait. Plus I can stock up for holiday party trays too.


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## scarbelly (Oct 11, 2011)

Looks great man  - congrats on a great first run with the new toy


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## tjohnson (Oct 12, 2011)

Smoked cheese makes GREAT gifts for X-MAS!

TJ


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## roller (Oct 12, 2011)

That cheese looks real nice !!!! Job well done...


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## Bearcarver (Oct 12, 2011)

That color is Awesome !!!!

I'm not sure about the remarks about Mozzarella.

I think they are talking about some kind of fresh mozz---Not the kind you got there.

I use the kind you got & the sticks, and I wait at least two weeks.

I know Scarbelly & others know a lot more about that than I do!!

Nice BearView Too!!!

Thanks,

Bear


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## pops6927 (Oct 12, 2011)

Great looking cheeses!

This is totally beside the point, but your title reminded me of a past experience "cutting the cheese" - when I was a deli-bakery specialist, we'd bought out several Shop-Rite stores in the Albany area and had to do total store resets and remodels at the clip of one per week, so we'd go into a store on a Tues AM, conduct hiring for crews ready to start Wed. and clean, Thur. and Fri. set-up and merchandise Sat. and test run Sun, then Grand Opening on Mon, then off to the next store on Tues.  In one store they got the wrong bakery ovens and they had to re-excavate drain lines to install them while we were using the front room behind the deli counters to mass cut the cheese island - over 500 different cheeses.  I'm doing the cutting and about 10 employees are wrapping, sealing, weighing and boxing up the cheeses.  They'd hung plastic up but it was 6 in from the floor and all I can remember was shuffling my feet around because they were shoveling dirt pell mell on them while I furiously cut the cheese trying to keep it sanitary and keep production going - my "cheese-cutting-from-hell" experience, lol!


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## jc1947 (Oct 12, 2011)

*






Outstanding looking cheese.*

*JC1947*


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## larrym (Oct 12, 2011)

that looks awesome,, I cant wait for my AMNPS to get here and maverick.  Its starting to get below 60 at night now so I can do some cold smokes.  I normally buy the boss some blocks of cheese for Christmas, he tells me he loves to just snack while watching ball games.  Mind if I ask a couple questions in this thread ?

What kind of wood chips ?  Apple seems like it might be mild enough to not detract from cheese flavor.  I havent read any of the threads on cheese yet as I hadnt even considered that until I ordered AMNPS.  Does the firmness of the cheese determine how much flavor it picks up.  The thought of some apple wood smoked sharp cheddar or block of good parmesan has me drooling right now :)


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