Mistakes were made…..

[Hockeydudde]

Interesting.
I suspect the higher salinity of finished cheese means there is less osmotic pressure, that combined with the cooler temp probably slows the issues that can be caused.

 

[forktender]

I'm a rebel, I can/ put up food the same way my family has been doing it for 100+ yrs, nobody has been poisoned or died yet to my knowledge.
And the salami and other cured meats and wine we ate, and drank were made by this recipe, a handful of this, and a palm full of that, then stuffed and hung in the root cellar. People are wimps these days, if they only knew half of what the old school folks knew, they'd be much better off. The whole curing chamber, recipe this, recipe that crowd, cracks me up. Food safety was, smell it, look at it, then taste it, we all survived. I can't recall anyone ever getting sick from our home preserved food, matter of fact I asked my 85 yr old mother if she remembers anyone getting sick from my Noni's or Poppa's food, she laughed and said
"no frick'in way", I love how we were brought up.

 

[bmudd14474]

C Cattoon a few more days and you're there. Can't wait to hear the results. Also I usually do not smoke anything smaller than a 2lb blocks. You will be good.

 

[Cattoon]

C Cattoon a few more days and you're there. Can't wait to hear the results. Also I usually do not smoke anything smaller than a 2lb blocks. You will be good.

Thank you, I’m going to wait until Wednesday unless she who must be obeyed decides that it’s been long enough.
My wife has recently discovered that the smoked sharp cheddar isn’t like what you buy. She’s been snacking pretty regularly on the previous batch.

 

[forktender]

Heck yeah, if the little lady likes it, you're golden!!!

I love when I make something new, and my little lady asks if she can take some to the girls that she works with, that's how I know that I did something right, for a change.

 

[Cattoon]

We opened a pack of the brined cheese last night. The texture is sort of velvety on the outside, it turned out delicious, probably the best I’ve done so far.
Mistake number 1 was accidentally buying the 2 lb blocks, I will only be buying 2lb blocks going forward.
Mistake number 2 was when I took the cheese out of the brine I blotted it dry but I didn’t let it rest in the fridge like recommended in the previous post. Next time I’ll try to remember to let it rest for a few hours in the fridge. I can’t tell that the brine made it any saltier. The color after being vacuum sealed and in the fridge since it was smoked has darkened up some but not much different than cheese I have smoked without the brine.
I’m going to continue to use the brine method. Thank you everyone for the comments and questions. Thankfully it has been wife tested and wife approved.

 

[Cattoon]

Opened another pack of the brined cheese. Has only gotten better. I’m going to hang on to one pack and let it continue to rest for a few months. I’m going to have to replenish the supply very soon.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
Mistake number 1 was accidentally buying the 2 lb blocks, I will only be buying 2lb blocks going forward.
....

What are trying to post?

 

[Cattoon]

What are trying to post?

Just an update on my experiment with brining cheese before smoking?

 

[Fueling Around]

Reread your earlier post
"Mistake number 1 was accidentally buying the 2 lb blocks, I will only be buying 2lb blocks going forward." Read it out out loud!
What was your mistake?

 

[Cattoon]

Reread your earlier post
"Mistake number 1 was accidentally buying the 2 lb blocks, I will only be buying 2lb blocks going forward." Read it out out loud!
What was your mistake?

I thought I was buying 1lb blocks which are what I had previously smoked. I discovered that they were 2 lb blocks and had no idea about how long to smoke them to our taste.
I decided on 4 hours as a straight guess.
It thankfully turned out to be a happy mistake and I will be buying the 2lb blocks from now on.

 

[Fueling Around]

I buy 1/2 # packages and split them into 4 ounce long sticks.
The finished size fits a snack cracker. My Jumbo Joe only holds about 1-1/2# of cheese

 

[matthewojela0]

Brine... mind blown!!!!

I thought the same thing, need to try this asap.