Bill mentioned trying a smoke tube on Mac-N-Cheese.

Someone last week mentioned a smoke tube to me in relation to cold-smoking cheese. What are these devices useful on? Am I missing something by not having one?

X2,Bill, illuminate us please.

I'm on my phone at the moment, which is a real pain in the rear to type on, but if you go here you can get an idea of of the concept:

http://www.owensbbq.com/smokers-and-pellets.html

For what it's worth, I've known Marty and Tanya at Owens BBQ for a very long time; tell them that Tasunkawitko/Ron from Montana gave you their names and they with treat you very well. The prices they have going right now are very good.

The product I have us an older A-Maze-N product, but works on the same idea: cold smoke for cheeses, charcuterie and other similar applications, all you need is an enclosure with decent airflow, such as a Weber Kettle, "Chief" smoker or even a box with holes cut in it. Or a grill or other smoker.

Good product; highly recommended.

Ron

Tas, how do you cold smoke cheese? Do you use just specific cheeses? My wife loves Parmesan. I like Mozzarella and Pepper Jack. I've heard and read that aging the cold-smoked cheese is essential to avoid bitterness.

Your link shows a photo of what looks like a hamburger patty being cold-smoked. How versatile are those smoke tubes?

Hi, Ken -

Will do my best to answer; keep in mind that my unit isn't exactly the same as this, but it is from the same company and works on the same principle.

I believe that these types of products were originally invented to provide some extra smoke flavour when grilling (which is what I think is going on in the photo you mention), but people found out that they also work great for cold-smoking, when used in an enclosure with fair airflow. I'd consider them quite versatile, myself. Aside from the grilling practice, they can be used for cheese, bacon, ham, nuts, various charcuterie and even fish; basically for anything you want to smoke it without cooking it. I am sure there are applications that I haven't thought of, as well. They can also be used when hot-smoking, but my opinion is that doing so is rather redundant; still, if you want to hit something with even more smoke than you are already using, it can be done.

Cold-smoking cheese is very easy; I've never tried it with Parmesan, but have tried it with many of the usual suspects, including Mozzarella, Cheddar, Gouda, Edam, Swiss and so forth. I see no reason why Parmesan wouldn't also work. Units such as the tube (or the maze, which is what I use) burn pellets (or in some cases hardwood sawdust) at very low, smoldering temperatures that keep what you are smoking from cooking. In general, you want stronger smoke flavours (hickory, oak, maybe mesquite) for stronger cheese, and milder smoke (apple, cherry, maple etc.) for milder cheeses.

A good way to start is to take a standard 8-oz block of cheese and cut it into quarters (latitude and longitude, so to speak) and put it in the enclosure with the tube or maze unit off to the side, so that the airflow hits the unit first, then the cheese. Smoke it for a length of time of your choosing (4 hours is good for a first attempt; you can adjust from there next time until you find what you like). The cold smoke will not adversely affect the cheese (melt, soften, cook or make it grainy), but will infuse the smoke into it. The cheese may or may not darken, depending on a lot of factors.

A good practice is to put the cheese into zip-locks or vacuum-seal it after you are finished, then give it a couple of days (or longer). The smoke flavour seems to penetrate the cheese and disperse its way through the cheese, so that it's not all concentrated on the outside. This could be perception more than reality, but I can vouch for the results.

After that, cut it, slice it, shred it, do whatever you want with it - but be sure to enjoy it!

It's probably not necessary to cut them into quarters like I do, but I do it anyway. The standard 8-ounce block seems to be about the right shape and size to use, or you can go smaller. One could go bigger, I am sure - I simply haven't done it myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
What are these devices useful on? Am I missing something by not having one?

I have one and I really like it for cold smoking jerky/biltong. I have also used it with great success on salmon for the cold smoke(I then finish it in the oven).

I think they are great.

I'm organizing a three-hour Grilling Master Class for 35 retirees next month. I'm going to make sure the Grill Master I'm hiring discusses cold-smoking. One of the men in the group is the one that told me how he loved cold-smoking cheese. I'm going to give it a shot myself on cheese, bacon, nuts, etc.

Thanks

My experience with smoking cheeses is that they pick up smoke flavour very fast. I’ll defer to Taz about his four hour window, but many cheeses can absorb good flavour in as little as 45 min., so don’t over-do it.

So if I'm correct this is just a section of pipe that one puts the hickory pellets into before ignition?Nothing to that if this is the case but remember NEVER use galvanized pipe,only black iron. Unless you just want to kill yourself.Tas, am I correct in my assumption?

Here's my smoke tube loaded with Traeger pellets about to do its magic on a 2-pound baby loaf of Tillamook cheddar from the Oregon Coast. Have to let them age for a month for the smoke flavor to mellow. Doing this on a Weber Genesis. I find the tube works with hams, pork butts and other meats. Just didn't add much to that mac and cheese.

NC - to my knowledge you are correct about galvanized metal being bad; I'm not sure of the concentration but it is certainly toxic. I bought some nuts, bolts and washers for a project once and was advised to burn the coating off.

Smoking time varies on a lot of things, but airflow is probably the biggest factor, in my opinion. 4 hours has worked for me, but I would definitely start with less and then work your way up in subsequent smokes to your desired level!

quote:

biltong

Speaking of which, I need to make some more - great stuff!

If anyone wants to give it a shot, here's how I do it, as taught to me by a good friend in South Africa:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeb...ltong_topic1857.html

Tas, seems to me the biltong thing would be simpler if you did it, then send us all a sample of the end product.


...and I'm still mad that Bill/Oregon knew all about smoke tubes and didn't tell me nothin' until now.

You guys are letting me fall way behind.

The poison to us is the zinc oxide that is released from the galvanization process when heated. Just don't use it + you're O.K.I have a sheet metal business + we use galvanized primarily + use Muriatic acid (28% baum of hydrochloric) to cause the zinc chloride to create a flux that will allow steel to bond to lead.Thus waterproof flashings.

Ken, sorry for the omission and promise to step up.

I knew there was a reason I prefer cheese curds from Wesconsin!! We have a Culbersons restaurant here that deep fries them, to kill for. No galvanized pipe for this old timer..

Right Ray;time is short enough.

There are half a dozen different smoke tube models for sale on Amazon from $15-25. I use one on Boston butts because they will produce about 6-7 hours of smoke without having to do a thing but light the pellets in the tube at the beginning.

Jerry, I get about four hours of smoke out my tube. By the way guys, these are stainless steel.

Stainless is the ONLY way to go in food prep.I build a lot of S/S backsplashes,countertops,etc.for the restaurant trade as well as pipe + ftgs for the wood stove trade mkt.

I'll own a smoke tube as of Wednesday. Someone told me this week that the ambient temperature has to be under 60 degrees or you can't cold-smoke anything. Can that be true? I thought the whole process was to keep the interior of your enclosure under 90 degrees. Right now our daily high temperatures are around 50 degrees, surely I can cold-smoke under those conditions. Right?

Ken - you should be good to go.

My own go/no-go threshold for cold-smoking is 100 degrees ambient temperature, as explained to me by a fellow who has been doing this for a very long time and has made a very good living as a butcher and charcuterie master.

Having said that, the lower the temperature (to a point, of course), the better.

Bought the A-Maze-N 12" Tube. Got some pecan pellets. (Probably get some apple pellets before I do this.) I will try Monterey Jack or Havarti cheese first.

Ambient temperature will probably be around 50F degrees. I'll do this in a Texas Pit Crafters PM500-XL.

My plan is to lay the smoke tube near the air inlet (bottom rack). I would put the cheese near the chimney (top rack), figuring the smoke has to move around the cheese.

I'm guessing 2-3 hours of smoke.

If I've over-thought this, or left any important aspect out, please let me know.

Ken - that looks like a solid plan, and I am betting the pecan will be a good choice as far as smoke.

I don't know for sure, so this is just a suggestion: It might be worth it to check the internal temperatures in the middle rack(s?) and at the top, also possibly one side of the top or the other. It's possible that the heat at the the top might be warmer than in the middle; as you probably know, airflow is one of the most crucial factors, right up there with heat, in my opinion.

Having said that, no matter where you are you should be good as long as you are below 90/100 etc.

If you get the chance try peach wood. When some of my trees in the orchard dyed after 20+ years,I cut them up for smoking chips + they make a very sweet taste.

Cold-smoked two (2) pounds of Monterey Jack cheese using pecan pellets last Saturday. I split the cheese block into one (1) pound pieces.

I placed the smoke tube loaded with pecan pellets down in the bottom next to the fire box, and lit it using a small handheld propane burner, (A creme brulee burner would have worked as well.) and re-installed the two layers of racks.

I placed the cheese on the top rack, opposite end of the smoker (under the chimney. The cheese was placed on aluminum foil on the rack.

After about two hours, the cheese had taken-on good color, and I thought it was getting too warm, so I moved the cheese down to the lower rack and continued the smoke for another hour.

The cheese is now wrapped in Glad-Wrap and resting in the refrigerator. Two weeks from now I will try the cheese on crackers and decide whether I ever want to do this again.

I've also decided that I will use cold-smoke (with pecan) for a couple of hours on the next burgers or steaks I grill. Surely that will impart a nice smokey flavor before finishing them on the grill.

Just got off the phone w/ a buddy that spent all day yesterday + all night grinding,stuffing venison sausage in casings + then smoking it . About 60 lbs.He was beat when I called him tonight.Will see him in about 3-4 weeks + get some. Looking forward to it,especially the links that have the jalapeno mixed in.I am a Texano after all.

Ken, I vacuum seal my smoked cheese and have found that if you can stand to let it age for a month, you'll like it even more.

Just like my recipe for Apple ,pecan, cinnamon bundt cake.It's even better after it sits for a few days for the flavors to blend but it never lasts that long.

Bill, your comment is identical to what my friend Charlie told me. He said the longer, the better. (Seems like all my friends names are/were "Charlie". Makes life simple I guess.)

By the way, my wife bought ribeyes and wants them done Thursday night. She doesn't know what she's in for.

Talking about flavors blending; my wife's ceviche does that. It is very good the first day, but mellows and blends over the next 24 hours and just gets better and better.

Good ceviche is a gift from the Gods.

I won't cold-smoke steaks before grilling them again. It added a smokey flavor, but it seemed to me that it also dried them out. I used pecan pellets. (I'll try it with burgers once.)

Ken, I run the smoke tube at the same time I am grilling/cooking -- but normally only when doing long-period cooks, such as a pork butt. They may not add much flavor when grilling something fairly quickly such as a steak.

The cold-smoked Monterrey Jack cheese was excellent. Good enough that I went to Walmart two weeks ago and bought two half-pound rounds of Mango Habanero Gouda and a pound of Pepper Jack, and cold-smoked them. I used apple flavored pellets.

I feel like I may be mixing too many flavors, so in the future I may avoid apple, cherry, or like-flavored pellets.

One other thing I noticed is that my 12" smoke tube burned-out in a little over two hours. I think I should have had my air vents closed further. Maybe it flared back up and burnt quicker.

Next I am going to cold-smoke hamburgers prior to grilling them.

Cold-smoking is so much fun, I may cold-smoke my sneakers next time before I put them on.

Ken,don't forget the peach;I recommend it highly.

Ken, glad you are getting such favorable results. My smoke tube is 12 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. I do seem to get up to four hours of smoke on a fill, using Traeger brand pellets.

Bill, I swear I must have had too much air feeding it. I'm going to cut the air way down next time, and see if I don't get a longer smoke. I will say this, two hours appeared to be more than enough for cheese. I wonder if four hours might overpower the cheese.

My ST is 12" X 2" (oblong).

I tried the Mango Habanero Gouda yesterday and today. It has a definite "kick" to it. I like it.

I confirmed my problem with a pound of Italian Herb Mozzarella and a pound of Horseradish Cheddar this past weekend.

I kept the vents closed on the firebox where the smoke tube was. After four hours the tube was still smoking and probably would have stayed lit for another 30 minutes. I shut it down. I don't know if you can over-smoke cheese, but I might have come close.