Cold smoking today, weirdly the warmest day for the last 3 weeks lol

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4635&stc=1&d=1292080320

Doing 3 lb of mature cheddar (the white cheese), 3 lb red leicester (the orange cheese), 2 x 1.25 lb rounds of brie (serious deal £3 ($4.50) for the 2 !

Top left is a slab of pancetta that's only had a week drying, I figure I'll give it 5 hours smoke and then stick it back in the fridge for another week or so, if nothing else it'll make my workshop fridge smell great !

Top right we have a pound of paprika in 3 foil tubs. And about 12oz terricherry peppercorns in the other two foil trays.

I stir the stuff around in the trays quite regularly. Doesn't matter if they get warm so I can sit them over the coals :-)
After smoking it gets put back in the original container and shaken. Anything that's not well smoked sonn acquires it from the rest.

The cheese are for christmas food parcels, pancetta and spices for me :-)
I think I'm looking forward to the smoked brie the most, never done that before.

The smoke comes from a few pieces of charcoal just out of sight bottom right - I'm using bay tree wood and apple should be mild and aromatic. The charcoal on the left is presorted for quick addition to the smoke pile. Just makes it easier when you have to nursemaid the small charcoal burns.

Still haven't got the right consistency wood chippings for the maze smoking type gig. :-(

Lunch was a brattie sarnie.
Made these last week. Basically the recipe from charcuterie without the added pork fat (1/2 pint of heavy cream and 2 eggs in 4 lb meat - wtf does he add the pork fat :noidea:)

These are pork and pigeon (3 1/2 lb pork 12 oz pigeon).
2 each on a fresh cooked ciabatta :-)
http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4636&stc=1&d=1292080822

And that's today, so far :-)

Man that's makin me hungry. Gotta get on the cheese before it warms up here. :thumb:
Thanx for the inspiration.

I can smell that goodness from here! :thumb: Just don let that cheese do a Ri...Naaaa.:bounce:

lol I'm keeping a close eye on it :-)
That is one advantage of the tiny fire method. You tend to check it very regularly !

Got about another 45 mins to go.
Temps below 75, looking good :thumb:

Might throw in a tub of italian herbs once the cheese is out.

Wow! Thats enough cheese to keep ya plugged up for a spell eh? :lol:

I've hoarded a lot of cheese, I've just been too lazy to smoke it lately. Yours looks really good... I think I'm getting hungry. :thumb:

Looks great!! Man, I wish I could find brie around here for that kind of deal....love the stuff, but it's soooo spensive....around here, it's about $4 for a 4 oz. wheel...:faint:

I need to get after some cold smoking....just can't make me do it in the snowstorm we're having.

lol yep been hoarding for a couple of months.

I like to buy cheap mature cheddar from costco and then leave it in the fridge for a couple of months to mature a bit more :-)

The brie I only got on thursday - special christmas offer.

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4637&stc=1&d=1292085867

I know, I know it's french. But The english somerset brie is way more expensive and definitely not for giving away !

Everything else is english :-)

CA, wow - what a great load in the smoker. I've got bacon I'm trying to slice, cheddar that has one more week in the fridge, and pancetta for which the finishing instructions have been typed and included in my Will... :lol:

I'll surely be asking you some questions on the pancetta when it has finished curing. Smoking it, eh... damn that sounds GOOD!

Regarding your paprika, I can't tell is it is already ground, or not?? Guess I've never seen "unground"... I'll bet the smoke bath really kicks it up a notch.

thanks for sharing!

ground paprika - no idea where it comes from (sorry rich) but probably hungary (rich knew that). It's bulk spices from costco.

I usually smoke the pancetta after a couple weeks drying in the fridge. But as I was cold smoking today and only had the one slab of pancetta (rest was sliced to bacon (http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11125)) I thought - why not :-) It's not like it's getting too warm. Damn sharp wind out there.

Anyway, cheddar and leicester is done:

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4638&stc=1&d=1292089062

And yes I'll clean the black crap off (from the smoker lid) before I cling film it.

I'll keep it in clincgfilm for a week or so and vacpack before putting into food parcels. And I'll probably have to test a few bits as well :banana_smiley:

I've left the brie in for another hour. Also moved it up next to the pancetta.
It didn't get much smoke where it was and given the mold crust it has I figured I'd give it that bit longer.

This might not be correct approach - ask me in a week :whistle:

CA, dude you got it goin' on :thumb:

Right nice!...:thumb: Like the variety...

nice sort of items to cold smoke...need to do some of those spices havent done that yet...:thumb:

great looking smoke........never thought of brie.

lol nope the brie thing was kinda spontaneous. Saw the deal and thought: 'I could smoke those !'
:-)
Got another week till I'll know if it worked or not.

Right here's the last couple of pics.

The pancetta after 7 hours with bay and apple. I's back in the fridge for another week And I'll probably chop and vacpack for the food gifts.
http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4651&stc=1&d=1292326700


My workshop fridge with the smoked goodies. The weird lump halfway down is 5lb boneless pork leg being cured up for christmas gammon.

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4650&stc=1&d=1292326700


The paprika and pepper stayed in with the pancetta for the full time.
Pepper didn;t seem to smell much different but you can't smell much after a days smoking. So probably pretty good.
The paprika definitely smelled smokey, and that was with my smoke ruined sense of smell. So that should be good stuff :thumb:

Going to leave the cheese alone till next week, update on the brie then.
But the fridge does smell great :bounce:

(I know, it needs beer)

That looks like a good smoker load, Alex. I'm going to try smoking cheese one of these days.:thumb:

nicely done,I would have thought there would be a Richtee incident with brie being so soft

the brie has a sort of edible crust, felt quite soft inside but stayed firm on the outside :-) I don't think i'd try it with a simple wedge but with the whole cheeses i figured it was worth the risk.
the red leicester was starting to get a light sheen of fat on it and getting a bit 'bendy':whistle:. just the right temperature. if you can get it that close to melting it changes the texture when it cools. really improves a softish hard cheese.

'course if you get it wrong...
http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=107&pictureid=499

Update 16-12-2010
Used the smoked paprika and peppercorns in some snackstix today (man they are awesome - but that's another thread) The pepper smell really smokey and the paprika is out of this world.
Much better than the last tub I hot smoked.
So if you're going to smoke herbs and spices (and I'd strongly recommend it) cold smoke em. Thay take on more smoke.