Smoked Mozarella

[Scarbelly]

Here is a good example of how great the 1400 works
Loaded in the cold smoking plate
Put a pan of ice on top
Put 3 oz of Apple wood chunks in the pan
Turned on to 150 for 18 min then turned off and let sit for 60 min
Killer good

[admin]

Awesome. Been meaning to try smoked cheese. Thanks for the kind words and thanks for posting. I want some smoked mozarella now.

SmokinTex
Admin

[mr_melvis]

Scarbelly:

That looks great! I actually make my own mozz, and have wanted to try smoking it in the Tex, but wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Just a couple of quick questions:

1. Do you put the cold smoke tray in the freezer/fridge first for a while,
before placing it in the smoker, or just put it in without chilling it first?

2. Once the tray is in, you just put a pan of ice on top - right?

3. Wood chunks go into the wood housing, not the ice pan - correct? (I'm sure that is the case, but you used the word 'pan' and wanted to be sure)

4. Do you place the mozz on the cold smoke tray?

Thanks for any feedback. If you are interested, I can show you how to get started making your own mozz. After the initial cost of the ingredients, it costs a little less than store bought, but WAY fresher than anything in the store (and not too hard to do at all)!

mr_melvis

[Scarbelly]

Scarbelly:

That looks great! I actually make my own mozz, and have wanted to try smoking it in the Tex, but wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Just a couple of quick questions:

1. Do you put the cold smoke tray in the freezer/fridge first for a while,
before placing it in the smoker, or just put it in without chilling it first?

A No I just slid it in at ambient temp

2. Once the tray is in, you just put a pan of ice on top - right?

A Yes - I filled an aluminum pan 1/2 way with ice cubes and set on top

3. Wood chunks go into the wood housing, not the ice pan - correct? (I'm sure that is the case, but you used the word 'pan' and wanted to be sure)

A The wood goes into the smoker box

4. Do you place the mozz on the cold smoke tray?

A I bought the fish/cheese rack but if you did not, take a small wire mesh and set it on one of the racks at the highest point in the smoker - does 2 things - gets it away from the heat and capuures the smoke as it exits the box- the wire mesh allows it to drip the moisture away from the cheese - If I did not mention - let the cheese sit out in the air for 2-3 hours before smoking so it forms a thin skin on the outside. It helps the smoke adhere

Thanks for any feedback. If you are interested, I can show you how to get started making your own mozz. After the initial cost of the ingredients, it costs a little less than store bought, but WAY fresher than anything in the store (and not too hard to do at all)!

A I would love to start making my own - we also teach a cooking class to 4H kids and this would be a great lesson for them

mr_melvis

If you need anything else let me know
Thanks
Scarbelly

30

[mr_melvis]

Scarbelly:

Thanks! That clears up all my questions (I do have the fish/cheese tray so that is covered). As far as making the cheese - this is what got me started: http://www.leeners.com/cheese-kits.html#mozzarella . It is a kit, but once you do it a couple of times, you can just purchase the materials needed without the kit, from the same place. You literally can make a pound of cheese in just about an hour. It is fantastic tasting, and real easy to do (I do not use the microwave method for the pulling though - I use the hot whey method - described in instruction book). Be careful though, once you see all of the things that Leener's has regarding making different foods (from soda pop to bubble gum) you could get addicted... ;-)

One other link for cheesemaking that is very good, once you get a handle on the processes involved is: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML . This guy is a Biology/Chemistry professor at the University of Cincinnati and really knows his stuff - a wealth of info.

Final note - thanks for your efforts with 4H, a great organization and one that sometimes seems to be in danger of going away due to 'progress'. Keep up the good work (I am the husband of an Ohio 'Busy Fingers' 4H club member, circa 1966 through 1971). ;-)

Smoke On!

mr_melvis