Smoker/Smoking foods

[JAS_OH1]

Ahhh well I ordered it. I just want it for cheese mostly because I am pretty sure my DH will melt it. You don't think it will work for smoking salt, though?

I canceled my order. I read a few reviews and there were a few complaints. I will keep looking for something else.

 

[Barriehie]

Ahhh well I ordered it. I just want it for cheese mostly because I am pretty sure my DH will melt it. You don't think it will work for smoking salt, though?

Okay, salt is pretty much a smooth crystal so not much is going to stick to it, easily. If I was going to smoke salt I'd get some that was large enough to go through a grinder. This means the next step will work without making salt puddles. I'd spritz it with water just before smoking so the particles can stick to it. Spritz, not totally wet!!!

 

[Barriehie]

I canceled my order. I read a few reviews and there were a few complaints. I will keep looking for something else.

Show us what you decide to get please.

You know you can use a BBQ as a smoker with a small pan/pile of coals and damp, soaked for an hour, wood pile on one end and your cheese or whatever on the other end.

The first thing I've ever done with all the BBQs/grills I got was drill the right size holes in the right places for it to work... But that's me!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Show us what you decide to get please.

You know you can use a BBQ as a smoker with a small pan/pile of coals and damp, soaked for an hour, wood pile on one end and your cheese or whatever on the other end.

The first thing I've ever done with all the BBQs/grills I got was drill the right size holes in the right places for it to work... But that's me!

Well my DHs grill needs replaced, so...and it's propane because charcoal is messy.

 

[Barriehie]

Well my DHs grill needs replaced, so...and it's propane because charcoal is messy.

Eww! Propane for BBQ.

Obviously I like charcoal.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Eww! Propane for BBQ.

Obviously I like charcoal.

I like charcoal too, but I don't like my food to turn into charcoal! Also, my DH is very messy and there would be charcoal ash all over the garage. There are numerous reasons I haven't replaced the one we have. We only grill maybe 3x a year because my husband burns the food. I'll let him grill chicken thighs but not breasts, and I do steaks in the cast iron skillet because I like medium rare, not brown inside. I don't mind burgers well done but we eat little slider size burgers so it's just easier to cook in the cast iron skillet.

 

[msmofet]

Bacon salt? Tell me more!!!

Available on Amazon.

 

[JAS_OH1]

View attachment 124327

Available on Amazon.

I wanted to laugh that bacon salt is vegetarian lololol!

 

[msmofet]

I wanted to laugh that bacon salt is vegetarian lololol!

Bacos and Bac'n pieces are vegan/vegetarian also.

 

[Barriehie]

Informative article here on smoking cheese. That maze type device appears foolproof. Doesnt need power, no moving parts, light it and go/monitor.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Bacos and Bac'n pieces are vegan/vegetarian also.

Pretty much soy if I recall. Never cared for those. I'm guessing bacon salt is like hickory flavored salt?

 

[Barriehie]

Pretty much soy if I recall. Never cared for those. I'm guessing bacon salt is like hickory flavored salt?

I was checking them out and they're flavored but no bacon!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Informative article here on smoking cheese. That maze type device appears foolproof. Doesnt need power, no moving parts, light it and go/monitor.

I wanted to give a love emoji for that as well as an apple. That was super nice of you, thank you so much! I've bookmarked that article.

 

[badjak]

I have a couple of grills, smokers etc.
For cold smoking, I use the weber smokey mountain with just that ProQ thingy in there.. mind, I can only cold smoke in winter.
That thingy only brings up the temperature by about 1-2 °C

I haven't done salt for a while, I used coarse salt. Didn't worry much about the temperature.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I’ve smoked salt and cheese in a very small smoker and the heat from the pellets doesn’t melt the cheese. It made it soft but it reverted back to its original consistency once fully chilled.
The salt was rock salt and didn’t need any special treatment and the cheese just needed turning to get the smoke flavour n colour through all sides.
The cream cheese was really, really good.
Cheese really doesn’t need long at all. In fact I over smoked some of it because it was done so quickly, the feta ended up with too strong a taste.

Next time I’d let the salt go for more than 3 hours. On my initial run I just tasted it and stopped when I thought it tasted smokey enough but it goes in a salt grinder and once ground fine it’s not so pungent.

For a while Ocado (a supermarket) sold smoked water at £7 for a small bottle. Apparently it’s a very effective way of getting natural smoke flavour into soups n stews. Next time I use the smoker I’m going to put some water in there too and see how that goes.

Here’s the salt I smoked. I just put it on a tray and moved it about every now and then. As you can see it takes on the smoke flavour very well.

I’ll see if I can find the YouTuber who I used as a guide on the cheese. She is using the ninja wood fire to smoke but I don’t see there’s much difference. I like the way she does it in different ways and then comments on the different outcomes. Her voice can be a weeny bit irritating but I think she’s worth it for the info.

The further away you place the foods from the smoker box the safer it is from melting so a big box can be much better. I know I’ll be smoking butter when I have a larger one.

JAS_OH1 maybe you could try out a single block of cheese along side the next thing you’re smoking, won’t seem a great loss then if it goes wrong