Smoked Cheddar and Bacon Burgers

One of the positive things about cold winter days is that they are ideal for cold smoking cheeses.

A few weeks ago we hickory smoked a batch of cheddar, colby jack, Gouda, Edam, and fontina cheeses for about 90 minutes.  They have now "aged" vacuum sealed for two weeks, the smoke flavor has balanced out, and they are ready to eat.   

What better way to give the smoked cheddar a test spin than on these Smoked Cheddar and Bacon Burgers.

Smoked Cheddar and Bacon Burgers

www.nibblemethis.com

Fire Day Friday Post: Smoked Cheese

Today is my weekly Fire Day Friday post when I guest post over at Our Krazy Kitchen. You know that you want to know the story behind this contraption, don't you?

The local news is calling for snow starting 1am Christmas morning and lasting through the morning. We are getting our first White Christmas ever!!! I probably won't post until after that so I want to genuinely wish each of you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Travel safe, be well, and may your stocking be full of natural hardwood lump coal!

August Giveaway: Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smoker

ENTRIES CLOSED!!!!

I am thrilled about my August Giveaway because it is my best one yet.

Just in time for Labor Day and leading into the holidays, Masterbuilt is sponsoring the giveaway of their 30" Electric Digital Smoker, that's a $299 value!

First, a little bit about Masterbuilt. They are a second generation, family owned company that has been making quality smoking, grilling, and frying equipment since 1973. You can find their products at major retailers such as Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, and Gander Mountain. They also make cargo, bike carriers, and other hitch mounted accessories.

Here is what I like about the Masterbuilt Electrical Digital Smoker:

• The Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smoker is a great fit for most of my readers who like bbq but are intimidated about the thought of firing up a big smoker. If you can use an oven you can use this smoker, it's electronically controlled with a digital keypad.
• This would be a nice addition even if you already have a grill (or like me, have a Big Green Egg, an offset smoker, and a grill).
  
• Even though it doesn't take up a lot of space, it has 4 racks of capacity so you can cook an entire meal on it like Don McLemore does in this video (skip to the 5 minute mark if you just want to see the unit in action)

• It has a temperature range of 100-275f so you can not only do the typical low and slow bbq of ribs, butts, brisket and chicken, you can also do some cold smoking like cheese, spices, and salmon by adding ice to the water pan.
• It has a water pan for keeping the cooking chamber moist during cooking.
• The drip pan is removable for easy cleaning.
• It has a remote probe meat thermometer that is integrated with the control pad so you can tell the meat temps without opening and closing the smoker.
• It has a window so you can see how things are cooking without opening and closing the smoker.
• You can refill the wood chips from the side access chute without opening and closing the smoker. (Seeing a patten here? Well designed.)

I am excited to be able to host this giveaway because one of you is going to get this easy to use and feature rich smoker just in time to cook up a storm for Labor Day weekend, the football season and the holidays!!!!!! I'm just disappointed that I can't enter and win!

Giveaway Entry and Rules Info

1. To enter, visit the Masterbuilt website and check out their Recipes page. Then leave a comment below telling me "If I win this smoker, the first thing I will make is....." (NOTE: If you use the "anonymous comment" option, be sure to leave an email or your screen name in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. Something like "EggerinFL from the Egg Forum" or "swibirun from the BBQ Brethren forum" is enough.)
2. One entry per person.
3. Giveaway entry period begins Friday August 13th and ends Sunday August 22nd, 2010 at 11:59pm. Drawing will be held Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 7:oopm (All times are Eastern Time zone).
4. Comments will be numbered by order received and random.org will generate a random number for the winner.
5. Limited to Continental US unless you wish to pay the extra shipping charges.
6. I am the final judge regarding any discrepancies, interpretations, grievances, etc about this drawing.
7. Winner must respond and claim the prize within one week of the winning announcement. If a winner does not claim the prize during the specified time, a reserve winner will be drawn from the original entries.

ENTRIES CLOSED!!!!

ENTRIES CLOSED!!!!

Experimenting with Chili Peppers

I tried something new this weekend without any real knowledge about how to do it, only what I had picked up on the Internet.

Wait, that sounds REALLY bad.

I tried making my own ground chili peppers this weekend. This isn't a "how to", I was just stumbling through this.

This year, Alexis grew a nice cayenne pepper plant that has been quite productive for a single plant.

I supplemented that with a nice selection from Rushy Springs Farm in nearby Jefferson County.

I picked a handful of the cayenne, some of the sweeter green chili peppers, and then those tiny little devil dogs (not their real name), some kind of thai chili pepper similar to a birds eye. I decided to try to cold smoke them first. I loaded my home made cold smoke generator with cherry and apple wood chips.

And smoked them whole for about 90 minutes inside of the Big Green Egg (not lit).

Then I cut them into slices, cleaning out the seeds, and placed them on a $6 garage sale bought dehydrator. I ran it for 14 hours.

Once they were crispy and dry.....

I rough chopped them and ran them through my spice grinder (electric coffee bean grinder, never used for coffee) for about 15 seconds. Too coarse.

I ran it back through a second time for about 30 seconds. Much better. I can use it at this texture or run it through a pepper mill for a more fine texture.

I like the texture and color that the larger green chili pepper pieces add. The heat provided by just two of those thai peppers gives a nice hit of heat but it's balanced by the rich flavor of the rest of the milder peppers.

I'm not sure how much of the smoke came through at the end though. Next time I'd either seed and slice the peppers before smoking them or just smoke the ground pepper at the end. There was a steady thin smoke coming out, I just think the waxy skins of the peppers kept it from getting in.

The aroma of this mix smells unlike any packaged ground red pepper I've ever bought. It smells like....ground chili peppers. Real chili peppers. I can't wait to grill with this stuff.

If you try this at home, let the spice mixer rest for a second after grinding to let the pepper dust settle. I failed to do that and when I opened the top, the whiff of dust burned my sinus cavity for a few minutes. It reminded me of this old joke.

Doctor: So, have you had any odd symptoms since we changed your medications last time?

Patient: No. Well, yes, just one. It's kind of embarrassing. Every time that I sneeze, I have an orgasm.

Doctor: Oh? That's odd. And how have you been treating that?

Patient: By snorting pepper!

Have any tips for dehydrating peppers or herbs?
If you had just a little bit of this red/green pepper mix, what would YOU use it on?

Smoked Black Pepper Ribeyes

Let's face it, ribeye steaks grilled over wood coals don't need much help other than coarse salt and cracked pepper.

Sure beef fillets (fillet mignon) need spicy rubs and rich sauces to bring flavor to their tenderness. But ribeyes stand on their own. If you try to add too much to a ribeye, you end up taking away from it. Additions should be simple and subtle, like smoking the black pepper.

Last year McCormick came out with their Smokehouse Ground Black Pepper. It is EXCELLENT for use on steaks, burgers, and as a substitution for regular black pepper in your BBQ rubs, but I ran out and decided to make my own today.

Wait. Don't run off, thinking, "Screw it, Chris, another smoking recipe? I don't have a smoker." You can do this.

To smoke black peppercorns, all you have to do is make a $20 cold smoke generator using a common soldering iron and a tin can (click this link for my post on how to do it) and then you could do this in any container, like your gas grill. Really go check the link, this is SO easy to make. It took me about 10 minutes to make this cold smoke generator. Then you can use it to smoke your own spices, cheeses and nuts.

The simple ingredients for smoked black pepper are peppercorns and a mix of hickory & cherry wood.

Fill your cold smoke generator with wood chips and plug it in. Once it starts smoking, put your bowl or container of peppercorns into the container, close it and let it smoke for about 90 minutes. Stir the peppercorns about every 15-20 minutes.

It's called "cold smoking" because while there is plenty of smoke, the temperature is less than 80f degrees.

After taking the smoked peppercorns off of your "smoker", coarsely crush them with a rolling pin, mallet or grinder.

Store ground pepper in an airtight container.

Smoked Black Pepper Ribeyes
Source: Nibble Me This

2 ea ribeye steaks, thoroughly thawed (see hot tubbed steaks tip)
coarse smoked black pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste

Rub your steaks with salt and pepper while you bring your grill to high heat. I had my Big Green Egg burning natural hardwood coal at 500f. Then I tossed the tempered ribeyes onto the grill.

Grill for 2-3 minutes and then flip.

Keep grilling for another 2-3 minutes until the steak is at your desired degree of doneness.

Remove from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes.

When grilling, using coarser grinds for your seasonings makes a huge difference to me.

To grill a good steak, make sure your temps are high, your grate preheated, and cook with your grill lid closed to keep flare ups to a minimum.

But when you are cooking for only 2-3 minutes a side, flare ups really aren't a big deal and they make for pretty good food porn.

I served it up with Pasta with Peas from Ciao Tuscany! I'll post that recipe later this week.

I had plenty extra for leftovers until Brett (6'4") and his friend Colin (6'5") came home from playing basketball. I guess it's sandwiches for lunch tomorrow :(

Fun With Cold Smoking MacGyver Style

It's that time of year where the temperature is dropping and you can start cold smoking foods. Cold smoking is not the same as "low and slow", it's "lower than low, but not as slow as slow". The point is you aren't using the smoke to cook the food, only to cure it.

Some people who have much more ambition than I (or you, or you, and yeah, you over there, more than you too) like J over at Cowgirls Country Life build their own cold smoking shacks. Then again she raises her own cattle, pork, and even shrimp.

Yes, shrimp. I can't even raise Sea Monkeys without getting the Humane Society and PETA called on me.

But anyway lot of folks over at the BBQ Brethren Forum have been having fun making cold smoke generators with cheap soldering irons so I thought I'd entertain myself today making one. All you need is a drill, a can, and a soldering iron. (Well, technically, some drill bits too.)
TIP:  It is getting harder and harder to find food cans without a BPA or other lining.  I burn mine in a hot fire to burn out the lining thoroughly. 

Drill a hole at one end of the can big enough for the soldering iron to fit into. Then drill about a dozen or so smaller holes along the side that will be the top.

Then fill the can with the wood chips of your choice. Then simply cap the end with aluminum foil several pieces thick.
TIP: Assuming this is a used soldering iron, REMOVE THE TIP. A lot of soldering wire contains lead and you don't want to be adding that to your food. Also, make sure there is no solder on the base itself. If in doubt, use a new, clean soldering iron.

Next, clean out your cooker. Remove the coals and ashes that might have residual flavors from your last meal in there. Besides, when's the last time you cleaned that puppy?

Put your rigged cold smoke generator....errrr, I mean your "thermally neutralized, precision controlled combustion device" at the bottom of your cooker.
I plugged the contraption in and in about 5 minutes, had a nice wispy smoke. Holy shiat! It works! It's ALIVE!!!

Now, smoke something. Cheese is easy.

TIP: When I worked in the Risk Management Department of a large grocery chain, the head of the test laboratory once mentioned to me that the biggest enemy to the lifespan of cheeses was bacteria from handling after it was opened. So wash your hands very well before opening the cheese, cutting the cheese, or handling the cheese. Also, scrub the living hell out of your grate or smoke the cheese on a sanitary surface. This will extend the useful life of your cheese.

Since this was an experiment, I used cheap block cheeses including swiss, mild chedder, colby jack, sharp cheddar, pepper jack, edam, and muenster cut into 1" x 1" pieces. Cheenga anyone?

I did the first half with hickory chips, which can be a strong smoke. I didn't want to waste the whole batch if it turned out badly.

Here's the weird thing. There's no internal temp you're shooting for. It's just a matter of dose and exposure, how much smoke for how long. The only general rules are to keep the cooker temp under 80 degrees (f) and smoke the cheese for 1 to 2 hours. I let the hickory batch go 1 hour 15 minutes. The temp shown is the temp of the air inside the cooker, not the temp of the cheese.

The MacSmoker 3000 raised the temp of the Egg about 10 degrees in one hour on a cool day with an ambient temperature of 55f.


With the second batch, I used cherry wood (stacked in the picture above), a much milder smoke. It was a very quick changeover. I unplugged the unit, waited about 10 minutes, dumped the hickory and added the cherry. This time, I also added some raw almonds that I had tossed in some butter, honey, raw sugar, and salt.

When you pull the cheese off, vacuum seal or tightly wrap and let it mellow out in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. It will be very strong at first and needs time to balance out.

Postmortem:

• This works WAY better than what we did last year using 3 or 4 pieces of lump and a handful of wood chips.
• The cherry smoke was predictably milder than the hickory batch, based on the samples. Time will tell.
• The almonds? They had the perfect smoky taste but not the texture so I popped them in a 400f oven for 10-15 minutes to crystallize the honey/sugar coating. FREAKING AWESOME.
• The great thing about this is you don't have to have a smoker to use this. You could put the cold smoker in a grill or any container that will maintain a low, cool temp.