My grandson, 19, is down visiting alone for the first time. Mrs. mota is away at a conference, so I have invited an old buddy to join us for reverse seared ribeyes, Frenched greenbeans and baked russets with chives and sour cream. That’ll be Wednesday night. Until then, the steaks are faux dry ageing in my refrigerator. I leave them on a rack, put the rack on a plate, put the plate in the back corner on the bottom shelf of the fridge and build a wall of tall stuff around the plate (e.g., milk cartons, etc). Household fridges aren’t actually dry or cold enough for proper dry aging, but I have found that they do improve over the course of 24-48 hours.
For dessert it’ll be a locally made gelato, Fiorello’s. If you happen to live in the bay area and even vaguely like gelato, I enourage you to look for it. It’s not inexpensive. What it is, however, is the best pre-packaged gelato I have ever had, I loves me some gelato. Their Valhrona chocolate is probably my favorite, but I haven’t tried a single one of their flavors that was just “meh,” they are all superior.
Isaac’s plate was clean when he finished. Nothing left. My friend Michael and I had healthy portions left. All agreed it was a fine repast! Isaac returns home tomorrow night on the train. It’s a long, kinda shitty ride, riding in whatever the cheap seats are called. Nearly 20 hours. My part of the leftover steak will make a fine roast beef sandwich for his ride home. Lettuce, mayo, mustard, finely sliced red onion and beef.
Merry Christmas OG. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday season.
Pepper jack on top
Cheddar under that rack
7hrs of Pecan smoke. Finally “cool” enough. Broke 50f
I’ve done it every year for about 8 years now. Its really good. After you smoke it, it has to be vacuum sealed for 3 weeks or more. If you have any questions on it, I am happy to help.
The cold smoker I use is the A-MAZE-N pellet smoker. It will burn pellets or dust. I have to use dust being so hot here all the time. I have to wait until weather is under 50f (once a year).
if you have very cold temperatures, the pellets will work. if you temps are in the 40-50 you would need to use the dust, pellets put off too much heat. ok so i have my kamado loaded with all the cheese and racks. i use a cardboard box with a paper towel/xmas paper roll to get the smoke from the box to the kamado to keep any heat down. this was a few years ago(short connection between the box and kamado)…
i smoke the cheese for 6-7hrs, thats how long i can get my tray to burn with the dust. after smoking they need to be vacuum sealed for 3 weeks+ to let the smoke meld into the cheese, if not you will just be eating bitter smoked cheese with not much flavor throughout the cheese. couple pointers
do a test run without cheese to see if your tray will stay lit. i use a variable speed fan set really really low(40mm computer fan 12v run at 6v) to keep my tray lit. i install the fan into a small hole in the front of the cardboard box blowing into the box where the tray is(after tray is lit i close the box and tape it shut). it forces the air into the kamado. i use pecan wood dust. if you choose to use a different flavor you need to adjust smoke time. i would not recommend mesquite or hickory.
if your temperatures are very cold i think you may be able to get away with putting the smoke tray in the bottom of the kamado. just make sure to use a thermometer to make sure it doesnt get above 60 in the smoker, if it does the cheese will start to sweat the moisture out as well as melt a tiny bit. i would also try to keep the temperature above 35 so the cheese doesnt freeze.
if you use pellets, all pellets are made different!!! make sure they say 100% flavor wood or something like that. most are made with fillers like oak.
sorry, ignore the mess on the balcony!!
Thanks for the info and tips. Just so happen to have a temperature controller with a blower that might work well for this. Maybe will give it a try in the next couple of weeks. Need to find some good pellets / wood dust. Thanks.
I have a flameboss 400 but I wouldn’t recommend something like that. Lowest setting is 100f. It would blow constantly at probably 100%. Try it without a fan first, maybe you have enough air flow.
Cold smoking has been something I’ve been wanting to try for some time now. Pork belly, fish, cheese, et al. Excited. Thanks for the info and technique. I’ll report back on my first attempt.
1st. Tuesday of every month is Sportsmans club meeting and we(members) all take turns cooking for all the other members…guess who’s turn it was today? Its was 61 degrees out today and also had tornadoes sirens going off in my village…
