My Holiday Gift Baskets...

[thirdeye]

...usually have several homemade items. This year I made smoked cheddar, fresh kielbasa and smoked salmon. I made more cheese than anything, I think 12 pounds.

Wishing everyone a great holiday season.

[Jim Almquist]

That looks great Sure wish we were related

[prov1900]

Is that a Big Chief Smoker I see with the cheese? How long do you leave the cheese in there? What wood? Do you leave the top off...cold smoke method? Sorry, I am full of questions, you got me hungry this early in the am.

[thirdeye]

prov1900

Yep, it sure is. I use mine for fish and cheese. I like alder for wood and try to keep the box temp below 80°. sometimes that involves opening the lid to allow the heat to pass through. It was about 15° the day I did this batch and even with my insulation, the box only got to about 75°.

[image][/image]

Those pieces are 1 pound each and I smoked them for 1 hour using about 3/4 of a pan of chips. It might seem smoky at first, but the flavor mellows out after a day or two in the fridge. Try a couple of pounds for 30 minutes to get the feel of your level of smokiness.

In warm weather, you can remove the lid, set the rack on top of the box, then slip a cardboard box down over the rack. This keeps the smoke cooler. If you have the original box it came in, this works great. There is a picture of this set-up in the manual.

[prov1900]

Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I am going to have to try that out this week. Been catching trout through the ice (stocked rainbows). Plan on smoking those, then incorporating them into a cracker dip, or something. Be a good bowl game snack.

[Tippman]

Great pics as usual thirdeye.

Geez I sure wish I was on your friends list.