Cold smoked pepper jack cheese with wild ramps. Can't wait to try it after a few weeks!
I need a bit more process explanation here...
-Ramps mixed into melted pepper jack? Or did you make your own cheese?
-Any melting salts or anything to do that without the cheese breaking?
-What is your cold smoke set up?
I have more questions, but I think it would be easiest if you just wrote out the instructions. Thanks in advance, looks awesome.
Okay, so I only have a few pics, but it was crazy simple.
Store bought pepper jack, a couple dozen ramps (all a matter of taste and availability)...
I used 2 1/2lb of cheese and 30-ish ramps.
Melt cheese low and slow so as not to separate the oils from the cheese too much (low/medium low on stove top).
Once cheese is melted, add finely chopped ramps and stir until combined.
Quickly transfer cheese/ramp mix to wax paper/oil lined dish of choice for refrigeration.
Chill until solid.
Remove ramp cheese from dish(es) and place on open rack that will allow airflow.
I cold smoked mine with a pellet maze for ~2 1/2 hours. Color was amazing, but taste is TBD as they are refrigerating/aging for the next 3 weeks.
Key to cold smoke is keeping the cheese at <90°. The maze pellet smoker stayed around 82-86°, but ymmv. Keep a close eye on it.
Hope this has enough detail, but feel free to ask follow ups. Sorry, but I forgot to snap pics of the double boiler step.
We vacuum packed the cheese in 3 different packages and will let them age for longer periods as we taste.