Cheese and Prime Filet 2 ways.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

I had a productive week of grilling.  This is three cooks from this week.  I did cheese early last week since it's finally cold enough here in AZ to do it.  7.5 lbs of pepper jack and sharp cheddar.  It was actually for my neighbors.  They can't get enough of my smoked cheese.  They alert me when cool enough weather is coming then buy the cheese for me to smoke. I got to keep 2.5 lbs of the pepper jack as payment.  Pepper jack is my favorite smoked cheese.  When you eat it first you get the smoke then as that is going away the peppers kick in.  I used a Maple/Hickory/Cherry mix from Owens BBQ.  The smoke smelled amazing.

Thursday I bought some prime filet mignon. I usually don't by meat unless it's on sale but I couldn't pass this up.  The butcher at the grocery store was as excited I was about these steaks and came around the counter and pulled them out so we could look at them up close and personal.  The first one I coated with some bacon grease then seasoned with McCormicks seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and Montreal steak seasoning. Reverse seared to 136 or 137 then removed it from the grill. I was shooting for 140 and that is exactly where it stopped after gaining a few more degrees after it was removed from the grill.  Let it fall back down to 136 then seared.  It was awesome!!!  Cooked a baked potato rubbed in bacon grease, with salt and pepper then wrapped in foil. 

Tonight I cooked the second steak sous vide.  Vacuum sealed with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic slices then hit the sous vide for 2 hours at 142.  My girlfriend was out of town for the first steak but I showed her the pic of that steak and she wanted the one tonight a little more done so that's how I got to 142.  Pulled the steak out of the sous vide and fired up my chimney using my looftlighter.  The looftlighter worked great.  I just laid the chimney on its side and got some coals going in about 2 minutes then put it in the grill and topped it off with coals.  I went with the vortex this time.  Cooked some brussel sprouts then seared the steak for about 45 seconds per side.  It was nice to have the leftover juice from the sous vide steak to put in my mashed potatoes.  Steak was really good. I'd cut back a little bit on the amount of garlic next time.

























































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[Travis]

Man, that all looks incredible!


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[varekai]

Awesome, might have to look into one of those anovas'... really interesting.

[bcjustin]

Hey how does the smoked cheese work? What temp is your grill at to prevent melted cheese everywhere?


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[Travis]

Hey, I just noticed something. Are you using that little Weber for your salt holder?


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[HoosierKettle]

Wow, that all looks fantastic. How is your fire set up on the cheese smoking?


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[MikeRocksTheRed]

@Travis - Thank you and yes that teleflora weber is my kosher salt container on my kitchen counter.  That one came with the plastic liner but no grate so it worked out perfectly for this use.

@varekai - I don't use my Anova very often but haven't been disappointed when I have.  The best part of sous vide is that you can leave your meat in the water without worrying about it overcooking...so if you are having people over for burgers or steaks and someone is running late you can leave their meat until they arrive and you are ready to sear.  And with burgers you can have a tub full of perfectly medium burgers ready to go then sear to finish for those who want medium and for anyone who wants theirs more done just cook indirect for a few minutes then sear.  You do have to learn what temp you really like since the sous vide is never going to overshoot it by a few degrees.

@bcjustin @HoosierKettle  - Cheese smoking is really easy if you have a pellet tube or the pellet maze.  You have to keep the grill temp under 90, so you don't use any coals.  Just light the pellets and let them slowly burn from one end of your pellet holder to the other.  I usually smoke until my tube is out which is usually between 4 and 5 hours.  One key thing with cheese is the need for a vacuum sealer.  Everything I read says to seal up the cheese and let it sit in the fridge for 10-14 days to allow the smoke to mellow through the cheese.  Apparently cheese right off the smoker tastes like an ashtray so I've never tried it in fewer than 10 days after smoking.  Once sealed the cheese lasts about a year in the fridge.  I actually just opened my last block from last winter.  Here is a link to the pellet smoker section of Owens BBQ.  I use the amaze-n tube 12".  It looks like on another post in this same section @Nate is using the amaze-n-pellet smoker.  If I could turn back time I'd probably go with the one Nate has.  If you get one of these I'd suggest getting a bottle of alcohol gel for lighting the pellets....its the best method I have found so far.  If you look at Nate's cheese post, it looks like he has some coals in their, but I am willing to bent those are just saved coals from a previous cook that aren't lit.