A-Maze-N Cold Smoking


 
J

JayHeyl

TVWBB Pro
I've been making Canadian bacon fairly regularly and would like to be able to put more smoke on it without cooking it too long. Another thread mentioned the A-Maze-N line of products and that got me looking. Ended up finding one on Ebay at what seemed a decent price so I went for it.

Now I'm thinking about what I'm going to use to generate the smoke. I know I can buy sawdust or pellets from A-Maze-N (or probably loads of other places), but I'm wondering it anyone knows how these things work with more conventional chips. Are the chips too big to pack in as tightly as needed to get a good burn time?
 
I’ve had such good customer service from Rhonda I would just call her and order their pellets. Try the chips and let us know. I have two tubes and have only used one yet. They are great people!
 
After reading the thread(s) over the past couple weeks I, too, am going to get one of those in the near future. I haven't had a chance yet to research or ask if the maze, or tube is preferred for use on a WSM. I have never smoked bacon but that will be first on the list.
 
BFletcher said:
After reading the thread(s) over the past couple weeks I, too, am going to get one of those in the near future. I haven't had a chance yet to research or ask if the maze, or tube is preferred for use on a WSM. I have never smoked bacon but that will be first on the list.
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I don't think you can go wrong with either. I have a 12" square tube but want to get the maze as well. As for the original question, I'm not sure how well chips would work but my first thought is that they'd probably burn out quickly or start a fire & cause the heat to rise & maybe a thick black smoke - only one way to find out for sure tho :) .

Here's some cheap Hickory pellets, I think I just opened my third bag, I also have alder and another type.
 
first time you do cheese go easy on your expectations - someone did some last year and said "it tastes like campfire" :)

I smoked some cheese ~1.5 weeks ago and had some today for lunch & it'd mellowed out quite nicely.....so give it a little time. (((edit:>>> I ate a little at the start, and not every day but almost, try a little every once in a while & see how it progresses)))

I'll be interested in seeing what everyone else comes up with. I've watched a few videos on smoking salt & I made a couple different kinds, I don't remember the difference, I just have 2 jars of it. I find that food gets too salty before it gets too smokey.
 
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BFletcher said:
I'll be darn if you guys didn't just cause me to order both a tube and a maze :wsm:
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My work here is finished. :D


Clint said:
I smoked some cheese ~1.5 weeks ago and had some today for lunch & it'd mellowed out quite nicely.....so give it a little time. (((edit:>>> I ate a little at the start, and not every day but almost, try a little every once in a while & see how it progresses)))
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I did some cheese a month or so ago. I lit about three coals with a torch and set a chunk of apple wood on top. It was about 40F outside so grate temp never got above 70F. I let it go about two hours. I kind of wish I'd have let it go longer. The Gouda had an okay amount of smoke but the Swiss and the medium cheddar were a bit on the weak side, with the smoke not penetrating much at all. I'm looking forward to doing some more with the A-Maze-N maze. it will be nice to know it will smoke for hours without maintenance and without raising the internal temp much.

I'm also thinking the next batch of Canadian bacon will get a day of cold smoke before the hot smoke.

After looking over the options I think I'll probably order pellets from A-Maze-N. I liked the chunks I got from Fruita earlier this year and was leaning that way for the chips/pellets but they cost double per pound what the chunks cost.
 
The maze arrived today. It's a lot smaller than I was expecting. I knew the dimensions from the online description but holding it in your hand is different than reading some numbers. Not that it matters. As long as it smokes for as long as they say I'll be happy. It was just a bit of a surprise that it was so small.

After the holidays I'll probably get some more Canadian bacon going and will try to cold smoke this batch before hot smoking it.
 
JayHeyl said:
The maze arrived today. It's a lot smaller than I was expecting. I knew the dimensions from the online description but holding it in your hand is different than reading some numbers. Not that it matters. As long as it smokes for as long as they say I'll be happy. It was just a bit of a surprise that it was so small.

After the holidays I'll probably get some more Canadian bacon going and will try to cold smoke this batch before hot smoking it.
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We want pictures - I'll be watching. I only did one Canadian bacon & that's been several years so I'm not much help there.
 
I'm fairly certain they were meant to be used with pellets. I sometimes smoke cheese in my offset. What I've done is taken a coffee can and drilled a bunch of holes in it. You can place a few lit coals and then some woodchips on top. Then you just need to keep replenishing the wood chips. If you used kbb you might have to shake the ash out of the coffee can. I haven't tried this approach in the wsm but there is no reason it shouldn't work. I would think the tube would work better, but I just haven't ordered one and I have an irrational aversion to pellets in general.
 
Mine is out for delivery today :). I envisioned experimenting with a pork belly but we live in the country and I have not yet found where I can buy that. We live near a couple Amish markets and I can buy some cheese but--and this will sound crazy--I honestly have not tasted a smoked cheese that I like. I love smoked meat and I love cheese, though.

Forgive my ignorance but in lieu of not having a quick means of buying pork belly what cut would I use to try Canadian bacon? :confused:

Thx
 
Canadian bacon is made with pork loin, readily available in virtually every grocery store in America. It comes out more like a very lean ham than it does American bacon. I strongly suggest getting a whole loin because this stuff is so good you'll go through 8-9 pounds of it in no time. I've been buying whole loins at Costco and cutting them into three pieces. This makes a nice size chunk of Canadian bacon and it fits nicely on a single grate in the WSM. There are loads of articles online about how to cure it and smoke it. I did a wet cure the first time but went with a dry cure on the last two batches. So far I've smoked it at 225F until an internal of 145F. With the next batch I'm going to try cold smoking it first and hot smoking it the next day.
 
Have you tried your pellets yet? I attempted a simple cheese smoke last night but didn't get the quality of smoke that I'm accustomed to from using chunks. Gonna have to learn how to work with pellets, I guess.
 
BFletcher said:
Have you tried your pellets yet? I attempted a simple cheese smoke last night but didn't get the quality of smoke that I'm accustomed to from using chunks. Gonna have to learn how to work with pellets, I guess.
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I have a tube smoker too, I've used it a few times, with pellets, for cold smoking.
I'm with you, to me it's not a real clean smoke.
 
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Mine is still wrapped in plastic. Once the level of holiday leftovers in the refrigerator drops to where I can fit something else in I'll probably get some more Canadian bacon going. I've still got a few pounds of cheese left from the last smoke so that probably won't be on the to-smoke list for a while.

After looking the thing over and checking on what Fruita Wood had available, I'd bet their small chips, which are screened to 1/4" or less, would work fine. Only problem is their chips are considerably more expensive than the pellets from just about anyone else. If I ever get around to cutting up these hickory logs I have I'm going to try to salvage the sawdust.
 
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