What to do on yet another COOL Alaskan summer day, with rain, in the 50's?
-bake Christmas cookies or a pumpkin pie
-make a big pot of stew, chili, or legumes
-bake bread or Dingo Dave's wonderful cheddar-bacon mini muffins (*recipe here)
Today I smoked me some cheddar -- that's what I do when I ran out of salmon to smoke!
It's incredibly easy to do: I buy me a big hunk of sharp cheddar at Costco, cut it up into chunks about 1.5 - 2 inches tall, place it on the highest rack of the smoker, and give it 1 panful of chips (alder/ apple/cherry) for about 2 hours of a cool smoke. (I recommend you don't do this on a very hot day -- if you don't care for dripping cheese all over your smoker -- yup, I've done that!)
Here is the RECIPE for a tasty and easy party dip that uses smoked cheddar:
1 c shredded smoked cheddar
1 jalapeno pepper, diced very finely
combination of sour cream, cream cheese, ranch dressing and/or mayo -- approx 1 c total
optional: chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
Just mix it all up, and serve with crackers and vegetables as an appetizer.
Material simulating a loaf load
22 hours ago
I'll definitely be making the cheese dip. But I'll be using my own very hot chillis --I think I like my food a little hotter than you in some cases.
ReplyDeleteLemme know how the muffins turn out with the smoked cheddar. You aren't the only one who's had melted cheese dripping in a smoker.