About a month ago, I splurged and picked up a Big Green Egg.  For those who may not know, the Big Green Egg will usher you into a new world of charcoal barbecuing and smoking all sort of food items.  I was away for a few torturous days when it first arrived but quickly sparked it up for a few New York strip steaks as soon as I could!

Once I understood the business end of this new charcoal Kamado grill and BBQ, I decided to delve into the world of smoked meats and foods.  My experimentation was in high gear last weekend as I prepared to host a wine tasting night for my wine-buying club.  I figured I would smoke some proscuitto-wrapped shrimp and try my hand at cold-smoking cheese.  What should have been a 4-5 hour smoking session for the cheese ended up lasting about 8 hours as the wood pellets kept going out.  There is definitely a fine balance to cold-smoking – particularly something like cheese – too much heat doesn’t work well for your product.  Luckily, I managed to eke out the cheese smoking the day before the party.  I slipped the block of Swiss and two types of Cheddar back into their original sleeves, wrapped them individually in cling film and popped them into air-tight containers before placing them in the fridge.  These layers helped keep the smoky flavour and smell contained – and away from all other food!

On Saturday, I whipped up the mushroom cap filling (based loosely on something I found online), filled them and topped with a Panko/Parmesan mixture.  I wrapped the shrimp and loaded them all onto wire cooling racks.  These would be very useful to move the caps and shrimp on and off the grill in a cinch.  A few hours before everyone arrived, I sparked up the Big Green Egg and smoked the shrimp and caps for about 75 minutes at 225*F.  The shrimp would be just as good at room temperature and I would pop the caps under the broiler for a few minutes before serving to warm and crisp them up again.  The proscuitto shrunk slightly when crisped up an created a straight-jacket style wrap for the shrimp.  I ended up not adding any salt to either appetizer as saltiness of the Parmesan and proscuitto would suffice.

All in all – I was very happy with the smoked cheese, shrimp and mushroom caps.  Now to carry on with Atomic Buffalo Turds! (If that doesn’t pique your interest I don’t know what will!)