By Dylan Clay
As simple as: Everything bagel seasoning and plain cream cheese.
Remove cream cheese from packaging and use a sharp knife to create a diamond pattern.
You want to go about 1/2″-ish into the surface.
The purpose of this pattern is that it allows moisture to escape.
If you opt not to do it, you sort of risk ruining the surface as it may bubble.
Once cross hatched, take your everything bagel seasoning or your BBQ rub and liberally apply it to the surface of the cream cheese.
You will need:
Fill the pan with tons of ice.
Once you have the pan filled with ice, place a cooling rack above this pan and then place your cream cheese on the cooling rack.
This keeps your cream cheese elevated off the grill grates.
You can also add several ice pans to the smoker to help with hot spots.
Like on a pellet grill there is typically a hot spot at the back, front, and middle of the smoker.
In my electric smoker I use one below the cream cheese and one above the heat source.
I then set my smoker to 110F as this is the minimum temperature required for the wood chips to smolder and produce smoke.
On a pellet smoker the lowest setting is usually 160-200F – this may lead to melting of the butterfat.
If you’re struggling to keep the temperature low and your cream cheese is melting – even with ice pans – I’d suggest buying either:
Both of these devices work with pellets or finer material like sawdust that will smolder at lower temperatures – this process is called “Cold Smoking.”
You simply light the pellets or sawdust and then place the device in your smoker (when it’s off).
They’ll then smolder and produce smoke without the added heat.
In terms of wood, I like to use Maple, Apple or Cherry with cheese; If you like a stronger smoke flavor, go with oak, pecan, or hickory.
Don’t go overboard with wood chips/smoke.
At most, add 2-3 wood chips every 45-60 minutes.
Too many for too long will result in bitter creosote flavor on your cream cheese.
Even an hour is long enough to get some smoke flavor on the cream cheese.
After smoking for 1-3 hours, you can technically take the cream cheese out of the smoker and enjoy.
However, I’d suggest that you pop it into your refrigerator for a few hours to firm back up, then wrap in plastic wrap and put it back in your refrigerator overnight.
I often find that the smoke flavor enhances overnight for all cheeses.
It also helps tempers the dirty smoke flavor that’s common with cold smoked cheese.
