Smoked Cream Cheese Dip
Smoking cream cheese dip is very challenging and very rewarding at the same time. Cream cheese is very soft naturally, which makes it even harder to smoke than cheddar, brie, gouda, or the other go to cheeses because it is so soft. Do not try this on warm days as you will have a melted sludge rather than a dip, so this is mainly a wintertime treat. We live in Alaska, so we are lucky enough to have Smoked Cream Cheese dip for a few months longer than those of you trapped in the Lower 48.
Selecting the cheese
Cheese selection is extremely important for this just as it is for all smoked cheeses. If you put junk ingredients into it then you will get junk out of it, so don’t do that. We have experimented with several brands and have found that the “Raskas” brand cream cheese from Costco worked the best. We tried others, but they didn’t lend themselves to the smoking process as well as they were a little softer. The softer cheeses tend to melt way easier, so they did not survive the longer smoking process. We use a propane smoker so they may work in actual cold smokers, but we cannot build one until the snow melts, so we are using what we have on hand. Make sure you don’t grab whipped cream cheese by accident, or you’ll be having a very bad day.
Wood selection
Smoke flavor is a personal choice depending on what your preference is. Mesquite, cherry, apple, maple, and other chips will give you a milder smoke flavor if that is what you prefer. We use hickory for a stronger flavor and the upside is that it takes less time for the cheese to soak up the flavor, so it spends less time in the smoker to make it less prone to a catastrophic meltdown. Personally, I would recommend that you start with hickory to perfect the smoking process and save your experimentation until you have the smoking process down to an art. The cold weather also makes it easier so save that for the cold days if you’re not sure how long the smoking will take. Typically, it takes 45 minutes at a bare minimum so that provides a lot of chances for things to go south on you if you’re not careful.
Seasoning the cream cheese
Unlike cheddar and other cheeses, you must season cream cheese as it does not have much flavor of its own. The general rule I use for seasoning is if it works great on beef, it will work great on cream cheese too. The pork seasonings don’t lend themselves well to cream cheese and the flavors seem to overpower it, so you’ll have to do some experimenting. I use the same dry rub as I use on beef brisket which consists of hickory smoked salt, sugar, brown sugar, ground red peppers, MSG, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can add some ground cayenne pepper or ground habaneros too if you want a little extra heat. Jalapenos can also be used, but personally my daughter and I don’t like the flavor of them as much, so we save them for Jalapeno Poppers only. The other difference is that you don’t need to apply the rub as thick or heavy as you would on meat as the cheese is easy to overpower with seasoning. You can always add more seasoning to it later if you desire so do not stress if the initial flavor is weak.
Smoking the cheese
Smoking is the trickiest part by far. Be sure to soak the chips thoroughly as you want to cut down the possibility of the chips catching fire and generating a ton of instant heat. Keeping the smoker as cool as you can while smoking cheese is the most important and painstaking part of the process if you do not have a cold smoker. If you are using a propane smoker like we are there are several things you need to do. First place the blocks of cheese on aluminum foil and place them on the rack. Fold the edges slightly, but do not make them so tall that the smoke will have a hard time reaching it. It seems strange, but the best process I found was to turn the burner just past halfway and leave the smoker door slightly open to let the heat escape. The best suggestion is to watch the flow of smoke and place the cheese there to get the most amount of smoke flavor will still allowing the maximum amount of heat to escape. This varies by smoker so see what works best for you.
Keep the cheese chilling in the refrigerator until the chips start smoking then place the cheese in what you found to be the optimum place in your exact smoker. It takes about 20 minutes or more per side to smoke it at a medium temperature so make sure you have enough chips for at least a 45-minute smoke. Once the cheese starts developing the smoke color keep watching it for cracks. Cracks will start forming on the surface of the cheese when they are ready to flip over. Flip it over and keep smoking it until cracks appear and take the rack out of the smoker.
Finishing the dip
Once you pull the cheese out of the smoker place it into a bowl and stir it thoroughly to blend all the spices and smoke flavor evenly into it. Now you can try your taste test and add more seasonings if you want to. The goal is to add all the seasoning that you need when it goes into the smoker so adjust the seasoning level on your next batch as needed. The seasoning always taste better once they’re smoked so that is the goal to get as much of that good smoke flavor in them as you possibly can. The cream cheese thickens fast as it cools so make any seasoning adjustments as quickly as possible once you remove it from the smoker. Place the mix into the serving sized bowl of your choice, chill, and enjoy!!! Jessica has been the official smoker for the past few months, so I’ve been happy just sitting on the sidelines being an official consultant and taste tester.
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