SUBMISSION Thread for F&DB Cheese Challenge, September 14, 2021

I wasn’t going to submit mine, but having no submissions 45 minutes in made me nervous.

Bourbon Bacon Caramel Cheesecake



Alright, went the dessert route for this one obviously. I love bourbon and still had some bacon and bacon-infused bourbon left over from the bacon challenge, so I made this one just about right after the cheese ingredient was announced.



Crust first, of course, and get the bacon cooking.







While the crust is hardening in the freezer, time for the filling, starting with whipped cream cheese and butter, then adding eggs, finally baking powder, caramel, and some of the bacon-bourbon.







My sous chef was a fan. (I actually had two sous chefs... my wife was up there helping me with the eggs while I worked the camera.)





Snack time, bacon is ready! Just don't eat it all.



Okay, now that the bacon is out of the oven, the cheesecake goes in for at least two hours.

That means it's sauce time. I mixed coffee cream moonshine with the chocolate sauce and bacon-bourbon with the cameral sauce and whipped until both were a good drizzling viscosity.





Alright, once the cheesecake was ready (waited until it just started to look like a creme brulee on top) it took some time to cool before topping with the sauces and crumbled bacon.

Cheese and crawfish souffle



basic béchamel sauce (Buttler flour milk)



adding salt, pepper, egg yolk, cheese (Swiss, white cheddar)



adding egg white



chives and crawfish(deshotel)





finished product

Reuben Mac n Cheese

I knew when the challenge was announced I wanted to make some kind of weird mac n cheese, and a Reuben is my favorite sandwich, so it seemed like a great combo. The impending hurricane probably should have deterred me from curing something in the fridge for 2 weeks, but I am nothing if not stubborn, so I proceeded as planned. I started the cure Saturday before the storm and originally planned to smoke it on Labor Day (10 Days). When the challenge was extended, I decided to push it 2 full weeks.

To make the corned beef, I portioned kosher salt, Prague Powder #1, and brown sugar. Poured it into boiling water and let it dissolve. The water turned a beautiful dark pink hue. Hard to get good lighting to show the exact color.




Next toast, the spice blend for the brine. It was allspice, cardamom, coriander, clove, bay leaves, cinnamon, black pepper, and red pepper.



After a minute or two, remove from heat and grind up spices with garlic and ginger. Once ground, place in water and cut the heat.




Next I put ice in my brine container and poured the brine into it, then set in the fridge to cool completely. I think it took about an hour. While that was cooling, I trimmed my brisket. This was originally 14.9 lbs, I was hoping to find a 11-12 lb cut, but this was the smallest in the store. I ended up trimming 4.5 lbs of fat off, for a net of 10.4 lbs. I left about 1/4 fat cap on the top.




Placed in brine container and waited patiently, flipping it once per day. You can see why I wanted a smaller brisket, but the plates kept it submerged with no issues.



Fast forward 2 weeks, and it is time to turn this corned beef into pastrami. I removed it from the brine and soaked it in ice water for about 90 minutes to get the salt off. After that I removed it from the water and left in the fridge uncovered for another 90 minutes while I lit my fire and got the smoker ready.





For the spice rub, I used coriander, black pepper and paprika in a 4:3:2 ratio. Ground it all up then rubbed my meat.





Once my smoker got up to temp (and the game day wings were on) I placed the beef in the top rack and let it go until 203 degrees.



Rested and ready to eat. I had a slice fresh, but the majority of the pastrami eating will come later. So I cut enough to eat on this week and vacuum sealed the rest.




I love my Reubens with creole mustard and Russian dressing, so I made both of those. For the creole mustard, I used stone-ground mustard, honey, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, paprika, smoked paprika, thyme, oregano, basil, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, and brown sugar.





For the Russian dressing, I started by caramelizing some onions. When that was done, mix in a bowl with chili sauce, toof’s finest mayo, pimentos, green onions, and horseradish.




Finally we have arrived at the part with the cheese. First up, the béchamel base. Butter and flour cooked for a few minutes into a blonde roux. Then I added chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and milk.




The main cheeses in my mac were Swiss and Gruyere, about 3/4 lb of each. Those aren’t very melty, so I cut up a block of cream cheese and melted that first.



After that was melted, I tossed in my shredded Swiss and Gruyere. I should have taken a pic of it all together, but time was of the essence and I forgot. Once it was smooth and silky, I added in the noodles.






Next I chopped up 1 slice each from the point and the flat and brought it to temperature.



Last step was heating the sauerkraut. I get this from Costco, it is just okay out the jar. But tossed in a pan for a few minutes with black and red pepper does wonders.




I toasted some marble rye and it was time to plate. Here’s a pic right before I started eating and realized I forgot to put the sauerkraut on the dish.



And here it is, actually finished.




Bonus pic of my traditional Reuben from lunch the day before. Basically the same ingredients but sub a slice of Swiss for the mac.

Everything looks great! I hadn't planned anything, but have no dinner plans so just placed a grocery delivery order and will submit a last minute item.

Two Fisted Cheese Whizard

Cheesesteak is good comfort food. I am a simple cook, so I didn't want to screw it up by making too many changes to the traditional recipe. I like cooking stuff that even I can cook.

I decided to cook this entirely on my charcoal grill, so I would not have any unfair advantage over those without power. That sounded good right? Actually, y'all know I would have use the grill, anyway..

But the first question is, Cheese Whiz or Provolone? Those are the two correct responses to the question as to what kind of cheese goes on a cheesesteak. How can you improve on perfection? I have always preferred the Cheese Whiz, but my daughters both wanted provolone, as they were unfamiliar with the virtues of Cheese Whiz.

After much consideration, I decided:





Just to be a little different, I used prime strip steaks that I put in the freezer for about an hour before slicing, so I could slice it easier. I cut it thicker than you would expect for a cheesesteak, because I felt it would be tender, regardless because it is prime steak. I seasoned generously with salt and pepper.

ETA: I did trim the excess fat off the strips before cutting it up.


I cut up onions and mushrooms and sauteed them in butter in a cast iron skillet. I removed the onions and mushrooms and cooked my steak. I then added the onions and mushrooms back into the skillet and added cheese. As you can see, I segregated the meat/veggie mix into two sides so that I could use two separate cheezes - the white provolone and the yellow Cheese Whiz.






I took a hoagie roll and toasted it on the cast iron skillet and loaded it up with half Cheese Whiz and half provolone mixture. I added goathorn peppers (I deviated from the traditional bell peppers) and added some fresh herbs.




This turned out awesome. I, of course, preferred the Cheese Whiz side. There is something surreal about the saltiness of the cheese, and the way the Cheese Whiz completely coats every piece of that prime steak, to give it a creamy, buttery texture.

Cheese Whiz on the left and provolone on the right.

Note: I'm not sure what happened in my pic, but one of the kitchen lights cast a shadow of the sandwhich that turned out yellowish, so it looks like the sandwich is sitting in grease? Its not. Its perfectly dry.


I kept to my MO of simple food, but the problem is that I don't think its possible to win the cheese challenge with Cheese Whiz...

quote:

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The problem is that I don't think its possible to win the cheese challenge with Cheese Whiz...

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If I win I might just make cheese whiz the next ingredient. Or velveeta.

quote:

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f I win I might just make cheese whiz the next ingredient. Or velveeta.

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Wouldn't that cause some churn...

I’ve got something in the works, it’ll be a late entry. I’ll edit this post sometime in the early AM

ETA: here is my official submission. Seven cheese and ground sirloin lasagna

cheeses are: smoked mozzarella
Smoked provolone
Smoked Gouda
Smoked gruyere
Havarti
Red Dragon
Mountain Gorgonzola


The sauce isn’t much, I let the cheeses speak for themselves