Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, PitPrimer earns from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Product availability subject to change.
Cold smoking adds smoke flavor without applying real cooking heat, which is exactly what you want for cheese, cured bacon, and jerky — anything where you’d rather flavor the product than cook it. The catch is that “cold” is relative: you’re aiming to keep the smoking chamber under 90°F, and on anything but a genuinely cold day, that’s harder than it sounds on a standard grill or smoker.
You need a smoke generator, not just a low setting
Most pellet grills won’t hold a stable temperature below 150-180°F even on their lowest setting, which is already too hot for cold smoking cheese. A separate cold smoke generator — a small maze or tube that smolders wood dust or pellets without an active heat source — sits inside your existing grill or a dedicated box and produces smoke with almost no added heat.
- Produces smoke for up to 4 hours during cold smoking
- Up to 4 hours while supplementing smoke at 225°+ in your smoker or grill
- Designed to supplement smoke in an electric smoker, but can be used in just about any smoker or grill
Cheese: the easiest starting point
Hard cheeses like cheddar, gouda, and provolone hold up well; soft cheeses tend to sweat and can pick up too much smoke too fast. Smoke for 2-4 hours depending on how strong you want the flavor, then — this part matters — vacuum-seal or wrap and refrigerate for at least a week before eating. Fresh-off-the-smoker cheese tastes acrid and one-dimensional; the flavor mellows and rounds out significantly after resting.
- 4 Modes : ‘Vac & Seal’ – one-touch automatic vacuum and seal, perfect for food that does not deform easily, such as meat, nuts,…
- Professional-Grade Food Preservation: The vacuum sealer for food delivers faster and more efficient airtight seals. Effortle…
- Kitchen Essential: The food sealer vacuum sealer is not only for sous vide cooking but also prevents freezer burn, keeping food…
Bacon: cure first, then cold smoke
This isn’t smoking raw pork belly — you cure it first with salt, pink curing salt (Cure #1), and sugar for 7-10 days in the fridge, rinse, dry, then cold smoke for 4-8 hours before slicing. Skipping the cure step and cold smoking raw pork belly is a genuine food safety problem, not just a flavor shortcut — the temperatures involved don’t get hot enough to make raw pork safe on their own.
- Prague Powder 1 Curing Salt: is also called Insta Cure #1, pink curing salt #1 or tinted cure. Pink curing salt prague powder #…
- Common Uses: This pink curing salt is ideal for meats requiring short curing times and that will be cooked and consumed quickly…
- Prague Powder #1: May helps preserve the freshness of meat by preventing the growth of microorganisms that cause spoilage. Its…
Jerky sits in between hot and cold smoking
True jerky is usually made at a low-but-active heat (150-165°F) rather than true cold-smoke temperatures, since USDA guidance calls for the meat to reach a safe internal temperature during the process. If you want the cold-smoke flavor profile specifically, cold smoke the meat for 1-2 hours first, then finish it in a dehydrator or low oven to a safe temperature — don’t rely on cold smoke alone to make jerky food-safe.
- QUICKLY SLICES MEAT INTO CONSISTENT STRIPS FOR JERKY: This Weston jerky slicer has 32 stainless steel blades that quickly cut m…
- FITS LARGE PIECES OF MEAT: The large chute on this jerky slicer machine fits big pieces of meat up to 5″ wide and 1.25″ thick….
- MOUNTS EASILY WITH BUILT-IN C-CLAMP: The jerky slicer easily mounts onto tables and other flat surfaces up to 2″ thick using th…
Watch the weather more than the clock
Ambient temperature above 75-80°F makes it genuinely difficult to stay under the 90°F cold-smoke ceiling, even with a smoke generator producing minimal heat. Early morning or a cool fall day gives far more consistent results than a July afternoon — plan cold smoking sessions around the forecast, not just your schedule.
