Smoking Cheese

Any and all cheese - sharp cheedar and gouda are my favs.

Small fire with just a few coals that gets the wood to smoke. Keep the temp as low as you can. Time may depend on what kind smoker you have.

List what you have and I'm sure someone with the same/similar smoker will provide more info.

KC_Bobby said:

Any and all cheese - sharp cheedar and gouda are my favs.

Small fire with just a few coals that gets the wood to smoke. Keep the temp as low as you can. Time may depend on what kind smoker you have.

List what you have and I'm sure someone with the same/similar smoker will provide more info.

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I agree with KC Bobby... Smoke whatever cheese you like.

Keep the temp in the smoking chamber below 80*. I find that going over 80* tends to cause some cheeses to start sweating. Once they start sweating the texture is affected and it will not be as good as it could be. Cheese that was heated too far will have a rubbery texture and be oily on the outside.

I like Cherry and/or Pecan wood for the smoke. Make sure there is ventilation for the smoke to escape, or else the smoke will build up and get stale affecting the flavor negatively.

Pretty much any cheese can be smoked. I find a couple hours in the smoke is usually sufficient. The final flavor is stronger immediately after smoking than after it has rested for a couple days in the fridge after smoking. So if you are going for a mild smoke, and a couple days later it doesn't taste smoky anymore, that is why.

I find any smoker can be a cold smoker on a cold day with just a couple briquettes and some small wood chunks on top of those. you can also order smoke generators designed for cold smoking. Examples are the Smoke Pistol and the SmokeDaddy.

My personal favorite smoking cheese is a good quality Havarti.

Pretty much what KC Bobby said...^^^...I use 3 charcoal briquettes and a chunk of smokewood...usually apple for soft cheeses like Gouda or mozzarella and hickory for hard cheeses such as cheddar. Just light the briqs and put the chunk of smokewood on top...I usually smoke the cheese for 30 hour to 45 minutes...depending on how much smoke flavor you want. Good luck!

My wife has been pushing me to smoke some cheeses. I think i may have to try a brick. Seems pretty easy.
I used to smoke chees a long, long time ago on my little chief. I would take the lid off and rest the cardboard box that the thing came in on top of the little chief, stick a rack in there and put the cheese on that rack. Pretty neat, and tasty.

Talk to Rookie 48 about his "Ugly Cheese Bucket" set up. I saw it in action at the Midwest Bash last month, pretty cool.

Ask and you shall receive (sometimes :biggrin. Here's the link to my Ugly Cheese Bucket: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69597&highlight=How+I+Smoke+Cheese

As Fat Woody mentioned it was in use at the Bash again this year. We smoked up some Swiss, cheddar, pepper jack, mozzerella, Velveta and cream cheese. All was good :-D.

Yeah, I did the soldering iron in a can with wood chips thing to make a cold smoke generator and found it very easy to use. Last year I used the few briquettes with wood in the Big Green Egg and that worked too.

We did hickory and cherry wood versions of sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, edam, swiss, colby jack, muenster, and pepper jack. My two favorites were the hickory cheddar and edam. That is very subjective though.

I agree that it's all good. My personal favorite is Mozzarella with cherry wood smoke. Swiss with apple wood smoke is close. I've never tried cream cheese, but now that Rookie 48 brought it up, I'll probably try that next weekend.

Hey Kevin, if you're near a Hy-Vee up there check out their specialty cheese section for something called "Swisson Rye". It's a processed type cheese with rye & caraway seeds in it. That is some gooood stuff!

if you want something different try halloumy cheese. it grills nice then cut it into chunks and squeeze lime juice on it. no one will believe its cheese.

i have a link around here somewhere of someone using a soldering iron in a coffee can full of wood chips.../ i keep meaning to try that, but the Dr has me on a diet...so no cheese for me

bigabyte said:

I like Cherry and/or Pecan wood for the smoke. Make sure there is ventilation for the smoke to escape, or else the smoke will build up and get stale affecting the flavor negatively.

Pretty much any cheese can be smoked. I find a couple hours in the smoke is usually sufficient. The final flavor is stronger immediately after smoking than after it has rested for a couple days in the fridge after smoking. So if you are going for a mild smoke, and a couple days later it doesn't taste smoky anymore, that is why.

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I agree with what everyone else has said so far, I would encourage you to go lighter on the smoke to start with, it can get really strong pretty quick. I've done some that turned out way stronger than I wanted it to be... I vacuum sealed it and forgot about it for 3 or 4 months, it was perfect when I found it! Don't worry about mold if you vacuum pack it, the smoke helps keep it from going bad.

I like to use apple & alder - I also wouldn't soak the chips... makes kind of a bitter flavor.

My favs are Meunster, Swiss & pepper jack. Smoked pepper jack on tacos or chili is incredible!

jbw said:

if you want something different try halloumy cheese. it grills nice then cut it into chunks and squeeze lime juice on it. no one will believe its cheese.

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Haloumy is great stuff! Fun to eat too, it squeaks as you chew it! Never smoked it though, Ususally just grill it... have to try that.

Rookie'48 said:

Ask and you shall receive (sometimes :biggrin. Here's the link to my Ugly Cheese Bucket: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69597&highlight=How+I+Smoke+Cheese

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thanks!