Suggestions for smoking cheese

m2244 said:

Hello,

New to the forum.

Anyway, my dad used to do quite a bit of smoked foods in his Little Chief smoker, which I dug out of his shed recently. I tried some Vermont Cabot cheddar tuesday night, the first thing that I have ever smoked. I didn't have much faith in myself for a first try but it came out pretty good. I had to leave it in there for about an hour, I think the heater needs to be replaced.

I am wondering what other kinds of cheese are good smoked.

I think I need to do some research before I try to smoke meat.

Thanks for any help.

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Most non-blue cheeses smoke well in my experience, obviously soft cheeses can benefit from some support if placed on bars or a grill (if they came in a box just remove the top and sides). One tip I would suggest is to cling film the cheese immediately after smoking and leave in the fridge for a day or two, this seems to allow the smoke flavour to permeate and mellow. The cheese is quite edible straight away but the smoke can be a little harsh and concentrated to the outside, it generally tastes much better after a couple of days.

Rookie Dave's going to jump on here pretty soon, I hope, but I'll say in advance that that guy smokes everything. Even butter. We melted smoked butter on popcorn and it was heavenly. I know I've seen smoked Swiss, cheddar, gouda, and a bunch of others.

Depending on how large of pieces you are working with, and what degree of smokiness you want, and how much smoke you are working with.... I would go at least an hour. 1-1/2 hours might be the high end of time.

I start off with this amount of wood, and when I add wood I don't empty the ashes and only add a few chips. Alder is a very mild wood, I like it and I like apple too.










One other thing, it does take a day or two for the flavor to mellow. Some folks wrap it when it cools down, I keep mine covered in the fridge overnight at least, then blot any surface oil, then wrap or vacuum seal.