Smoked Cheese

A cold smoker is one of my projects for his year. I have been using a combination of smoked swiss and smoked chedder on my burgers.

I want to try my hand at cold smoking cheese, have a few ideas...

I enjoy smoking cheese on my pellet pooper. My favorite cheese is cheddar. For pastrami most people prefer Swiss. As far as timing I try and smoke it for at least an hour. The big thing is to keep the temp as low as possible. I won a Mak grill. The smoker box on it is usually 100 degrees colder than the main box. Some people have used ice in the smoker to keep the temp down. As far as pellets everybody has their favorite. I like hickory. I would stay away from Mesquite. Too harsh a flavor for the mildness of cheese. IMO, Good luck with it.

If you can keep your pit temp super low, and use a very gentle source of smoke.... your smoke times will be between 2 and 6 hours. It's best to sample small slivers along the way to determine the flavor you like best.

You might look into the tin can and soldering iron method, or try lighting one briquette and adding some chips around that. You can even consider putting a tray of ice cubes below the rack where the cheese is, this will cool down the smoke.

I would try two kinds first.... cheddar and pepper jack. This will give you a broad range of back flavor to go with the smoke flavor you will add. I have tried many, many brands and my current favorite is Tillamook. I prefer the extra sharp cheddar (black label) in either the white or yellow, it's about $3 more per brick than their regular cheddar, but worth it.

I have found that Colby won't take smoke as easily as cheddar or jack. I'm not a big fan of smoked swiss, but I do smoke some for friends. Most of the soft cheeses come out good, you just have to watch the temp. And speaking of temp, you can always smoke it for an hour, move to the fridge for a couple of hours, then return to the smoker....

Try and find a grate screen to set your cheeses on, or you can lay out cheese cloth on your grate too.

Nothing wrong with a nice applewood smoked Gouda

Cheddar, pepper jack, gouda, colby....whatever I find on sale is what goes in the smoker. I usually give them an hour an a half-2 hrs. Then, wrap and tuck away in the fridge for a week or 2.

I just did my second batch of cheese 0n 12/30. Had Cheddar, Meunster, Co-Jack, Mozarella, Chipotle Gouda, and Chile Lime Gouda. I have an A-Maze-N smoker (the kind that uses dust and not pellets), it doesnt produce large amounts of smoke but doesnt produce a lot of heat either. Keeping it under 90 degrees so the cheese doesnt melt was not an issue as temperatures on a 45 degree day never broke 70 degrees in the smoker. I smoked for 4hrs with hickory and plan on aging it for a minimum of 2 weeks but probably going to try for 3-4 weeks.

My first go at it was 2 blocks of cheddar, that I smoked for 4 hrs with hickory and let it age for 2 weeks on the 1st block and 3 weeks on the second block. Both turned out great but the one I aged 3 weeks was definitely much better than the 2 week cheese.

Do yourself a favor and buy some cheese wax ahead of time. Its real simple to wax the cheese and really helps keep the flavor in and it will increase the shelf life greatly.
It's easily found on the internet on cheese making supply sites.

My own favorites are Swiss, Havarty, and Gouda. I just finished eating some home smoked Gouda a few minutes ago. Start with a high-quality cheese, whatever you choose.

I only smoke cheese when it is really cold outside, so my cheese does not melt even a little bit. I use the tin can and soldering iron smoke generator in my WSM.

It does not take long to smoke cheese. 60 to 90 minutes will do the job. But, you need to wrap it up and let it sit in the fridge for at least a few days, or better yet, a week or two, before eating it. The smoke flavor needs to mellow out. If you eat it fresh from the smoker, the smoke will overpower the cheese.

I vacuum seal my smoked cheese for a couple weeks.

CD

khs282 said:

Is there a benefit to using cheese wax over vacuum sealing it?

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I've done it both ways and I believe there is. No sicentific evidence but I'm stickin with the wax. Besides the package looks nicer for gifting.

Since cold weather has hit New England this year, I have been cold smoking cheese in my 30 gallon uds. I usually get a handfull of coals cherried, then sprinkle handfuls of chips on them. Usually only takes me an hour to get a nice smoke flavor, but I do wrap in plastic wrap for a couple days to mellow smoke. I have really been into apple/cherry smoked gouda. And cheddar is always great too. Have fun.

My first attempt at smoked cheese got just a bit hot at the end but the cheese still tasted good. My favorites are Sharp cheddar, Gouda,Colby-jack, I just tried some monteray jack. It is still aging in vac pack. After my first attempt with hot coals and wood chips, I built a smoke generator similar to a smoke daddy but mine has a adjustable air inlet at the bottom. Anyhow it worked very well and stayed below 70 degrees. It is a bit of a creasote mess to clean up after use. If the cheese taste good worth the effort. Good luck with your cheese.

We all have different tastes. Experiment. On your first smoke, do small amounts of several cheeses, and see what you like, and don't like.

I think we all agree that you need to let any cheese you smoke mellow out for a while before eating it.

CD

caseydog said:

We all have different tastes. Experiment. On your first smoke, do small amounts of several cheeses, and see what you like, and don't like.

I think we all agree that you need to let any cheese you smoke mellow out for a while before eating it.

CD

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Yes, definitely experiment with types, brands and flavor. And I will agree that mellowing will improve the flavor,.... but I feel that if the samples right off the smoker are too bitter or too smoky to eat.... it is over smoked.

Likewise, if you see the milk fats surfacing, or your pieces start to lean, your smoker is too warm. I will smell my fingers and check for oil after turning the pieces, and if they smell of smoke it is an indication of surface smoke residue. It's all in keeping everything cool (the cheese and the smoke) and using a smoke generator that can deliver a light smoke over a long period of time.

After smoking I always let my cheeses sit at room temperature for a couple of hours, then move into the fridge to cool down a day or so before bagging or vac sealing. This eliminates any condensation you might get if you wrap too soon. As far as eating, I will start enjoying cheese right after it's cooled down.

thirdeye said:

After smoking I always let my cheeses sit at room temperature for a couple of hours, then move into the fridge to cool down a day or so before bagging or vac sealing. This eliminates any condensation you might get if you wrap too soon. As far as eating, I will start enjoying cheese right after it's cooled down.

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:thumb:

I smoked 15# of cheese just before Christmas. After smoking was complete I turned on a big electric fan and let the blocks cool while still in the smoker.
I placed them into a couple of pans into the beer fridge they went. I was planning on letting them dry for 24 hrs. Life got busy and they were wrapped around the 48 hr mark. Rested a week in plastic wrap and were distributed out after 5 days. Got rave reviews after this last batch.