Smoked Cheese Failure?

kevinstaggs

kevinstaggs

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I smoked cheddar, Swiss and some pepper jack cheese a week ago. Did a “test taste” and it seemed a little strong or maybe even bitter. Kept it on to long - 4 hrs from some Cherry pellets in a smoke tube.

Will the taste mellow or do I pitch it and start over?


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It's supposed to rest for a few weeks.

That said I dont care for smoked cheese as i feel it tastes like an ashtray, even if I buy it from a store. I suggest you buy a small block from the market.....maybe it's not your thing either
 
smoke ninja said:
It's supposed to rest for a few weeks.

That said I dont care for smoked cheese as i feel it tastes like an ashtray, even if I buy it from a store. I suggest you buy a small block from the market.....maybe it's not your thing either
Click to expand...



I’ve always like the smoked cheese that I’ve bought. But at least at week 1 mine isn’t so good. Honestly from the time I took it off the smoker it smelled strong.

Maybe limit to 2 hrs in the smoke next time? Go to apple instead of cherry?


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I rest mine for a minimum of 2 weeks. The longer the better. And I have never smoked for more than 2 hours also. 4 hours seems like a long time. Compared to the 2 hours I have experienced.
 
I did some last month. I think three hours. Not sure which pellets I used. Could have been comp blend.
The pieces on I slice on the surface, all the way around taste to smokey but the outer part is sliced it taste good.
 
I usually smoke cheese using apple pellets and go 3 to 4 hours, then vac seal and put in the fridge for at least 4 weeks before consuming. I find the longer I wait before consuming the more mellow the smoke flavor is. I usually smoke enough cheese at one time to last 4 to 6 months. In fact I am due to smoke a new batch.
 
BillN said:
I usually smoke cheese using apple pellets and go 3 to 4 hours, then vac seal and put in the fridge for at least 4 weeks before consuming. I find the longer I wait before consuming the more mellow the smoke flavor is. I usually smoke enough cheese at one time to last 4 to 6 months. In fact I am due to smoke a new batch.
Click to expand...

Sound advice. Method works great for me..Let cheese come to room temp. befoer smoking
 
I think my cold smoking this weekend was a failure, too. Last time I ran comp blend pellets for 4 hours, and couldn't ever taste smoke on them.

This time I ran hickory pellets for 4 hours, and it smells insane. I also saw a few of the chunks were sweating, and a few even melted a bit. It was 2* outside when I was doing this, but I did have a welding blanket over the top of the smoker. I guess I'll wait 2 weeks and find out of I made a 16 blocks of cheese mistake.
 
The type of wood or pellets you are using will also affect how much smoke flavor is added to the cheese. Apple, cherry, oak, alder, pecan, or other mild flavored wood will create ample smoke. You want just a very small amount of smoke to wisp over the cheese not a thick billowing smoke. I personally find that hickory and mesquite can be a little strong for smoking cheese, but I am sure that maybe a little less exposure to that type smoke might make a suitable finished product. Again this is my personal preference and opinion. The length of smoking time can vary on the smoker size, and the size of the cheese blocks.

When smoking softer cheeses, they will require much less smoke than the harder cheeses listed above. Be very careful very when using gouda, cream cheese, and other soft cheeses, they will probably only need 30 45 minutes of smoke. Too much smoke on any cheese will create a very bad taste. I would also even suggest using a milder wood like Alder when smoking delicately flavored cheeses. Again the idea is to compliment the mild flavor of the cheese, not to overpower it with smoke flavor.

Smoking and resting times required for a good flavor balance is a skill you will learn as you cold smoke cheese as well as many other foods. Learning to calculate smoking and resting times required for a good flavor is a skill you will learn as you cold smoke cheese.
 
IamMadMan said:
The type of wood or pellets you are using will also affect how much smoke flavor is added to the cheese. Apple, cherry, oak, alder, pecan, or other mild flavored wood will create ample smoke. You want just a very small amount of smoke to wisp over the cheese not a thick billowing smoke. I personally find that hickory and mesquite can be a little strong for smoking cheese, but I am sure that maybe a little less exposure to that type smoke might make a suitable finished product. Again this is my personal preference and opinion. The length of smoking time can vary on the smoker size, and the size of the cheese blocks.

When smoking softer cheeses, they will require much less smoke than the harder cheeses listed above. Be very careful very when using gouda, cream cheese, and other soft cheeses, they will probably only need 30 45 minutes of smoke. Too much smoke on any cheese will create a very bad taste. I would also even suggest using a milder wood like Alder when smoking delicately flavored cheeses. Again the idea is to compliment the mild flavor of the cheese, not to overpower it with smoke flavor.

Smoking and resting times required for a good flavor balance is a skill you will learn as you cold smoke cheese as well as many other foods. Learning to calculate smoking and resting times required for a good flavor is a skill you will learn as you cold smoke cheese.
Click to expand...


Good info. I bought an Amazen Tube and Amazen Maze from Owens BBQ during Black Friday sale. Took my order, took my money, but unfortunately the maze was sold out and they cheerfully refunded my money. I really wanted the maze for sawdust and figured at the discounted price I'd try the tube. Do you have any experience using sawdust versus pellets? Preference?



Thanks,


Robert
 
Robert said:
Good info. I bought an Amazen Tube and Amazen Maze from Owens BBQ during Black Friday sale. Took my order, took my money, but unfortunately the maze was sold out and they cheerfully refunded my money. I really wanted the maze for sawdust and figured at the discounted price I'd try the tube. Do you have any experience using sawdust versus pellets? Preference?

Thanks,

Robert
Click to expand...


I used sawdust many years ago when I had a "Big Chief" smoker for small batches of fish.


Today, I use pellets in my maze simply because they are much more readily available as well as cheaper than sawdust. I haven't used sawdust in such a long time that I cannot honestly tell you if there is a difference in flavor between the two. However I am satisfied with the smoke flavoring from the pellets in the maze.



I have also mixed chips and pellets together on occasion, simply because plum, peach, and pear pellets are not available. The pellets create the controlled burn, not allowing the wood chips to quickly burn away.


You can also lay thin slices of apple, onion, or small sprigs of herbs on top of the pellets to impart additional flavors on to the cheese.
 
I have used both sawdust (I have a wood lathe, I manufacture sawdust :-D) and pellets in the maze. The sawdust burns up a lot quicker. As for flavor I just can't say, there is too much variation between all of the options.
 
Wait 4 weeks to eat the cheese? I throw cheese away after its been in the fridge for a month. I also think smoked cheese smells like an ashtray.
 
sleebus.jones said:
Those smoke tubes excel at creating creosote. Likely that's what you're tasting.
Click to expand...

OK... So my last batch of cheese was smoked using very small sticks (pencil diameter 3-4" long) and babysitting a very small but clean burning fire in my offset. It was a real PITA (cold and constant feeding of wood) but the results were outstanding.

Fast forward to trying an AmazingTube that was pre-filled with who-knows-what kind of pellets.... the smoke was incredibly thick and strong. Tried it on a block of cream cheese for about 1.75 hours. One week later it still has a bitter taste. Hoping it'll mellow because that tube is so easy to work with. However, after reading the quote above I'm not holding out much confidence.

Also, my offset pit still has a lingering odor from that one time using the tube. I'm thinking of going back to my original plan.
 
kevinstaggs said:
I smoked cheddar, Swiss and some pepper jack cheese a week ago. Did a “test taste” and it seemed a little strong or maybe even bitter. Kept it on to long - 4 hrs from some Cherry pellets in a smoke tube.

Will the taste mellow or do I pitch it and start over?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

oooooh.....

I normally don't smoke my cheeses for more than an hour, so four might have been too long.

But, I normally stash mine in the back of the refriegerator with a "Do not eat until" 3 plus weeks out.

So, give it another two weeks. If it's to your liking, then rock on! If not, try smoking it for an hour.
 
I use 4 lit pieces of charcoal as a stand and put a piece of smoke wood on top. I have it go until it stops....anywhere between 75 and 120 minutes. Seems to be just fine. People who have it love it.

I did do one kind of cheese with 3 different smoke woods, so I think on Super Bowl Sunday I'll break those out and do the pepsi challenge to see if you can tell the difference between cherry, pecan and sugar maple.
 
morningwoodbbq said:
I use 4 lit pieces of charcoal as a stand and put a piece of smoke wood on top.
Click to expand...

This is a good idea...much less creosote formation with the 4 hot coals under the wood.

Low temp, smoldering fire = more creosote production
High temp, burning fire = less creosote production
 
sleebus.jones said:
This is a good idea...much less creosote formation with the 4 hot coals under the wood.

Low temp, smoldering fire = more creosote production
High temp, burning fire = less creosote production
Click to expand...

Temps though. I used 8 red hot coals in my MES30 with a 2x2 inch chunk of cherry. I had a hard time keeping the temp below 150F (i was smoking jerky)
 
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