Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Cold-Smoking => Topic started by: BBQueen on December 10, 2020, 02:34:39 PM
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I bought some local WIsconsin cheese...
Hennings Farms Aged Sharp Cheddar and Colby bricks...also in the smoker some Mild Provolone from Belgioso.
I cut the cheese into smaller chunks and sliced the Provolone into 1" disks.
I smoked them for 4 hours. Highest temp in the smoker was 70 degree it started out at 37 degrees. Seems the smoke generated a lot of condensation inside the smoker. I imagine the smoke was facilitating condensation in the smoker. The Apple wood also generated a lot of brown liquid that collected in the ash pan on the Smokemiester. I did a fair amount of research on home cold smoking of cheese but there wasn't much info on resting the cheese prior to long term packaging. Some mentioned wiping the cheese with paper towels before wrapping in either parchment paper, butcher paper or plastic wrap and resting in the fridge from 3 hours to 3 days before vacuum packing and then aging in the fridge for 3 weeks to 3 months before eating.
So I have wrapped half the cheeses in parchment and half in cling wrap and placed it in the fridge. I did not bother wiping the cheese. I have a vacuum packer arriving later.
I did not taste any of the cheeses yet... But probably will prior to vacuum sealing for long term aging.
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Love seeing everything you are doing! Putting that #2 to work early!
There are quite a few on the board that cold smoke cheese. You may pick up on there tips. I forget but one on here is very knowledgeable on the topic.
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Mr T (Tom) has a website where he covers his method of smoking cheese plus resting it. If you do a Google search ie-"Mr T Smoking Cheese" some forums will show up where he answers questions about it.
I generally only let mine rest overnight covered on the counter to let the moisture reabsorb. As he puts it "you don't want to wipe as you're wiping off flavor that you've just applied.' I think its also reabsorbing oils that add flavor and texture.
https://smokingfoodwithmrt.com/smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show (https://smokingfoodwithmrt.com/smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show)
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Thanks much for the link!
I thought the same about wiping off the cheese. Interesting though the chunks I rested overnight in parchment the paper did at first absorb much of the moisture but overnight with the wrapped chunks in a plastic container the moisture most likely absorbed back into the cheese.
The applewood smell was pretty strong in the fridge...as a result, my partner bought a 4.7 CF mini fridge for the basement to age my cheese and other smoked items...(we needed it as we are marinading and large-ish quantities of meats. I grilled another 20 pounds of marinated boned chicken thighs for the taco shop...only two blocks away)
Well it will take a few weeks to see how it came out...I am going to buy the same bricks of cheese to compare the flavor before and after...
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Which sealer are you getting?
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Probably not a solution for those that live in an area where the hot day are few, but for us the days we could cold smoke are almost 0, weve placed our cold smoke chamber in a small room with an a/c unit, to maintain an ambient air temp the suits our cold smoking. I first looked at chilling the intake air and went thru some design ideas then realized it was much easier to put a small a/c in a small room along with the smoker, also gives us absolute control over the ambient air temp.
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I am looking forward to see how your flavor and texture turn out. Did you check the moisture content of your apple wood before smoking? 15% to 18% works well for me and doesn’t generate extra moisture. It seems odd that there would be moisture in your CSG.
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I got the Vacuum Sealer By NutriChef
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2HE2HD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have sealed up some pulled pork, home made chorizo verde, the smoked cheese (not tried yet waiting another couple weeks)
Works pretty well actually.
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4 week tasting...
Sharp Cheddar seemed to take the smoke...but was on the bitter side.
Colby and Provolone were both bitter....over smoked...most likely more aging will maybe temper it...but I don't know...
Going to let them go longer. I re-vac-packed the bricks.
Next time will do shorter smoke...with whole bricks of cheese.