Smoked Cheese

[psoltesz]

Hey everyone,

Got the cold smoke plate and followed the instructions in the video below to smoke some cheddar cheese.  It was fantastic, and a huge hit with everyone who tried it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1M5OMLPbg

The best piece of advice that I can give (which is also mentioned in the video) is to smoke and refrigerate the cheese at least 24 hours before you want to serve it.  Resting in the fridge for a day really gives the smoke flavor a chance to mellow out, and allows the cheese to settle back down. 

Enjoy!

  - Phil

 

[afratki]

Cheese is on my smoking bucket list and the video pretty much spells it out.

Thanks for posting

 

[DivotMaker]

Very nice video.  I can't wait to try some smoke Provalone and cheddar!

 

[psoltesz]

I've been meaning to do this technique with a nice gouda, but you'd be surprised at how hard it is to find a large cut of gouda that's not already smoked (usually with artificial smoke flavor).

  - Phil

 

[DivotMaker]

Got my cold smoke plate yesterday!  I see it looks as big as a shelf - did you put it in the shelf slot?  Just curious, because that seems it will restrict the smoke...does it not?  I also read, somewhere else, to place a bag of ice on top of the plate to keep the internal temp down; did you try this?

I love smoked cheese, but this "cold smoke" thing is totally new to me, and I want to do it right.  I'd love to see Ben or Steve post some more "detailed" instructions on the cold smoke plate - there isn't much about it on the website, and no info sheet in the box.  Thanks Phil!

 

[psoltesz]

Place the cold smoke plate in the bottom most rack position in your smoker, then place the cheese on one of the racks in the uppermost rack position.

To regulate the temp, I use a tinfoil lasagna pan filled with ice, placed directly on top of the cold smoke plate.  Turn the smoker on to the highest temp for 20 minutes, then shut it off but don't open the smoker.  Leave the cheese in the smoker for an hour, then repeat the cycle.

After the second go-round, remove the cheese from the smoker, wrap, and place in the fridge.  Give it at least 24 hours before eating.  The video in my original post provides a nice visual of this process.

Enjoy!

  - Phil

 

[DivotMaker]

Thanks, Phil.  I watched the video again and saw things I didn't at first.  I'll follow that method!  That's where I saw the ice pan trick!  Hehe...I read so much about this, and watch so many videos, it's hard to remember where you get which tip!    Thanks again!  Nice to hear from a member who's tried this in one of our smokers!

Here's a video that shows about the same process on one of our "competitors" units:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=tF3lCLE6I84&NR=1

 

[drken567]

Ha! Smoked a tiny bit of cheddar this morning over a peterson's cherry puck. Used a variation on the method mentioned here - but smoked it only once for 15 min and turned the smoker off. Brought the cheese (and some coffee beans that I smoked alongside the cheese) out after 4 hours sitting in the (turned off) smoker.

Previous attempts had yielded lots of melted cheese, but this time I got cheese still in its more or less original shape, although some butterfat/oils did melt out of the cheese.

Passed it around today to lots of "Oh wow!" and was commissioned by our local artisanal cheesemaker to smoke up some of his award-winning for him. Some promise here.....
Ken