This is my first try at smoking cheese. I wanted to see if I could control a low temperature in my new smoker without an additional device. When you see the temp keep climbing, you get a little nervous at where it might stop. Overall, I think everything went pretty well. I will wrap the cheese and let it mellow for a few days before tasting it to see if I need to up the smoke or cut back on it. I did some medium cheddar, Colby - Jack and some Monterey Jack for starters. This was pretty much representative of my experience. Smoker box temperatures were 86 - 88 and the cheese level temps seemed to be around 5 degrees lower than the box temp throughout with the pans of ice underneath.Shot of how everything was loaded.Cheese:

Intriguing. Let us know how it turns out.

^^^^yes, please do, as well as any details you'd care to share.

I concluded that it is a real balancing act to be able to have enough heat to produce smoke but keep it cool enough to not melt the cheese. There are many devices sold that are like incense burners to produce smoke with little heat gain but I wanted to see if I could manage my existing equipment without the aide of the separate smoke generators. What I found that worked best for me was to generate smoke quickly before the box got really hot and then shut everything down. I could get about 1:15 - 1:20 worth of smoke from a quick start with the heat. So, both my batches received about an hour and a half worth of smoke. Later taste testing will give me an idea how to adjust that up or down.

I think you will get a better smoke flavor if you wrap the cheese in plastic wrap and let it mellow for a week or so. You will probable have to play with the smoke times depending on how much smoke flavor you want. It will be a trial and error type thing as we don't know how much smoke flavor you want..Temps looked good so you are on the right track

Good looking cheeses and I can see them making a fine addition to an over the top mac and cheese dish.Could you tell me what a medium cheddar is....does that also mean sharp?Oh and ingenious use of the potato; got to remember that trick.

Smoked cheese - first efforts | Good Sam Community

magnusfide
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2015
Super_Dave wrote:
magnusfide wrote:
SuperD how did your cheese taste?

I snuck a nibble on Wednesday and the flavor was great but still a little strong. I vacuum sealed all the hunks and will continue to let it rest for another week. I think it is going to be awesome. My wife is the wine drinker in our family but this might get me to drink a couple glasses while enjoying some good cheese.

Glad to know it was successful!
KA4EBU
Explorer
Feb 05, 2015
A buddy made a small bowl with double aluminim for the smoker. Put wood chips in it, laid an electric soldering iron in the chips, the cheese on the racks and smoked away. Made some different flavors and mixes of wood. Worked pretty good and fairly fast. Definitely not for big pieces but a way to get the taste and kill time.
SWMO
Explorer
Jan 30, 2015
Depending on how much smoke you want, the timing is much quicker than most realize, myself included. #0 minutes of heavy smoke followed by a rest under wrap to allow the oils to redistribute will give=e a good healthy flavor.
IMO, cheddar will handle more smoke than swiss.
NYCgrrl
Explorer
Jan 30, 2015
Super_Dave wrote:
magnusfide wrote:
SuperD how did your cheese taste?

I snuck a nibble on Wednesday and the flavor was great but still a little strong. I vacuum sealed all the hunks and will continue to let it rest for another week. I think it is going to be awesome. My wife is the wine drinker in our family but this might get me to drink a couple glasses while enjoying some good cheese.

Ahhhh! This is what I was waiting to hear:).
Super_Dave
Explorer
Jan 30, 2015
magnusfide wrote:
SuperD how did your cheese taste?

I snuck a nibble on Wednesday and the flavor was great but still a little strong. I vacuum sealed all the hunks and will continue to let it rest for another week. I think it is going to be awesome. My wife is the wine drinker in our family but this might get me to drink a couple glasses while enjoying some good cheese.
magnusfide
Explorer II
Jan 30, 2015
SuperD how did your cheese taste?
Leo_Benson
Explorer
Jan 30, 2015
I made homemade mozzarella and then smoked it. It was awesome. It got a nice amber skin and very smoky flavor, no melting. A lot of work, though. A smokehouse up the road sells smoked cheese, it's quite good. Had some this week.
Super_Dave
Explorer
Jan 26, 2015
The smoke time was a real bewilderment to me. Reading a lot of posts about it and saw everything from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I thought that a pretty big window of time. Once my smoke started, I just decided to stop when the smoke stopped, 1.5 hours. I guess we'll see which way I need to go after the first taste test.
SWMO
Explorer
Jan 26, 2015
I took a page from the old Luhr Jensen Chief and used the stack from my electric to smoke cheese.
I used a cardboard box that would hold 2 small racks, on dowels punched through the box, and set it over my stack. The stack had to enter the corner so I put the exit on the opposite side of the box.
I set my smoker on the lowest, 155, and smoked for about 30 minutes.
I've done this a couple of times with swiss, our favorite, and got good results.
NYCgrrl
Explorer
Jan 25, 2015
Super_Dave wrote:
The type of cheddar, I believe, is based on how long it has been aged. Costco had mild, medium & sharp in the 2.5 lbs blocks. I just split the difference for my first experiment. The sharp is a little strong for my tastes.

OK gotcha now:). And yes, aging tells the tale. Prolly medium is the equivalent of sharp on my end.
I'll eat extra sharp out of hand (growing up in NYS it's a norm) but find it's really best for cooking.

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