Cold Smoked Cheese

[dedmiston]

I was down to my last packet of smoked cheese in the fridge, so it was time to do another batch. It's been cold enough and I finally had the time to do it.

I buy the cheapest cheddar I can find from Smart & Final, which was two five-pound blocks of gub'mint cheese.

I cut each of those into four strips to create more surface area for the smoke and to make them into servings. I should have cut them in half again though, because these 1.25 pound strips are too large still.

It was cold enough outside that I could keep them on for three hours instead of two, so I loaded up both smoke tubes and let 'em have it.

I vacuum sealed them into individual packets and put them in the fridge to mellow for two weeks. I finally cheated after 12 days and broke into one of them and it was perfect—just what I wanted.

[dieseltruckdriv]

I also cold smoke cheese and find that vacuum sealing the cheese for at least two weeks gives the best results versus shorter times. We also freeze it once it is vacuum sealed for an awesome treat in the middle of summer.

I have cut the cheese 😉 so that I only eat the center, and it still has a wonderful smokey flavor, so I believe that the vacuum sealing and time is what helps get the flavor into the inner part of the cheese.

As far as the kind of pellets that is best to use in a smoker tube or pellet grill doesn't make much difference in the flavor in my experience. I have been keeping a blog for a few years to help me remember and haven't noticed a difference in flavor no matter the brand or kind of wood pellet used.

[bukhrn]

Stranger wrote:
Do you use chips/sawdust or smoker pellets? I'd like to try pellets in my Lil Chief and/or my Masterbuilt Electric Barrel smoker. Both use a Cal Rod and a pan.

I use Pit Boss Apple pellets in a smoke tube for my cheese, just as dedmiston does.
The good thing about a smoke tube is, you don't even need a smoker, you can actually use it in a gas grill. (without the gas on)

[bukhrn]

opnspaces wrote:
Just curious does the smoke flavor permeate all the way through the cheese? Or is it just on the surface and a few millimeters into the cheese itself leaving the center untouched?

The smoke will permeate all the way, but you have to give it time, when I remove it from the smoker, I let it cool, which doesn't take long, then wrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for 7 days, (this way the smoke works all the way through), then I vacuum seal it, ( because I can't eat 4 lb at once).

[dedmiston]

magnusfide wrote:
Great job, Dedmiston!

Thanks Magnus. I try to keep the kitchen fun. It's also how I maintain my physique.

[dedmiston]

propchef wrote:
Nice! What are you using for smoke? Hickory? Apple? Pecan?

For one of my demos, I smoke brown sugar and then use it to make BBQ sauce. We smoked chicken thighs last night. 🙂

Thanks Chef. I'm not picky about the pellets. They kind of all taste the same to me. I buy my Traeger pellets at Home Depot and I always look for the pellets that are in the best shape (intact, shiny luster, little to no dust, etc.). Beyond that it's just a matter of what's in stock. I lean towards the Apple, but I also buy a lot of their Signature blend (which just feels like a marketing term). They probably all come from the same materials.

[magnusfide]

Great job, Dedmiston!

[propchef]

Nice! What are you using for smoke? Hickory? Apple? Pecan?

For one of my demos, I smoke brown sugar and then use it to make BBQ sauce. We smoked chicken thighs last night. 🙂

[valhalla360]

dedmiston wrote:
LOL. You wouldn't have to try very hard to use better cheese than I do. I figure I'm improving it though.

Sometimes I smoke higher quality cheeses, but the cheap stuff seems to last longer in our household. I always mark the date on my vacuum sealed packs and I've got one in the fridge from two years ago.

Govt Cheese is actually pretty good stuff.

[dedmiston]

Stranger wrote:
Do you use chips/sawdust or smoker pellets? I'd like to try pellets in my Lil Chief and/or my Masterbuilt Electric Barrel smoker. Both use a Cal Rod and a pan.

I haven't tried it with chips. I have a hunch the chips wouldn't work very well. I've got a pellet smoker, so I use pellets.

The idea is kind of like a chain smoker (literally) who lights the next cigarette with the last one. The pellets are packed into the tube pretty tightly so that they smolder (and smoke) instead of burning. And then they contact each other and light the next one with the last one.

One of my favorite things is when I use the smoker again a few days later and forget that there are spent smoke tubes in there. The pellets completely render down to ash and I just shake out the tube over the lawn or in a planter to empty it. Ashes to ashes.

By the way, I see that your location is NV. In most of the western states, there's a fairly short season when cold smoking works. This last batch was the first time I've ever gone three hours before. Usually the cheese is kind of malformed after two hours. It was in the 40s and low 50s all day when I smoked these though, so I was able to get that extra hour.

[dedmiston]

opnspaces wrote:
Just curious does the smoke flavor permeate all the way through the cheese? Or is it just on the surface and a few millimeters into the cheese itself leaving the center untouched?

That's REALLY hard to answer. I guess I could experiment and cut off the outer core to see where the smokey flavor ends, but the whiskey might take over and kill the science.

I want to say that it permeates pretty deeply, but I couldn't say how far.

Here are some other empirical points that might add some insights, but without really answering your question.

- For starters, the amount of smoke, the dimensions of the cheese, and the length of the smoking vary for every cook, so there really isn't an all-or-nothing answer. It reminds me of a guy I was dining with who told me I shouldn't drink ice tea because it's a diuretic and will dehydrate me. My counter was: who knows how weak or strong they make it and how do you know how much ice I added? I reckon that my glass of ice tea went through me faster than a glass of water, but to what degree?

- After you smoke it, you're supposed to wait for two weeks to allow the smoke flavor to "mellow" and make it edible. It's vacuum sealed though, so where does that smoky flavor go? Does it permeate down into the cheese? Does it leech into the plastic wrapper (I hope not)?

So I guess my answer is that there really isn't one single boolean answer, but there are various factors that would affect it, kind of like the factors that create a smoke ring on a piece of meat.

[Stranger]

Do you use chips/sawdust or smoker pellets? I'd like to try pellets in my Lil Chief and/or my Masterbuilt Electric Barrel smoker. Both use a Cal Rod and a pan.

[opnspaces]

Just curious does the smoke flavor permeate all the way through the cheese? Or is it just on the surface and a few millimeters into the cheese itself leaving the center untouched?

[dedmiston]

LOL. You wouldn't have to try very hard to use better cheese than I do. I figure I'm improving it though.

Sometimes I smoke higher quality cheeses, but the cheap stuff seems to last longer in our household. I always mark the date on my vacuum sealed packs and I've got one in the fridge from two years ago.

[bukhrn]

That smoke tube is the greatest little gizmo ever, I only use one, and I use a better cheese, Cabot Seriously Sharp, but it really doesn't matter,
you can smoke any firm cheese.
Smoked cheese is awesome for toasted cheese sandwich, and is super great mixed with a couple other cheeses for Mac & Cheese. 😛