PorterhouseMusic
Mitakuye Oyasin
.....is one of my favorite snacks.
I've tested different ways of smoking cheese over the years to varying degrees of success. The biggest problem - depending on what one has to work with - is that, typically, to create smoke you're going to also create heat. As we know - heat and cheese are not compatible unless of course you like to drink your cheese.
You know... like queso. Which is great. But that's not what we're talking about here. Early in my meat smoking days I used the inexpensive charcoal upright canister smokers. I used to fill the deep water dish in the smoker with ice and then set the cheese on a grate which sat right on top of the ice bowl. This worked - but not well. The smoke was not contained enough and so there was a tendency to get the smoke concentration up - but to do that I was adding more heat. Eventually the cheese starts to soften and deform. It worked - but as explained it was problematic. I had different but related issues when using the Masterbuilt electric smoker cabinet. I would, again, fill the water dish with ice, set the cheese on a grate and place it right over the ice, and then leave the vent open and leave the door ajar. This was better but still not ideal. In order to keep the smoke chips smoldering over the element - the element had to stay on which created too much heat. It worked best on cold days - but I still had the issue of needing to vent the heat which also vented much of the smoke.
And both of these related methods required a lot of baby-sitting. PITA.
Enter my new 2024 method. Proper cold smoking. And it is glorious. Well, the cheese is anyway.
I bought one of these. Which is a smoke pellet tube which I primarily use to add supplemental smoke as needed to my Traeger when smoking meats. If you're not familiar - the Traeger pellet smokers use wood pellets to generate heat (and flavor) but they do not generate a ton of smoke. Think "smoke light". It's typically not an issue as slow smoking (for many hours) imparts plenty of smoke flavor *depending on what you're doing*. But there are many things that I want a lot of smoke flavor on. Like ribs for instance. So that's why I bought this pellet tube. A side benefit is that it is ideal for cold smoking cheese.
So what I do is - just did this today in fact - is I buy some preferred cheese(s) (today it was gruyère, Vermont cheddar, and gouda) and set those sitting upright on the Traeger grill grate. I've got one of these. Then I fill that smoke tube all the way with pellets - this gets me a solid three hours of steady smoke. The grill itself is left off which is the magic here - no heat! Light the pellet tube and set a timer. Pull it after approx 3 hrs. Lighter smoke flavor - pull it sooner. Heavier smoke flavor - leave it on longer. Most smoked cheese that I buy at the store is lightly smoked - I like it intense.
After I pull it off I take it in and vacuum seal each slab. I use one of these. Refrigerate that for a minimum of 48 hrs (the longer the better) and voila. Delicious!
So yeah, love me some heavily cold-smoked cheese.
I've tested different ways of smoking cheese over the years to varying degrees of success. The biggest problem - depending on what one has to work with - is that, typically, to create smoke you're going to also create heat. As we know - heat and cheese are not compatible unless of course you like to drink your cheese.
Enter my new 2024 method. Proper cold smoking. And it is glorious. Well, the cheese is anyway.
I bought one of these. Which is a smoke pellet tube which I primarily use to add supplemental smoke as needed to my Traeger when smoking meats. If you're not familiar - the Traeger pellet smokers use wood pellets to generate heat (and flavor) but they do not generate a ton of smoke. Think "smoke light". It's typically not an issue as slow smoking (for many hours) imparts plenty of smoke flavor *depending on what you're doing*. But there are many things that I want a lot of smoke flavor on. Like ribs for instance. So that's why I bought this pellet tube. A side benefit is that it is ideal for cold smoking cheese.
So what I do is - just did this today in fact - is I buy some preferred cheese(s) (today it was gruyère, Vermont cheddar, and gouda) and set those sitting upright on the Traeger grill grate. I've got one of these. Then I fill that smoke tube all the way with pellets - this gets me a solid three hours of steady smoke. The grill itself is left off which is the magic here - no heat! Light the pellet tube and set a timer. Pull it after approx 3 hrs. Lighter smoke flavor - pull it sooner. Heavier smoke flavor - leave it on longer. Most smoked cheese that I buy at the store is lightly smoked - I like it intense.
After I pull it off I take it in and vacuum seal each slab. I use one of these. Refrigerate that for a minimum of 48 hrs (the longer the better) and voila. Delicious!
So yeah, love me some heavily cold-smoked cheese.
