I smoked some cheese for the first time today.

[Attjack]

I smoked some cheddar, pepper jack, and queso oaxaca on my Weber 26.

I put ice in an aluminum pan, and put that on the charcoal grate opposite the Slow 'n Sear. I used a 12" chef tube pellet smoker which I stuffed with tin foil to halve the size of the chef tube, and filled it full of an 80/20 blend of cherry/apple pellets. Then I lit it up, and put that into my SnS.



I put the grate on, arranged the cheese on it, and placed a temperature probe in the BBQ.



My plan was to smoke the cheese for 2 hours while keeping the temperature below 185°. However I had to add more ice as the temp reached 82° in 70 minutes, and even then I had to close the vents way down, and release some heat a couple of times Eventually at 110 minutes I pulled the cheese because the temp was up to 88°. Outside temp was about 50° when I started.



The cheese is now wrapped in paper towels resting. I'm going to use a foodsaver to package it up, and then let it mellow in the fridge for 2 weeks before tasting it.

Next time I will use the water reservoir in the SnS, start with a lot more ice, and have the bottom vent just cracked, and the top vent about 1/4 open.

[kmhfive]

Looks good! I can’t wait to find out how it does in a couple of weeks! May try this tonight myself.

[DWCowles]

Beautiful

[Attjack]

I'll let you guys know how it turned out in a couple of weeks.

[Steve B]

Very nice. Great idea using the ice.
Looking forward to hearing about how it tastes

[Henrik]

Smoked cheese is great! Good job, will be interesting to hear how your cheese turned out.

[Attjack]

I've actually done some cheese with my handheld smoker before. It was good, and was able to eat it right away. But I'm hoping this method will get far better penetration.

[Henrik]

Yep, cheese really needs a bit of rest after smoking.

[Omega-Man]

What - Two Weeks! You are a better man than I. I have no self control!

[Attjack]

Well I read that the cheese will be acrid and bitter until it's mellowed.

[cgrover60]

Nice technique. I'm going to have to try that and I won't be waiting to taste it.

[CurlingDog]

Save the icewater, refreeze it and add it to your evening scotch. Smok'n!

[texastweeter]

Yep

[Attjack]

Save the icewater, refreeze it and add it to your evening scotch. Smok'n!

Good idea. Although I like to add smoke right on the whisky. I haven't smoked Scotch yet though. I might use this setup to do some water and make ice with that.

[jerrybell]

I bought a smoke tube to try this out. Waiting for the weather to cool more.

[Skip]

Your cheese looks great! You will love it! Good job.

[kmhfive]

So, thanks to the inspiration of this thread, Attjack , I’m cold-smoking cheese right now. Outside air temp is just under 50F. With the A-Maze-N tube filled with Applewood pellets, the temp inside my GMG is currently 61F.



Tempertures rose as as high as 72F inside the GMG. Here is the result.

[Attjack]

Nice work. Your GMG really kept the temp nice and low. How long did you smoke the cheese for?

[kmhfive]

About three hours.

[Attjack]

Did you taste it right off the smoker or let it mellow? I'll be tasting mine for the first time a week from Friday.

[kmhfive]

Attjack , I brought one small block of cheddar to work the next night and shared it. It had a smoky exterior but no penetration. I let the others mellow in a vacuum pack for the last two weeks.

[Attjack]

UPDATE:

So today is the day and the cheese tastes great. Nice smokey flavor deep into the cheese. I will definitely be doing this more in the future. I have only tried the cheddar so far. Looking forward to trying the mozzarella soon.

[kmhfive]

Great news! I’ll try my rested cheese on Monday.

[Attjack]

More good news! Cheese makes the world a better place.