Cold smoking cheese is well covered here and elsewhere in way too much detail for my tastes because it is so easy. I boiled it all down to keep the smoke temp below 90 degrees, smoke for no more than 3 hours, let the cheese breath after smoking and allow a good period of time in the fridge to mellow. To generate cold smoke I use a 6" pellet smoking tube filled and set at the very front of my gasser. I cube the cheese into 2" wide chunks and place on a wire rack that goes on the warming shelf in the gasser. After smoking wrap in pink butcher paper to breath in the fridge for 24 hours and then vacum seal to mellow in the fridge for two weeks. Waiting for the cheese to mellow is the hardest part and I realize a longer time to mellow would be better and maybe some day I will find that patience (or not).
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For some strange reason I just can't seem to see the pictures.
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I freeze the cheese for 2ish hours before smoking. Then I smoke for 4 to 6 hours depending on the cheese and wood, pat oils off with a paper towel, wrap in serranwrap film, and place in ziploc sandwich baggies and suck out the air myself (which is why I wrap in serranwrap first. If eating the cheese straight, I wait 1 week minimum for most cheeses, if using on nachos or something else I will use it immediately.
While I don't mind the punch you in the face taste the next day, the flavors really do come into their own the longer you wait. My best block so far was a cheap walmart brand cheddar, it sat for almost a year! Turned a cheap block of cheese into something really nice.
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I had to re-read your post to see if I missed something, but the answer is obvious. Smoke more! Satisfy your cravings, but keep enough aging to whatever the really sweet age is.
BTW HawkerXP it’s not your system. I can’t see the pics either.Comment
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Redemption? Since my original post described the process without any pics maybe this will put me back in better standing. For this batch I tried a technique I read about here which involves a light spritz (olive oil in this case) and a dusting of whatever sounds good. So I did Flatiron 5 pepper red chile flakes on a block of jack cheese and herbes de provence on a block of Mozzarella.
Ready for an applewood smoke.
After a two hour smoke ready to wrap in butcher paper to breathe for 24 hours.
All sealed up and ready to mature for two weeks. Yes I sampled a small piece of each and found it interesting the jack cheese was quite smoky while the mozzarella was quite mild and now the wait begins.Last edited by cgrover60; December 26, 2021, 07:00 PM.Comment
Geez, do I miss Tom Petty...
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