Smoked Cheese

[Guy]

Anyone want to advice me how to smoke cheese without melting it. My wife would be very happy since she is the real cheese lover. Especially smoked cheese.

[Dr ROK]

Here's a little info from the cookshack forum. It's based on using a cookshack (electric smoker) with a baffle to block the heat, but there may be some mods you could use with your WSM. I recently did some cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella and welsh cheese. I've eaten some of it, but the rest has been vacuum sealed and aging to mellow the sharpness of the initial smoke. From what I've read it's best to give it a couple weeks to age/mellow.

I used the following process: I put a cake pan full of ice on top of my baffle. Put the cheese on the racks above the baffle and used about 2 cups of hickory pellets. Turned smoker on for 15 minutes and then shut it off. Let set for an hour and repeated the process. After the second smoke I put the cheese in ziplock and threw in the crisper drawer. Left it there for a week and then vacuum sealed.

Here's a recent post on the pit:

http://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/for...-smoked-cheese

Here's a little info from the cookshack forum. It's based on using a cookshack (electric smoker) with a baffle to block the heat, but there may be some mods you could use with your WSM.

https://www.evernote.com/l/AEhUhswwn...it8uSdGkQVVsHk

Here's some additional info from the cookshack forum:

https://www.evernote.com/l/AEjnN9if6NJNBboI5sony54Fd_DEjCwUjf8

[Huskee]

I would do it in winter, keep it 40 degrees or thereabouts. Enough to make smoke but not heat. If you were to use your kettle or WSM, us an AMAZEN smoker tube and sawdust or pellets, or even a couple briquets and some chips.

[Strat50]

I love to smoke cheese. The best thing I have ever used for this purpose is a little chief smoker. The trick is to use the box it comes in, set the racks on top of the smoker, and place the box over the racks. It works like a charm no matter what the temperature is. One caveat however, is that if it is below 10F, you can just use the smoker normally, as they don't hold the heat well in real cold weather. Luhr Jensen makes an insulating blanket for cold weather, so the company knows this situation well. In fact, I learned the "box trick" from their literature. For fish, cheese, nuts, barley malt(I home-brew too!), they are unsurpassed for ease of use. For less than a hundred bucks, they always have a place in my cooking.

[(mr.brisket)]

When I smoke cheese I first place it in the freezer to get a good chill on it then I put a small cast iron pan inside my cooking chamber with a small amount of briquettes and place a foil pouch with bbqrs delight smoking pellets on it to get the smoke, the fire is so small that it doesn't produce much heat.

[Guy]

Thanks, I knew I could count on folks here. Plenty for me to digest.