I smoked a bit of cheese for the second time. Smoked cheese from the grocery store can be expensive. Why not try it myself. I watched a few YouTube videos and read a few blogs on smoking your own cheese. So I thought I’d give it a try.
A word on equipment
pellet smoker tube: The articles and video a saw said you had to have a pellet smoker tube. This is a 12″ tube you fill with wood pellets. When lit, it emits smoke with very little heat. Good to know what the goal is. I didn’t want to have to buy yet another type of fuel. I already buy lump charcoal, charcoal briquettes, wood chips, and wood chunks for various things I grill and smoke. I also have a good supply of madrone wood full logs and splits. Instead of buying the tube and pellets. I used a few briquettes and a couple chunks of apple wood. It works just as well.
vacuum sealing: The videos say that you should vacuum seal your cheese and put in the fridge for a week, two weeks, a month, or however long you want the smoke to penetrate the cheese. I don’t own a vacuum sealer. Instead, I wrapped the cheese in saran wrap and put in zip-lock sandwich bags or freezer bags. For my purposes, it works just as well.
Prep
In this “cook,” I began by cutting my blocks of cheese in half vertically. This creates more surface area for the smoke to penetrate the cheese. You could experiment with this a bit and see if not cutting it in half is really necessary. I assume it depends on how long you smoke for and how long you let let the cheese set. My research showed folks letting the cheese set in the fridge anywhere from one week to two months.
Cook
I got the briquettes and wood chunks going. It can take a bit of doing because I was just trying to light three briquettes. I have an electric heat gun for BBQing. I used that to light the coals. I put the cheese on a mesh rack and put thee rack on the smoker. You wan to keep the cook chamber less than 90°. Anything higher… the cheese will melt. I smoked one block each of:
- Extra sharp white cheddar
- Sharp cheddar
- Pepper jack
I left the cheese on the smoker for four hours. It was a warm-ish day for around here. I think it was about 56° outside and overcast. The first time I smoked some cheese, I don’t think it got above 40° outside. The smoker temperature did approach 90° a few times. I either choked off the air to the fire or opened the smoker lid to let out some heat when it happened. During the four hours, my wife and I had lunch outside, sat in the back yard with a couple whippersnappers, and talked. It was a nice time.
I took the cheese off the smoker and brought it back inside. I wrapped each half block in saran wrap and then put in a zip-lock sandwich bag. It’s been in the fridge for almost a week. I think we’ll start eating it in another day or so. That’s it! Pretty simple and easy to do. Just watch the smoker temp and that’s about it. Enjoy!
spidersgalore 