Smoked Cheese

[pi guy]

Absolutely safe.

Thank you

 

[pi guy]

I intentionally keep aside a block or two just to see how long it will last.

I've stored smoked cheese for 5 years and it was excellent.

Awesome, thank you.

 

[pi guy]

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack OP's thread here. Thanks for the replies.

 

[bill ace 350]

Awesome, thank you.

I don't mean to give the impression the flavor got sharper or smokier, just that it was as good quality wise as the day I sealed ot.

 

[Colin1230]

A little late to the party, but......Welcome to the forum Phil. Great looking cheese and nice set up you have there.

 

[The Big Cheese]

I’m on the quick end with my cheese, 3 hours. i use hickory, so maybe a little more Smokey than apple? I also keep the smoke on full throttle for the 3 hours.

 

[thirdeye]

Mmmm smoked butter. Have never tried it but sounds amazing.

Super light smoke, and I rotate it back to the fridge to keep it cold. It's good in sauces, corn on the cob, scrambled eggs, popcorn and so on. To test the smokiness, make a small slice and melt it in a pan, dip bread or a flour tortilla in the butter.

Be sure and keep the wax wrappers and use them after smoking.

 

[02ebz06]

Smoked butter is new to me too.
Not sure when I would use it, as we normally use tub butter as every-day butter, the packaged type in baking.

 

[rick@ornamentalgate-fence]

I am going to try smoking cheese for the first time tomorrow. I am wondering if the cheese could just be left in the smoker for a couple days before vacuum packing . The temp will be between 40 and 50 degrees. Would this work?
Thanks

 

[The Big Cheese]

I am going to try smoking cheese for the first time tomorrow. I am wondering if the cheese could just be left in the smoker for a couple days before vacuum packing . The temp will be between 40 and 50 degrees. Would this work?
Thanks

Me personally, I wouldn’t leave cheese out for a couple days and then eat it. Maybe it’d be ok, I dunno, but me no I wouldn’t do it. Maybe if you wrapped it first? Even then just leaving it at bad refrigerator temp, wouldnt do it. I treat all my smoked food like regular food, and follow similar food prep and storage guidelines.

 

[Nutmeg43]

Hello and welcome from sunny Alberta!

Phil, your smoked cheese looks fantastic! Those bars of cheese look like gold bars of deliciousness! Your cold smoking set up looks similar to mine, but I am most intrigued by your 12 hour smoking time. How did you settle on this amount? Did you start at a shorter time and increase that incrementally till you got to 12 hours? How long do you let your cheese mature after smoking? I smoke my cheeses for (only) 2 hours and that seems to be enough for us - but admittedly, I have never gone longer than that, having heard of many ashtray-esque experiences from others and not wanting to go there - because, let's face it, cheese is expen$ive! In your experience, how does the 12 hour smoked cheese's flavor compare to that of a cheese smoked for a much lower time? Does the increased time change the smoke flavor somehow?

Please forgive all my questions - honestly, I'm not trying to interrogate you - it's just that after all these years of strictly adhering to the 2 hour time frame, I'm blown away by seeing cheese that's been smoked for so long and looking so amazing!

Thanks for any wisdom you're willing to share.

Happy Easter!

 

[phil in bc]

Hi Nutmeg43, your almost our neighbor compared to most on this forum.

I generally go by colour on the cheese as to when its done, and i kinda copy the look of the Baldersons double smoked cheddar we can get at Costco although i think they may do a dip into liquid smoke, but thats only a guess. I always use apple for the cheese as its a lot milder so it can handle the longer time in the smoke, and that could range from 9 hours up to 15 or so. And to be honest, ive never experienced the ashtray flavour others speak of. Maybe that happens more with the stick-burner type smokers? The pucks i use in the bradley seem to consistantly turn out pretty good cheese, and all my friends seem to agree so gotta be doing something right.

Another constant is keeping it cool in the smoker. That attachment i made allows me to keep the temp below 100 even in the summer, other than the weeks that are brutally hot. Sometimes i'll put a block of ice in the bottom of the smoker and that just about guarantees the low temp if i do a smoke in the summer.

Once the smoking is done, i usually bag it for a week or 2 to settle down and i find the cheese will last several months in the fridge although it generally gets eaten pretty quick, or stolen by my friends. Never had the smoked cheese go moldy compared to unsmoked cheese, so bonus there. We go through a lot of cheese, so i do this fairly consistantly, and always turns out awesome.

Hope this helps, cheers.

Phil