Smoking Blue Cheese

[mtnlakeman]

I just fell into a fortune of some Heart of Blue Cheese rounds and a wheel of Gorgonzola. I am looking for some advice on how to smoke them? I've tried twice before and they were bitter, too smokey, and a big disappointment so am looking for some help? I have a walk-in smokehouse with the ability to cold smoke so use real wood. Basically it's a separate stove with 15' of pipe that comes up through the bottom of the floor. I can maintain about 20 degrees above the outside temperature so it should be around 60 degrees in the smokehouse and I could increase the temp just can't go lower. I have apple, cherry, maple, alder and cottonwood to choose from.
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A couple to get started questions I have is do I let the cheese come to room temperature first? Should I have smoke in the smokehouse when I add the cheese? Should I use green wood or dry wood? These are in addition to temperature, smoke times, wood to use, heavy or light smoke, before and after smoking to do's and other tips you want to share.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'll post pictures once I get things going.

 

[smokerjim]

I would use dry wood, try apple or cherry. I would try a nice light smoke for 2-3 hours. you could always put it back in if you think it needs more smoke. but if it came out bitter the last timethe smoke could be to heavy and to long. do you keep your vent open to keep the smoke fresh. after you smoke it put in fridge unwrapped over night then wrap it and let it sit for at least a couple days before you try it. but the longer it sits the better it will get.

 

[creek bottom]

I LOVE smoked blue cheese, and I do it often. I normally do mine for 3 hours with hickory chips. If yours was too smokey last time, try a mild wood like apple. My setup is quite a bit different than yours, but this is what works for me... Turns out invcredible and people love it...

 

[tropics]

I would use dry wood, try apple or cherry. I would try a nice light smoke for 2-3 hours. you could always put it back in if you think it needs more smoke. but if it came out bitter the last timethe smoke could be to heavy and to long. do you keep your vent open to keep the smoke fresh. after you smoke it put in fridge unwrapped over night then wrap it and let it sit for at least a couple days before you try it. but the longer it sits the better it will get.

This is it Let it rest use less smoke
Richie

 

[mtnlakeman]

Thanks for the tips on the light smoke. Previously I did a heavy smoke for 1 hour. Do you recommend letting it come to room temperature before smoking? I read somewhere it might condensate so let it air dry a little, but that was only one article so wondered if that was expected or not necessary?

 

[smokerjim]

I personally have never let sit to get to room temp. but I don't think it will hurt especially if your smoker is getting up to 60 and above.

it's usually pretty cold out when I smoke though20-40 degrees. I use the mes 30 with the mailbox mod so it really doesn't get to warm inside.

 

[mtnlakeman]

Thanks for the tips. I'm starting the fire now. Do you do anything special to the cheese like salt, sugar, brine, etc? I also had a 2 pound block of cheddar I'm throwing in as well. I cut it into 6ths and coated 2 of the chunks with butter to see if I can get some color.

Cold Smoke Generator


Smokehouse


Fair amount of smoke.

 

[Winterrider]

WAY TO MUCH SMOKE...

 

[smokerjim]

WAY TO MUCH SMOKE...

what winterider says, I don't think I ever heard of anyone adding butter for color. tell you the truth it doesn't even sound good. if I added anything maybe some blackpepper

 

[mtnlakeman]

Figured it might be a little heavy on the smoke, but wanted some jeer. I tempered it down before I added the cheese.

Also agreed I've never heard or read about coating with butter, but thought cheese has butter so wanted to experiment and wondered if anyone knows how to get the grill marks? I remember Hickory Farms had those distinct smoke marks and I was hoping to replicate. I have 4 chunks without so will add pictures to compare for the cheddar. The blue has nothing added.

Another question is once I pull it out what's the right thing to do? I see in the forum's to wait 2 weeks to taste test, but was wondering do I vacuum pack (no oxyben) or loosely cover (lots of oxygen) and let sit? I figure I'll do both, but if anyone knows for sure one way or another I'd prefer to do 75% the right way.

Trying not to melt it.

 

[smokerjim]

I let mine sit over night unwrapped in fridge after smoking, then I put mine in Ziploc bags, I don't have a vac machine. I eat some usually 2 days later but does get better with age.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

I smoke for for 3 hours with apple wood and let it dry overnight in fridge. Then I like to make a saturated salt bath with a good brandy and rinse the cheese with it . Then I put in vacuum bags and seal.

 

[mtnlakeman]

Smoked 3 hours, and shut down for the night. Finger lick test seemed pretty good. Letting dry overnight in the smokehouse (36 degrees) so will see what the morning brings.

Like the idea of the brandy rinse so definitely going to try that. Have you tried any other flavors of rinse, ie liquor, wine, juice, sauce...?

If you zoom in on the cheddar you'll see no difference in the color so far. 2 on the left had the butter and showed marks, 2 on the right no butter showed best marks, 2 in the middle no butter and no marks. The blue marks are very distinct so hoping the flavor's mild.

 

[mtnlakeman]

Finished Product. Going to the vacuum packer and will try at New Years.

Thanks for the tips and I'll let you know how it turned out. The few crumbles I had laying around didn't seem too smokey for the first day so thinking the advice I got helped a lot.

I rinsed 2 in gin, and 2 in brandy so will be interested to see how those turn out. I saved the gin and put in the freezer to hopefully separate the cheese. I want to try it in a martini tonight wondering if the smoke will make it taste like a fine 12 yr bottle of scotch?

Any recipe ideas? I'm thinking for sure putting on a burger.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

When I started making Lonzino, the recipe called for using brandy to rinse the bung when trussing. And using brandy as a spray to keep moisture levels from dropping to quickly. I picked a good brandy because I never cook with anything I won't drink. I really can't taste the brandy on the cheese after it has aged, barely can taste the brandy as soon as the cheese has drip dried before packing.
As for other liquors, the only one I have considered is Drambuie. Let us know how the gin works.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Wrt brandy bath....i find the best match is when a smoked cheese or any other fine chese takes a brandy bath in my stomach.

 

[S-met]

I picked a good brandy because I never cook with anything I won't drink.

I never believed in this philosophy, then I did.

I don't anymore follow it exclusively anymore. It just depends, especially with wine and the intended flavor. I've no interest in drinking vinegar, but sometimes red wine vinegar is the profile I want to carry forward. If I want to showcase the wine, it better be something I would put in my glass.

My bourbon sauce (dessert) is amazing with ten high bourbon but that shyt is undrinkable. Cooking down in butter and sugar brings out the sour mash (sweetness) and oak barrel flavors. I've made the same sauce with mid-upper range and its not an appreciable improvement.

 

[mtnlakeman]

I never would have thought about a rinse so wondering if that changes mellowing time? I want to try gratta (grape liquor), but didn't know what it was until I looked it up. I figure I'll see what doing a rinse in a week or two does.

Here's a tired overheated vacuum packer.

 

[smokerjim]

looks good, let us know how the taste turns out

 

[mtnlakeman]

Update: I tried out the first taste after 2 weeks and found a bag with a leaker vacuum seal so thought I'd give that one a try. My first thought was just a tad too smoky, then had it with a cracker and thought it was good, and now I'm wanting to open some more up thinking it was excellent. I'll update again in 2 weeks.

The other part of the experiment was I rinsed 2 in brandy and 2 in gin and had a dirty martini with the gin the first night. Other than not wanting to waste gin I wouldn't recommend it as a cocktail. It was really smoky with nothing pleasant other than the hint of the gin. I thought about diluting it down, but only had about 1/3 of a cup so polished that off in the first glass and don't think I'll try it again unless the cheese is outstanding and it is a byproduct.