Smoked Cheese

Looks like the cheese picked up the smoke just fine. No melted edges on the cheese which is a good sign. I did Asiago, sharp cheddar, Gouda and Swiss last time. Very pleased with the results. Chips or pellets sounds like a good idea.

Well, people sure seem to like it and I'm happy. I also want to try Apple wood chips. I followed the instructions that came with the insulated shelf I got from Cookshack. You put it down in the lower slot. Put a tray of ice on it. Put the cheese on the top grill and away you go. Set it for 150, watch until it comes up to 90, then turn it off and let it smoke for an hour. Takes about twenty minutes to come to 90 degrees. This is the oven. Probe is out. I opened the door once. I was getting so much smoke, I thought there might be a fire in the wood box. No. Just a huge cloud of smoke came out. I did the first batch okay but there was not enough smoke on it. Second batch I had to do twice so it dried out a bit but still good. I think I've got it down and moving on to other things.

Looks good! I did my first cheese this weekend and have enjoyed it every night since. Plan on doing some more real soon. Cheese, Almonds, Ribs, and Pork Butt. My favorites.

My personal thanks to jchiggins. I've been procrastinating over smoking some cheese, but after seeing his thread went ahead with mine.

Just took it out of the smoker this morning-seems like it might be a little too smokey, used 2 oz applewood chips in foil pouch.

Vacuum packed it, will see how it tastes after an overnight refrigeration.

Iced the smo45 as you did- the temp (measured on the bottom of the rack for the cheese) never got above 92 degrees.

If I can keep that temp fairly even, going to have to start thinking of some nova lox.

Pictured left to right swiss, pepper jack and sharp cheddar. In same smoke also did gouda and colby jack.

Thanks for the inspiration JC

Q'n your cheese looks fantabulous!

Beautiful RN. Looks perfect. You get used to it being more smokey than store bought cheese. For me that's the point. It cures and mellows over night in the fridge. I've been giving sticks away to people and they just go nuts for it. My Chiropractor is told me it was all he could do to keep from drooling on me when he was working on me. Next stop some more yellow cheddar and some pepper jack. We also really like Trader Joes light white cheddar. Best thing about smoking? No extra calories.

jc, so are you going to share your final recipe? If the first was not enough smoke and the second was dry, what did you end up doing to get it right? I have not done any cheese but I do have the baffle and I will some day. JT

Hmm. I thought I did. Anyway, in the lower slot, place the insulated shelf. On that shelf, a tray of ice I just use those aluminum drip catching trays. I use the fish grill in the upper slot but a standard grill works fine. I use cherry wood chips. I don't measure out a certain amount but a thin layer over about half the wood box does it. Use less if you want less smoke flavor. My wife likes it smoky so I use more
Turn on the smokette oven with 150 dialed in on the heat regulator. Watch it and in about fifteen to twenty minutes when the temperature rises to 90 degrees, shut off the oven (That's oven temp, the probe is out and not used. Don't let it go over 90. I watch the 90 number until it jumps to 91 then switch off.
Leave closed for an hour, open up and you have cheese. Not dry on the inside, nice yellow exterior patnia. great smoke flavor.
I don't think I'll ever get done, I want to give Apple wood another spin. I think Hickory would be too much flavor.
Two things really worked out. Starting out with the ambient temp in the oven about sixty degrees so it takes a while for it to reach ninety thereby giving time for the chips to smoke like crazy. And using wood chips instead of a chunk of wood. If all you have is a chunk, get in the garage and split it into little pieces with a chisel until you can get some chips.
That's about it. I like how simple the Smokette is to use. If I had to work hard at this stuff, I probably would lose interest quickly.

Thanks jc, I just needed the smoke time. Got it.
JT

So far the cheese is my favorite thing to do. Pork loin coming up and round two of the ribs. I checked my temp probe in a glass of hot water against another digital meat thermometer and they were within three degrees of each other so I figure that's good enough not knowing which may be off a tad. Cookshack was 153 vs. 156 for the other thermometer.

Just smoked some pepper jack. Really nice.
Tried some Spanish Cheeses, Asiago and Mancheco. Not so good to my these. Dubliner Irish cheese was also not to my liking smoked although a good cheese not smoked. So far Cheddar and the the Pepper Jack are winners. The pepper jack in eggs and sandwiches is incredible.
Next shot some Gruyere. Having too much fun giving cheese away to my friends.
Went to my chiropractor, gave him some cheddar and he was trying to not drool on me while adjusting my back. A little uncomfortable. Heh.

Been using my smokette for about 6 years
Thanks for saying you just folowed the dirrections that came with the baffle. I dug into my records and found the dirrections. Going to smoke some peper jack, mild cheddar and munstner.

Try some rainbow trout
45 min's to die for
thanx again bob

Good luck. Remember to watch the oven temp and not the probe temp. When it gets to 90 degrees, shut it off.
I got distracted and let it go to 105. I got cheesecicles and had to scrap about five pounds of melted cheese.
Gouda and Gruyere are also really great to smoke as well as yellow and white cheddar and pepperjack.
Pepperjack is the softest of all the cheeses and Gruyere the hardest. Your pepperjack will have a bumpy waffle pattern on the back from the grill when you take it out. The fish grill is helpful but not necessary. Instead of straight bars, it has a cross pattern about 3.8" apart on the grill squares.

While it is nice to use the book for directions, just remember that Smokin' has taken a lot of time and effort into making his 101's, so please read them also. Smokin's Cheese 101

can you freeze smoked cheeses?

Not yet. It takes out a lot of moisture so it might work well.
I just put them in the fridge and they last until I have munched my way through them. We use the cheese for everything. Tacos, Grilled cheese sandwich, egg scrambles, Appetizers for company. etc. Always need it for something. My wife likes the sharp yellow cheddar, I like the pepper, light white cheddar, gouda and gruyere best. Experiment. I am trying to figure out how to smoke a container of crumbled Feta. Just put it in a metal bowl I guess. Maybe line the bowl with alumunium foil..

What size chunk of cheese are you using?

I buy them in standard size chunks you get in the market, or in my case Trader Joes markets. I slice them up into smaller pieces so the smoke can get all around. For example, A piece one inch thick by four by five inches. I slice it into four sticks. I just want more smoke on the surface so I increase the volune surface for it to smoke.
Be careful with Pepperjack because it is the softest and most easily meltable cheese. I also did some HAvarti yesterday and it seems to be really soft.
For something different, I smoked some Parmesan cheese. Dang it was good.
I also want to repeat how you should do this at the coolest time of the day. I did some again in the heat and it all just melted into a mess. Smoking in the morning when it's about 50-60 degrees and the smoker is in shade is ideal.