Author Topic: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?  (Read 3818 times)

thebelgianpanda

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What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« on: April 03, 2009, 04:18:33 AM »
I have a 3 gallon gouda-esque being pressed.  It's a variant of what I call #6 which was especially tastey.  I'll get some pics up in the morning when it's out of the press, but before the brine.

Anyone ever cold smoked cheese before?  Or are smoked goudas just subjected to liquid smoke?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2009, 05:28:22 AM »
If you smoke your cheeses keep the smoke thin and light and the temperatures as low as posible - definately under 100 degrees.

Cheese takes smoke very quickly so don't smoke them for more than a few hours. I usually pull mine at about an hour. Even if the color doesn't change or barely changes you could still have more smoke than you want so don't judge by color.

Don't eat the cheese right out of the smoker - wrap and refrigerate over night. The next day they will be awsome but right out of the smoker they can taste kind of bitter. The smokey flavor will meld by morning.

Pecan, apple and cherry are great with cheese for a mild smokey flavor. Orange, hickory and maple are also really good but stronger flavors. Texans like Mesquite - but I think it's to strong for cheese.

I don't know if you have a smoker but a coffee can, a soldering iron, some wood chips and a box work well for a cold smoker in a pinch.

thebelgianpanda

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2009, 05:45:10 AM »
Heh, I have several hundred pounds of plum, cherry, and apple logs trimmed off of the orchard in the back acre here.  And the log pile is about to get even more crowded this weekend since we are getting a cherry picker to help us prune a gravenstein that hasn't been cut in at least twenty years (this acre belonged to my grandfather, so I actually know).  For the first time last weekend I downed an actual mature apple tree, it didn't produce apples from the several grafts it had, and had a huge trunk.  I felt really bad about cutting it down, but it didn't produce and was crowding out other trees that produced quite well.  In a few years I really hope to use it for BBQ or cheese.

In any event, what cheese are you pressing now?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2009, 04:01:22 AM »
I have 4 mixed Jack cheeses going and a bag of squeeky cheese. I did each Jack different. One has chopped pepperoni in it, one has dried red bell peppers in it, one has red and greed bell peppers in it and one has pepperoncini and red bell peppers it it. I thought I had some dried jalepeno but I didn't - so I tried chopping up some pepperoncinis. Well see how that works.

Fnally got to try some cheese with raw milk and it was wonderful. The curds were so tasty even without salt I stole at least a few cups full just for munching while it cooked.  ;D

Cherry and pecan are my favorite smoking woods. I use alot of apple and hickory too - that's free! Just got some plum trimming last weekend from my brother - can't wait to try it.

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2009, 01:23:00 AM »
Dust.

Frumunda

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2009, 06:19:42 PM »
I have my first experiment with cheddar in my press right now! :D I built a really sorry looking excuse for a press this weekend,it' as ugly as homemade sin,but it seems to work ok.Although,I need a little more efficent way of wieghting the press rather than wandering around the house looking for something that 'feels like it might be heavy enough'.I added some liquid smoke to it to get a smoked cheddar flavor,hope it works out!It smells right,anyway! 8)

chilipepper

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2009, 08:20:35 PM »
I'm with Carter on this one... too many spring projects going on.  My 'honey-do' list is getting longer by the day! ;D

wharris

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2009, 09:08:06 PM »
My honey do list is long, but I am trying to keep at it.  It was very tough this last weekend to squeeze a batch of cheddar in this weekend as it was very nice nice out. 

I found myselft shoveling mulch with a timer in my pocket.



chilipepper

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2009, 09:48:26 PM »
;D  Sounds familiar!!   I did that a couple of weekends ago brewing a Maibock.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: What's in your cheese press right now & smoking cheeses?
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2009, 05:22:21 AM »
Panda they get around $1 per pound for good smoking wood on eBay.