An Experiment in Smoking Cheddar Cheese

[theunclebear]

Recently picked up the hobby of smoking cheeses (mild or medium cheddars are my favorites). I'm wanting to experiment with grating the cheese, mixing in some shredded bacon, then re-pressing it into small bricks before smoking.
#1) I don't even know if this is viable for a good product result -
#2) I've never made, or pressed, ANY cheeses before & don't have any idea how to go about it.
Anyone have some good, simple starter suggestions for a newbee?

[Fritz]

Hey 'Bear,
I'm sure it's possible, will take a good cheese press and a mould to form your cheese. One can buy a square or loaf shaped mould online. Just do a search on Google .. cheeseandyogurtmaking.com sold me a very sturdy loaf mould. You will need a good press to put up to 309-500 lbs pressure to reconsolodate the milled cheese, depending on the cheese type, cheddar being one of the harder cheeses to re-press. When repressing, try to keep the temperature on the warm side to help with stitching those curds back together.

Or.... You can just buy a good cheesemaking book, join our cool crowd here and learn how to make awesome cheese (with bacon in the curds) like the rest of us here. We would be happy to guide you through your adventure...your cheese would taste so much better and you could point to it with your chin and say....

" Ya... I made that "

F

[Al Lewis]

I do a modified parm recipe that I smoke.  After I take it out of the smoker I wax it for at least a month to get the smoke flavor to penetrate.  Works great.  Cheddar would be good but be careful not to over-smoke.  30 minutes to an hour is all you need in a smoker with heavy wood smoke.  After you take the wax off you have to wash it with white wine to get the bitter smoke off of the outside.

[Fritz]

Good tips Al, thanks.
I'll be smoking some of my white cheddar before the snow flies as well... I'll use your wine suggestion.
In meat smoking we create a pellicle to make smoke stick to the meat better....is there such thing for cheese?
Inquiring minds need to know....

Thx
F

[Boofer]

Here's my past effort.

Not smoked however....

-Boofer-

[Fritz]

There ya go 'Bear... Exactly what I was talkin' about. Complete with how-to pics.... Thank you Boofer

[reg]

Thought I might jump in on this subject. We smoke quite a bit of cheese of all different types and it is fairly simple, Fritz no pellicle required. We slice into portions 1 1/2" square by the length of the cheese. Into a box smoker that is refitted with an electric hot plate, cord goes out the bottom vent hole, dry chips right on the hot plate (mine is a solid plate) above that is a water bowl filled with ice and ice water, this will keep the temps down. Smoke with your choice of wood chips for 20 minutes, rest 20 minutes smoke another 20 minutes and you should be done. Intermittent smoke works very well on cheese and other things like olives and pickle's

Hope this helps some

Reg

[Fritz]

Thanks Reg ... And good to see you here again
Would a smoker tube http://www.amazenproducts.com/product_p/amnts.htm in a standard smoker or BBQ (turned off of course) give me a cool enough smoke for the job ? It would be easy enough to remove for the intermittent smoke you suggested.

[reg]

Oh yes, I think that would work great.

I'm on the forum three to four times a week I just don't post a lot but like to read everyone's comments.

[Al Lewis]

You can use any charcoal grill with a top.  Just light 4 charcoal briquets and place a chunk of wood on top of them.  The grill should never get hot enough to melt the cheese.