Cold Smoked Cheese

Aldi had bricks of cheese on sale for $1.69, so I grabbed a sharp cheddar and a pepper jack. Took a quick sample of each presmoke. Not bad! And I included one chunk of a Cabot Hot Habanero...which is outstanding on its own.

Ready to go!


Air temp was mid 30s and raining in VT. Not a great day for skiing...but fine for running the smoker under the deck and near the stacks.


Nice smoke:


My smoker is the classic electric Brinkman. If I used the stock element, this would have been a melted mess in about 20 minutes.

I use an unlined can with some holes poked in it and a soldering iron. It works well. The downside is you have to add chips now and again....and shake the can to ensure all the chips are burnt. Thinking of getting a tube smoker for future cold smokes. The Brinkman is a good size with two racks if needed. It can hold quite a bit.


End result. This was about a 5 hour smoke; I used applewood chips. I let the cheese sit out overnight in a cool room. I put it in a zip top bag and tossed it in the fridge this morning. This evening, everything was vac sealed. I plan on letting this sit until Christmas. I’ll be sure to update everyone on the results.



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The cheese looks great. Those tube style smokers are great.

 

Thinking the tube smoker will be a bit easier. More of a set it and forget it type of setup.

 

Very nice. My brother has a smokenator and they also sell the prism, which uses wood smoker pellets. I find this interesting and may have to try it sometime.

We always have smoked gouda in the fridge this time of year.

 

I do it with the AMNPS maze pellet smoker. It works well with no intervention for up to 12 hours, or you can partially fill the maze for shorter smokes. Highly recommended.

Cheese definitely does get better with time in the fridge so if you have the patience to wait until Christmas do so. I find the waiting is the hardest part of making smoked cheese!

 

Thanks for the feedback on the tube smokers! I think that's the route I'm going to go.

The cheese is vac sealed and hanging out in the back of the cheese drawer in the fridge. Somewhat out of sight...so out of mind. Should be able to make it the next almost two weeks.

 

I like your optimism, good luck.

 

Looks like some good stuff although I couldn't do the habanero. I wouldn't mind eating it but would suffer later! Have you ever tried cold smoking jacket potatoes before baking them? A nice smoky baked potato tastes pretty darn good!

 

Hmmmm. Potatoes.....now that's a good idea!

 

My sister had some of my smoked cheese and took it to a work party, this is the cheese order from the party and some for our local friends. I’m going to scale back the operation, I don’t want to take the fun out of it.

 

Wow! That's quite a haul! How long did it take to smoke all that cheese?

I opened my batch yesterday. It was a hit with our guests. Thankfully, I still have some leftover. I cut two and a half blocks; Pepper Jack, Cheddar, and Hobanero. The taste on all was good! It had more of a smokey flavor vs. what you get with store bought smoked. The Hobanero was awesome. The heat and the smoke...Delicious!

And I have to say, the Aldi cheese is pretty good! My father inlaw asked if it was from the local cheese shop that's near our place in VT.

 

More cheese is on the smoker. Swiss and Sriracha Jack. I’m building my stock up in good cheese smoking weather. February and 10 degrees isn’t my favorite temp to smoke cheese.

 

Smart move! Better to smoke when it's cool out...instead of well below freezing.