smoked cheese
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Bob Stehlik Just out of curiosity. Why do you wrap in plastic before vac sealing. I’ve always just vac sealed mine. Does the plastic wrap help with the aging?
wdaly I use the plastic wrap because I use a new vac bag each time I vac the cheese, therefore the plastic wrap will help keep the bag clean so it can be reused for veggies etc. If you reuse a vac bag for your cheese, you may introduce something that may cause mold. Plus after you take the cheese out of the vac bag you can re-wrap a couple of times. I never freeze my cheeses ( except for Mozz). We’ve eaten the plastic wrapped/vac wrapped cheese after a year and the only thing noticeable is some of the salt on the surface. This method has worked well for me for many, many years.
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome! Semper Fi
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wdaly I use the plastic wrap because I use a new vac bag each time I vac the cheese, therefore the plastic wrap will help keep the bag clean so it can be reused for veggies etc. If you reuse a vac bag for your cheese, you may introduce something that may cause mold. Plus after you take the cheese out of the vac bag you can re-wrap a couple of times. I never freeze my cheeses ( except for Mozz). We’ve eaten the plastic wrapped/vac wrapped cheese after a year and the only thing noticeable is some of the salt on the surface. This method has worked well for me for many, many years.
Bob Stehlik said in smoked cheese:
wdaly I never freeze my cheeses ( except for Mozz). We’ve eaten the plastic wrapped/vac wrapped cheese after a year and the only thing noticeable is some of the salt on the surface.
This is interesting. So you’ve kept cheese like this in your fridge for a year without mold, etc? I don’t love freezing it, but am always worried it will go bad.
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Bob Stehlik said in smoked cheese:
wdaly I never freeze my cheeses ( except for Mozz). We’ve eaten the plastic wrapped/vac wrapped cheese after a year and the only thing noticeable is some of the salt on the surface.
This is interesting. So you’ve kept cheese like this in your fridge for a year without mold, etc? I don’t love freezing it, but am always worried it will go bad.
Midwest_kc That’s correct. We have a small fridge that’s just for cheese. I let the cheese cool before plastic wrapping and the vac-pac a few days later. We are very careful about the surfaces we work on so as not to contaminate the cheese with any spores. In fact, if we give someone smoked cheese, we tell them to change the wrapper every other time they open it and to always slice the cheese on a clean surface with a clean knife.
However, I do have to say I do a heavy smoke on my cheeses. -
Bob Stehlik said in smoked cheese:
wdaly I never freeze my cheeses ( except for Mozz). We’ve eaten the plastic wrapped/vac wrapped cheese after a year and the only thing noticeable is some of the salt on the surface.
This is interesting. So you’ve kept cheese like this in your fridge for a year without mold, etc? I don’t love freezing it, but am always worried it will go bad.
Midwest_kc Bob Stehlik Re: Freezing Cheese. The guy in charge of Grandpa’s Cheese Barn (Ashland, OH) and another cheese monger in Middlefield, OH (just can’t remember the name) both stated all cheese can be frozen. Just remember to place in the fridge (&only the fridge) for at least 3 days. It will come out perfect.
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Finally had time and could temps so smoked some cheese. Now the hard part… Waiting three weeks to sample. Thanks glen for the advice on cold smoking in the Masterbuilt. Used a Wedge and apple wood pellets. Color on the cheese is great.
wdaly You’re welcome! Looks like a great outcome
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Midwest_kc Bob Stehlik Re: Freezing Cheese. The guy in charge of Grandpa’s Cheese Barn (Ashland, OH) and another cheese monger in Middlefield, OH (just can’t remember the name) both stated all cheese can be frozen. Just remember to place in the fridge (&only the fridge) for at least 3 days. It will come out perfect.
zbigjeff Thanks for the good info on freezing
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Midwest_kc Bob Stehlik Re: Freezing Cheese. The guy in charge of Grandpa’s Cheese Barn (Ashland, OH) and another cheese monger in Middlefield, OH (just can’t remember the name) both stated all cheese can be frozen. Just remember to place in the fridge (&only the fridge) for at least 3 days. It will come out perfect.
zbigjeff thanks never thought about freezing cheese. That opens up some options for me.
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Midwest_kc Bob Stehlik Re: Freezing Cheese. The guy in charge of Grandpa’s Cheese Barn (Ashland, OH) and another cheese monger in Middlefield, OH (just can’t remember the name) both stated all cheese can be frozen. Just remember to place in the fridge (&only the fridge) for at least 3 days. It will come out perfect.
zbigjeff That is good to know.
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Midwest_kc Bob Stehlik Re: Freezing Cheese. The guy in charge of Grandpa’s Cheese Barn (Ashland, OH) and another cheese monger in Middlefield, OH (just can’t remember the name) both stated all cheese can be frozen. Just remember to place in the fridge (&only the fridge) for at least 3 days. It will come out perfect.
zbigjeff Thanks for that info. I’ve always had problems with yellow and aged cheeses when I froze them. They would tend to be crumbly. However, I don’t think I was thawing them out properly. (I tend to be impatient sometimes; well MOST of the time!)
I’m definitely going to try the 3 day fridge routine.Improvise, Adapt and Overcome! Semper Fi
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zbigjeff Thanks for that info. I’ve always had problems with yellow and aged cheeses when I froze them. They would tend to be crumbly. However, I don’t think I was thawing them out properly. (I tend to be impatient sometimes; well MOST of the time!)
I’m definitely going to try the 3 day fridge routine.Bob Stehlik I thought that the cheese mongers were out of their mind. But, just like waiting to eat your smoked cheese, waiting for it to thaw properly and regain its integrity is also a lesson in patience. I did it with cheap, then middle priced and then with $24/lb cheese. Non turned out crumbly after waiting the “full 3 days”. Hopefully, you have the same experience. I know that you WILL advise.
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Bob Stehlik I thought that the cheese mongers were out of their mind. But, just like waiting to eat your smoked cheese, waiting for it to thaw properly and regain its integrity is also a lesson in patience. I did it with cheap, then middle priced and then with $24/lb cheese. Non turned out crumbly after waiting the “full 3 days”. Hopefully, you have the same experience. I know that you WILL advise.
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zbigjeff - I’m going to try this trick as soon as I can get to the store and smoke some cheese. I thought you flat couldn’t freeze cheese unless you are using it for sauce or something.
@bmartin1000 Btw: both of them said 3. But, I always do 4. It doesn’t hurt to be conservative.
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@bmartin1000 Btw: both of them said 3. But, I always do 4. It doesn’t hurt to be conservative.
zbigjeff That’s is true control to let it go four weeks without a taste.
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4 WEEKS! It’s almost spoiled in 4 weeks!
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@bmartin1000 Btw: both of them said 3. But, I always do 4. It doesn’t hurt to be conservative.
zbigjeff said in smoked cheese:
@bmartin1000 Btw: both of them said 3. But, I always do 4. It doesn’t hurt to be conservative.
While I think you may have been talking about thawing, others took it as aging after smoking, so figured I’d jump in assuming that.
I also love cheese at the 4 week mark. I have tried everything from just off the smoker to 6 weeks, and 4 was the sweet spot for me.
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zbigjeff said in smoked cheese:
@bmartin1000 Btw: both of them said 3. But, I always do 4. It doesn’t hurt to be conservative.
While I think you may have been talking about thawing, others took it as aging after smoking, so figured I’d jump in assuming that.
I also love cheese at the 4 week mark. I have tried everything from just off the smoker to 6 weeks, and 4 was the sweet spot for me.
Midwest_kc You’re correct in that I meant 4 days to “thaw”. But, I did the same process as you: aka tasting at the 2 wk, 3 wk and 4 wk after smoking/vacuum pack. Found the 3 and 4 wk to be the sweet spot.
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Smoked 5 lbs of cheese ( mozzarella, mont jack, sharp cheddar, gouda and Swiss) using the ice tray in a bud’s Masterbuilt for 3 hours for him. Forgot to take pictures. Reason: we sipped on Homemade Slivovitz and Mark Rodger’s American Peach Moonshine. Thinking you might forgive me.
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Smoked 5 lbs of cheese ( mozzarella, mont jack, sharp cheddar, gouda and Swiss) using the ice tray in a bud’s Masterbuilt for 3 hours for him. Forgot to take pictures. Reason: we sipped on Homemade Slivovitz and Mark Rodger’s American Peach Moonshine. Thinking you might forgive me.
zbigjeff I got the same one in the fridge…lol. Already drank the cinnamon. Not bad
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twilliams Ours must not have been too bad either. It’s GONE. We have to find something else tomorrow when we’re smoking a butt. Life is tough!
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