Smoked some cheese today!
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Bruce 0: I know you were asking NDMike but I am a Mike also. I have been doing cheese for a long while now. I have done a lot of different types of cheese. The Cheddars are a good place to start. I have done everything from medium to extra sharp, Dubliner and Coastal are Irish pub cheddars and are good. I liked cheddar habanero but can’t find it in blocks anymore. Pepper Jack is a really good cheese to smoke. I smoke Swiss cheese in both the blocks and Jarlesberg which is cut from a wheel. Gouda and Havarti are good as is Mozzarella. I have done both the block and fresh balls of Mozzarella. You have to take special precautions as far as the smoker temps with these soft cheeses. The fresh Mozzarella needs to be wrapped in cheese cloth. The one cheese that I have smoked and can’t stand is Gruyère. This is a personal thing, I simply cannot stand the smell of this cheese, it smells like dirty feet to me and I can’t get it past my nose. I have heard of people smoking blue cheese, and cottage cheese but haven’t tried them yet. I have a piece of parmesan that I am going to smoke in the next couple days. Woods I use to smoke include pretty much all of them. I really like oak but can’t find it in pellet form around here. Hickory and pecan are both good. Since I have been using the smoke tube method of smoking cheese I have been using the hard wood and fruit wood blended pellets. I have heard that straw smoked fresh Mozzarella is really good. I have used different methods with my smokers. When using the cold smoke baffle I place the baffle between the heat source and the cheese. Start the smoker and let it run until I see smoke coming out of the vent and then turn the heat off. This gives me about 2 hours of smoke. I usually go through this cycle 3 or 4 times. I have also done this using just a large pan of ice between the heat and the cheese. I have gone to using just the smoke tube and when I do cheese using the tube I have done it without anything between the tube and cheese with moderate success but prefer using a pan of cold water or ice between the tube and cheese. Don’t ask me how I know, but I would urge anyone starting out smoking cheese to put a drip pan covered with aluminum foil under the cheese. This saves a LOT of clean up until you get the hang of smoking cheese.
Idaho Smokey Try https://www.chefstore.com/search/fullsearch/ for oak pellets to the carry two brands, bear mountain is one. They have a location in Boise.
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Idaho Smokey Try https://www.chefstore.com/search/fullsearch/ for oak pellets to the carry two brands, bear mountain is one. They have a location in Boise.
johnsbrewhouse I have a chef store about a mile away from me here in Nampa, Idaho. I haven’t seen the oak pellets at this store. I have used the bear mountain pellets.
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I’m not endorsing this company or brand, but you can always use aluminum foil tape and this ducting between the smoke generator and smoker and it will dissipate the heat to absolute ambient temp.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Deflecto-Semi-Rigid-Flexible-Aluminum-Duct-4-dia-x-8ft/5005422529?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-app-_-bng-_-PLA_APP_174_Laundry-_-5005422529-_-Online-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&ds_rl=1286890&gclsrc=ds -
Bruce 0: I know you were asking NDMike but I am a Mike also. I have been doing cheese for a long while now. I have done a lot of different types of cheese. The Cheddars are a good place to start. I have done everything from medium to extra sharp, Dubliner and Coastal are Irish pub cheddars and are good. I liked cheddar habanero but can’t find it in blocks anymore. Pepper Jack is a really good cheese to smoke. I smoke Swiss cheese in both the blocks and Jarlesberg which is cut from a wheel. Gouda and Havarti are good as is Mozzarella. I have done both the block and fresh balls of Mozzarella. You have to take special precautions as far as the smoker temps with these soft cheeses. The fresh Mozzarella needs to be wrapped in cheese cloth. The one cheese that I have smoked and can’t stand is Gruyère. This is a personal thing, I simply cannot stand the smell of this cheese, it smells like dirty feet to me and I can’t get it past my nose. I have heard of people smoking blue cheese, and cottage cheese but haven’t tried them yet. I have a piece of parmesan that I am going to smoke in the next couple days. Woods I use to smoke include pretty much all of them. I really like oak but can’t find it in pellet form around here. Hickory and pecan are both good. Since I have been using the smoke tube method of smoking cheese I have been using the hard wood and fruit wood blended pellets. I have heard that straw smoked fresh Mozzarella is really good. I have used different methods with my smokers. When using the cold smoke baffle I place the baffle between the heat source and the cheese. Start the smoker and let it run until I see smoke coming out of the vent and then turn the heat off. This gives me about 2 hours of smoke. I usually go through this cycle 3 or 4 times. I have also done this using just a large pan of ice between the heat and the cheese. I have gone to using just the smoke tube and when I do cheese using the tube I have done it without anything between the tube and cheese with moderate success but prefer using a pan of cold water or ice between the tube and cheese. Don’t ask me how I know, but I would urge anyone starting out smoking cheese to put a drip pan covered with aluminum foil under the cheese. This saves a LOT of clean up until you get the hang of smoking cheese.
Idaho Smokey thanks for the info
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johnsbrewhouse I have a chef store about a mile away from me here in Nampa, Idaho. I haven’t seen the oak pellets at this store. I have used the bear mountain pellets.
Idaho Smokey You can special order them, the will get them for you. We have them here in both Bear Mountain and their private label brand they carry there.
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Idaho Smokey Can you get Bear mountain pellets? They carry oak pellets. https://bearmountainbbq.com/collections/frontpage
johnsbrewhouse I like Bear Mountain. That has become my go to pellets.
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johnsbrewhouse I like Bear Mountain. That has become my go to pellets.
ND Mike Great product for the price, far cheaper than Traeger. I do use Smokehouse BBQ pellets too since the local US Foods/Chief’s Store carries them as well, I can get them in 40 lb. bags.
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BBQr’s delight is my favorite brand of pellet, and they have oak pellets as well.
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Bruce 0: I know you were asking NDMike but I am a Mike also. I have been doing cheese for a long while now. I have done a lot of different types of cheese. The Cheddars are a good place to start. I have done everything from medium to extra sharp, Dubliner and Coastal are Irish pub cheddars and are good. I liked cheddar habanero but can’t find it in blocks anymore. Pepper Jack is a really good cheese to smoke. I smoke Swiss cheese in both the blocks and Jarlesberg which is cut from a wheel. Gouda and Havarti are good as is Mozzarella. I have done both the block and fresh balls of Mozzarella. You have to take special precautions as far as the smoker temps with these soft cheeses. The fresh Mozzarella needs to be wrapped in cheese cloth. The one cheese that I have smoked and can’t stand is Gruyère. This is a personal thing, I simply cannot stand the smell of this cheese, it smells like dirty feet to me and I can’t get it past my nose. I have heard of people smoking blue cheese, and cottage cheese but haven’t tried them yet. I have a piece of parmesan that I am going to smoke in the next couple days. Woods I use to smoke include pretty much all of them. I really like oak but can’t find it in pellet form around here. Hickory and pecan are both good. Since I have been using the smoke tube method of smoking cheese I have been using the hard wood and fruit wood blended pellets. I have heard that straw smoked fresh Mozzarella is really good. I have used different methods with my smokers. When using the cold smoke baffle I place the baffle between the heat source and the cheese. Start the smoker and let it run until I see smoke coming out of the vent and then turn the heat off. This gives me about 2 hours of smoke. I usually go through this cycle 3 or 4 times. I have also done this using just a large pan of ice between the heat and the cheese. I have gone to using just the smoke tube and when I do cheese using the tube I have done it without anything between the tube and cheese with moderate success but prefer using a pan of cold water or ice between the tube and cheese. Don’t ask me how I know, but I would urge anyone starting out smoking cheese to put a drip pan covered with aluminum foil under the cheese. This saves a LOT of clean up until you get the hang of smoking cheese.
Idaho Smokey Thanks for all the information, smoked cheese, along with bacon are on my to do list and all the help I can get is appreciated.
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gus4416 Yoshi copper grill mats.
Idaho Smokey I have a few of those, but have never used them to smoke cheese. Sounds like a good idea, I take it that side of the block doesn’t get any smoke at all?
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johnsbrewhouse I like Bear Mountain. That has become my go to pellets.
ND Mike I’ve been using Bear Mountain and Lumberjack. Both have been working great. I have been picking them up at our Rural King stores at some great prices.
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Idaho Smokey I have a few of those, but have never used them to smoke cheese. Sounds like a good idea, I take it that side of the block doesn’t get any smoke at all?
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GWG8541 I turn the cheese so that all 4 sides get good smoke.
Idaho Smokey that was going to be my next question, thanks.
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Hey Smokey I live over in Garden City and was reading your post you sent back referring to the Smoky cheese can’t wait to get started going on it I’ll have to look you up sometime
Great to see other Idaho folks getting on the meat and food wagon on this sight
Bruce. Bshaffley@yahoo.com -
ND Mike I’ve been using Bear Mountain and Lumberjack. Both have been working great. I have been picking them up at our Rural King stores at some great prices.
GWG8541 yep…those are the two brands I use.
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So out of the cheeses that I smoked the pepper jack, gouda, and cheddars were the best.
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ND Mike I agree with you. But, IMHO, the pepper jack was the most different and gooooddd.
zbigjeff yep…I really liked what it does for a sharp or extra sharp cheddar too!
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Smoked Swiss like Jarlsberg is really good on a slice of fresh crisp apple. I used to be able to get blocks of Jalapeno or habanero pepper and cheddar cheese here but can’t find them anymore. They were really good. I have been doing around 50 pounds of cheese a year. The softer cheeses tend to take on more smoke than the harder type cheese. I have smoked fresh mozzarella but it is sort of a PITA. You have to wrap it in wet cheese cloth and really keep an eye on the smoker temp. It is good on home made pizza. I have heard that people have successfully smoked cottage cheese but really don’t know why you would want smoked cottage cheese.
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ND Mike You can keep on going. I purposefully purchased some “smoked” cheese of the same type of product and there was no comparison between the homegrown smoke and store smoke. I’m now spoiled.
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