Favorite Cheeses to Smoke?

[manxman]

Smoked Stilton, eh, manxman?

First time I did it I wasn't over keen because I over smoked and used oak but I have tried it a couple of times since with much less smoke  than I use for mature cheddar (90 mins or so as opposed to 4 - 5 hours for mature cheddar.) and it is much nicer.  Apple is also the best puck for Stilton IMHO, smoked Stilton is commonly found in commercial smoke houses around the UK as well.

[seemore]

We found Stilton Blue Cheese at a local grocery store.  We are going to pick some up and smoke it.
I can taste those smoked crumbles on my bacon-wrapped filet mignon as I speak.........
Mrs

[bigredsmoker]

provolone from Sam's club, then I use it with mozzarella on pizza. Yumm!

[Slamdunk]

Just curious,,,'

Pensrock mentioned that he thought Swiss cheese smoked fastest. Has anybody else found the same? I ask cause I've just done some Swiss and I find it a bit rubbery. Am planning on doing another few pounds in the near future and would like to know if I should be pulling the Swiss earlier than say, Cheddar...

TIA

[classicrockgriller]

Pens smokes ALOT of cheese each year .... think he said 100 lbs.

Make a post and ask him.
He's a nice guy.

[tolong]

Hi Guys
I'm a newby here and have been reading a lot on this forum. I would like to get some help on smoking cheeses. I have some questions.
1. How big should the chunks of cheese be
2. At what temp. should I run the OBS
3. How long do I need to age the cheese after smoking
4 How long should I smoke and what wood puck should I use

I have had my OBS for sbout 3 years and have used it about 4 times. I did my frist turkey yesterday. It was sooooo good.Iwant to start useing the OBS a lot more. Thanks for your help

Tolong

[pensrock]

I answered slamdunk in a PM he sent me. I wanted to find out the smoker temp because I suspect it got a little warm and caused some of the oils to come out. Also how long he smoked it. I normally take swiss out 1-2 hours before the other cheeses which I normally smoke for about four hours.

Tolong, lets try to answer your questions.
1) The cheese can be cut anyway you prefer. I tend to cut mine in one pound chunks.
2) You want to keep the temperature inside the smoker below 90F, I shoot for 70-85F. Many use a seperate cold smoke box for doing cheeses. If its cool enough outside, below 50 F you should be able to get by without the cold smoke box but you will want to put a foil pan filled with ice on the bottom rack.
3) Seven to ten day min. I prefer two weeks min. The longer it sets the more it mellows and the better it is.
4) How long depends on how much you like smoke, I go for 2-4 hours. I normally tell people to start with two hours and if they feel they want more smoke then next batch step it up. What wood? Well I normally use apple it goes well with everything, I also like hickory, maple and oak.

And do not beleive CRG, I'm really not a nice guy.  ;) ;D ;D Yes I smoke 80-120 pounds of cheese each year and I'm still learning and trying different things.
Really if you have question feel free to ask, there are many on here including myself who are more than happy to help out.

[tolong]

Thanks Pensrock
You have helped me a lot I will be doing my first cheese monday. Some of my friends asked me to do some cheese so I thought I woold do some of theirs along with mene
Tolong

[Slamdunk]

Penrock, sorry for not responding to your email. First time back on the forum since I sent mine to you.

I think you've hit the nail on the head -of cheese- I tried to smoke the Swiss at about 90 and had propped the door open a bit to keep the temp down. Unfortunately the door swung shut when I wasn't looking and the temp got up to about 115 when I went back to check it out. As to your question about if the cheese was rubbery on the outside or throughout the cheese, it was just rubbery on the outside, so your answer as to the oils seeping out seems to explain things.

Thanks for your help!!

[anderson5420]

Well, we smoked our first cheese over the Christmas holiday break. We started small just to see how it would go, half a pound each of sharp cheddar and soft mozzarella.  We put them on coffee filters and smoked for four hours with Apple pucks.

Observations: this was not too long, the smoke flavor on the mozzarella was still quite delicate.  Temp, just from the smoke generator, in the smoker cabinet may have been a little too high - the mozzarella did flatten out a bit more than I expected, and there was a bit of oil on the coffee filter.  Both cheeses were stuck to the coffee filter but it peeled off easily.  The cheddar was PERFECT!  My lunch that day was a bit of cheese and beef stick sausage with crackers!

Next time we do about 10 times as much in the run and vacuum pack it! I KILLED to waste all that smoke in the OBS for just a pound of cheese!

[pensrock]

Better to waste a few pucks of smoke than a whole pile of cheese.
When I only have 5 or 10 pounds of cheese to do I normally will put something on another rack, maybe pepperoni or pistachios.