Smoking Pre-sliced Cheese

[Nibs50]

Hi folks!  Hope everyone is doing well.  I am hoping that someone will be able to help me out here with a question I've got that I can't seem to find an answer to. 

We are big fans of smoked cheese on our Bradley.  We smoke all kinds of cheeses - cheddar, mozzarella, gouda, swiss and parmesan - twice a year.  I'm happy to say that we're rapidly coming up to our Spring Smoke for 2024 and I've started stocking up on cheeses.

This week, I've found a good sale price on sliced Cracker Barrel swiss cheese - it's a good deal cheaper than the block of swiss cheese I normally buy for smoking - and that's where my questions arise. 

1) Can I smoke pre-sliced cheese in a stack as I would smoke a solid block of cheese or should I lay out all the slices individually?  My 'smoker's instinct' says to stack it and smoke it - since it's essentially a just a block of cheese anyways (that's been sliced beforehand), but I'd like your take on it.

2) After smoking, we usually wrap the blocks of cheese in wax paper and then vacuum seal to mature and store. As you know, during vacuum sealing, the cheese is compressed to remove all the air.  This package of Cracker Barrel swiss cheese I'm looking at comes sliced - and so I'm wondering how this compression during vacuum sealing would affect the slices.  Could I separate the slices after a long time of being compressed or would they all the cheese simply turn into one block of cheese again?  These slices of cheese are in a nice square shape (perfect for sandwiches and burgers) so I'd like to preserve that if possible - would it be best to insert squares of parchment or wax paper in between the slices or would it be necessary?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.  I am grateful for your guidance!

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Nibs50,

Welcome to the forum.

I've never tried to smoke cheese that was already sliced. My thought would be to stack the cheese. My other thought would be to use some type of netting, but something like cheesecloth may block too much smoke.

Those slices are also the perfect size for saltine crackers. I place the saltines down on a sheet tray, and place a slice of cheese on each cracker. Then thinly slice Campari tomatoes and place them on top of the cheese, and sprinkle either oregano or Italian Herb Blend over them. Sometimes I will also drizzle Mike's Hot Honey over them. Place in a 350F oven and bake until the cheese melts (but not too much). They are a favorite with guest.

[Nibs50]

Hi there Habanero Smoker!  Thanks for the welcome and for your reply - I was very much hoping you'd chime in.  I am not an active participant in these forums, but I have been reading them for years as a guest and have come to recognize your name as synonymous with wonderfully wise and sound advice.  You - along with the many other old timers  - have taught me well and I'd like to thank you for your guidance!

I am glad you agree that I should stack the slices prior to smoking. I don't think I'll be needing a net to support them, since the stack will likely be less than 3" high.  I'll just be extra careful when transporting the racks to and from the smoker, so as not to topple anything.

Thanks for the cracker snack recipe idea - it sounds delicious and I will definitely give that a try.  That hot honey is a real hit at our house...my boys will put that on everything!  Could I use any other tomatoes on these?  I'm not sure if my store carries Campari tomatoes.

I am still wondering about vacuum sealing the smoked sliced cheese though.  Since I plan to buy a few packages of it (it's a really good price - as far as "good" prices go these days...) I think I will just vacuum seal half of them without wax paper in between the slices and the other half with wax paper inserted between the slices, just to see what works.

Thanks again for your help! 

[Habanero Smoker]

Let us know how your smoked slice cheese turns out, and which way worked best for vacuum sealing.

You can use any type of small variety tomoto; cherry, grap etc. Or cut the larger varieties to fit. I use Campari tomatoes, because they are the perfect size to fit on the cheese crackers.

[Nibs50]

UPDATE:

Just thought I'd post an update for anyone interested.  We smoked our cheeses on April 27, 2024 and gave them a nice long rest until today. 

We smoked 2 pre-sliced varieties (Swiss and Habanero-Monterey Jack) in addition to the usual block Mozzarella with 2 hours of apple.  Since I wanted to maintain the integrity of the slices on the Swiss cheese, I inserted squares of parchment paper in between each slice before stacking them and putting them in the smoker.

For the sliced Habanero-Monterey Jack cheese, we actually wanted the cheese to stick together and re-form into a block because we added some cracked black pepper between the slices, so no parchment paper was used at all.

RESULTS:

The Swiss cheese slices, with the parchment paper, maintained their integrity and now I have some very nicely sized Swiss cheese slices for my Bacon-Mushroom-Swiss burgers this summer.  My boys will be very happy indeed!

I am happy to report that the sliced Habanero-Monterey Jack cheese did indeed re-form somewhat into a block after 8 weeks of vacuum sealing. The cracked black pepper blended into the cheese nicely and is a very good addition to the smoked final product.

The Habanero-Monterey Jack- cracked black pepper experiment has made me think of a few ways this could be useful down the line.  On the other forum, a member was coating his blocks of cheese with dried herbs before smoking and was unhappy with the results.  IMO, by slicing the cheese and inserting whole spices/herbs between the slices, smoking and then vacuum sealing, this would be a more effective way of infusing new flavors into the cheese before smoking it (ie. rosemary-cheddar cheese, as that forum member was attempting)

Hope this helps someone down the line!

Happy smoking!

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the feed back, and the great details. Now you have me thinking about smoking sliced cheese, and infusing flavors in between slices.

In the past I have pressed cracked pepper into cheese prior to smoking, but I've never tried using herbs. I may try that the next time I get around to smoking cheese.