Smoked cheese

TooDrunkToFish · 01-09-2011, 01:30 AM

Hello,

I'm wanting to try smoking some cheese on my Little Chief.

Anyone have experience with smoking cheese inside the Little Chief in the middle of winter (like right now) when the weather is cold? Will the LC still generate enough heat to melt the cheese, if the cheese is placed inside the smoker?

Wanting to avoid a gooey mess.

Thanks in advance.

Fisherman_Shane · 01-09-2011, 01:39 AM

let me know how that works out if you try it !

a gooey mess would not be good

langararocks · 01-09-2011, 06:53 AM

PM sent

Pickles · 01-09-2011, 07:28 AM

The only way to smoke cheese is to cold smoke it. You can use your little cheif, but you will have to make some modifications. First take an empty tin can with the lid still partially attached. Drill a hole in the lid large enough for a soldering iron rod to fit through. Fill can with wood chips. Put soldering iron in and plug in. Wa La you have a cold smoke generator to place in the bottom of your little cheif! This method also works well in your barbeque! This is the down and dirty way of doing it. If you want to spend more money you can invest in or build your own external smoke generator, such as a Smoke pistol, Smoke Daddy, Bradley smoke generator with cold smoke attachment etc.....

Here is a You Tube link to building the tin can cold smoker!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivMM...layer_embedded#!

Here is a pic of my external smoke generator I use with my Big cheif!

crobarr · 01-09-2011, 11:41 AM

i use my big chief, but a little chief works too. this is for a top loader:

plug in your smoker and let it warm up for an hour or so. you want all moisture to be driven out or it'll make your cheese bitter.

load up the top 2 racks. if your smoking multiple types of cheese, put the harder cheese on the lower rack. i prefer to cut the cheese down to 1-1.5" thick slices.

put a pan of chips in and wait until it's smoking good. pull the top and set the rack into the smoker. put the top on at about 30-40 deg. off what it should be so there's good vent holes at the corners. you can also just place 1/4" dowels across the top and set the lid on those.

pull after 12-15 minutes in the smoke. let sit for 20-30 minutes to let it cool off (it will feel cold to the touch, but if it doesn't set, it will sweat). put into ziplocks and let sit at least 8 hours. 12-24 hours is better.

super soft cheeses like mozzarella require less time in the smoker and more venting or they will certainly melt. cheeses like swiss can take more heat and don't get raspy with a longer smoke time. just open up the venting some and run them longer for a stronger smoke flavor.

smokehouse apple chips are what i use most of the time. you may need to adjust times for other chips.

1 other thing. if you decide to smoke large blocks, like a 2# tillamook loaf, add at least 5 minutes to the smoke time with a little more venting. then let sit in the fridge for minimum of 48 hours to get the smoke flavor to the center.

getfish · 01-11-2011, 07:30 PM

i need to try that thanks

OceanBlue · 01-14-2011, 12:13 PM

we use a big chief front loader.

Using bricks or other material to create space between the top of the smoker and the rack (also doubles as a rack stand), we place the racks atop bricks, place a layer of cheese (in full brick form), add bricks, another rack, etc.

The top rack should also have bricks because you're going to invert cardboard box the smoker came in and set it down over the top.

1 pan of smoke is typically plenty and depending on how smokey you like your cheese, may be too much. We prefer hickory for cheese and actually find that the Traeger pellets have a "gentler" flavor than the traditional "chips & chunks" used in the electric smokers.

The keys to success here:

The ambient temperature must be very low... I prefer 30's and below.
It is important that the box doesn't cover more than about 2 inches of the top of the smoker, so it may be necessary to place furring strips across the top in order to keep the box from sliding down too far.
Place the softest types of cheese (such as monterey jack) as far from the top of the smoker as possible)
Once the smoking process is finished (the surfaces of the cheese will be somewhat dry, but sweaty) take the smoked bricks of cheese and vacuum seal them. Throw them in the back of the fridge for several weeks/months to allow the smoke to penetrate evenly

Our favorite by far is smoked chipotle cheddar (you can find the chipotle cheddar bricks at Winco) Although we did have amazing luck with smoking gouda which my daughter thinks is better than any she's ever had from a store.

We've been smoking a variety of cheeses every Christmas for several years and always get rave reviews. Slice up those bricks and vac seal in variety packs. It's a winner every time!

Tsmitty03 · 01-14-2011, 12:28 PM

Glad u posted this! I have been wondering for bout a year now! My smoker is a front loader with a door though. Do I just need to crack the door to allow it to vent then?

Beaglehunter · 01-20-2011, 11:08 PM

The external smoke generator is the way to go for sure. There is not heat transferred inside the smoke at all. As long as you can keep your temp down below about 85-90 degrees the cheese will stay in good shape. The soldering iron trick looks pretty cool and simple. There is also a device on the market called the amazzing smoker if you Google it you can find them pretty easy. They are inexpensive and easy. I prefer to vacuum pack mine for at least a week to seal the smoke in the cheese. I love the Chipoltle Cheddar from Winco myself. You can also take a couple of briquettes in some tin foil and once they get going place your chips in the foil and you will be suprised how well it works. It does not take a whole lot of smoke to flavor the cheese. I usually smoke mine for an hour to get a good smoke on it. The briquettes should work great in a little Chief since they are not real big. Be carefully the smoking of cheese can be harmful to your waste line, you will be hooked on it in no time.

OceanBlue · 01-21-2011, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsmitty03

Glad u posted this! I have been wondering for bout a year now! My smoker is a front loader with a door though. Do I just need to crack the door to allow it to vent then?

If your smoker has vents in the top, there should be no need to open the door, but I suppose if you can manage to get it opened just a bit at the top, it wouldn't hurt.

Richter · 01-22-2011, 05:33 PM

I see Crobarr likes to use apple chips for smoking. What other types of wood have you had good luck with?

Thanks, Rich

jester1972 · 02-01-2011, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pickles

The only way to smoke cheese is to cold smoke it. You can use your little cheif, but you will have to make some modifications. First take an empty tin can with the lid still partially attached. Drill a hole in the lid large enough for a soldering iron rod to fit through. Fill can with wood chips. Put soldering iron in and plug in. Wa La you have a cold smoke generator to place in the bottom of your little cheif! This method also works well in your barbeque! This is the down and dirty way of doing it. If you want to spend more money you can invest in or build your own external smoke generator, such as a Smoke pistol, Smoke Daddy, Bradley smoke generator with cold smoke attachment etc.....

Here is a You Tube link to building the tin can cold smoker!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivMM...layer_embedded#!

Here is a pic of my external smoke generator I use with my Big cheif!

I agree with pickles, I spent lots of time trying to use my smoker to smoke cheese.
then I used the tin can/soldering iron method placed in my BBQ, I placed a rack on top of a couple of inverted loaf pans to elevate the cheese. closed the lid and draped an old towel over the top. I also put my wireless outdoor thermometer probe inside. the temp never got over 60 degrees. no need to wrap the cheese in cheese cloth. cheese came out moist and smokey. delicious. hickory in my opinion was too strong, I liked a blend of apple and alder.

TooDrunkToFish · 02-21-2011, 07:40 PM

Thanks everybody for your response.

I wanted to share the results of my first efforts and types of techniques for smoking cheese.

Attempt #1:

I used the soldering iron with a can trick, in my gas barbeque grill. I smoked for about 1.5 hours and the results were OK. A bit weak on the smoke flavor in the cheese though. Maybe I need to drape an old towel over the grill cover, so as to hold more of the smoke in and increase the smoke flavor. I was smoking with the outside temp in the low 40s and it never got over 50 degrees inside the grill. Not enough heat perhaps? Maybe draping a towel would have also kept the inside a bit warmer, if the added heat is even needed.

Also, perhaps more significantly, I was too cheap to buy a new soldering iron and was worried about using my existing/used soldeing iron. (due to possible lead/solder contamination in the smoke) So, I removed the tip piece from the used soldering iron that I already had, and plugged it in without the tip piece. The soldering iron heated up just fine and burned the wood chips. But after about 1.5 hours, I saw that the soldering iron was RED hot. Then it died and won't work again. Maybe removing the tip disrupted the heat generatin/electrical circuit in some way and burned out the circuit????

Attempt #2:

I used my Little Chief smoker, at night when temps had dropped way low to around 35 degrees. I put a pan full of ice on top of the baffle, and loaded the cheese on the very top rack. I smoked for 2 hours with a "weak smoke"--the wood chips for some reason were not smoking vigorosly . Worked just fine. The cheese did not melt and the end product was pretty good. I just checked the unit very 15 minutes to make sure the cheese was not melting. Maybe the repeated opening of the unit released heat to prevent the cheese from melting, but maybe releasing the heat was not necessary since the ambient air temperature was cold, since I used the pan of ice, and since the wood was not smoking strongly. The cheese tasted fine.

More experimentation to come.

plhldrbus · 02-22-2011, 05:03 AM

been smokin cheese in my front load little chief for 20 years or more.freeze first,smoke a pan top shelf then back in freezer for 15 then back in for another pan two is all i do,but you can repeat as many times as ya want.or use a cold smoker.

bendtbbucsfan · 02-22-2011, 06:29 PM

Here's a link to the little chief cookbook which details the "cool box" technique and contains instructions for smoking cheese.

http://www.smokehouseproducts.com/LCRB.pdf

Richter · 02-26-2011, 07:58 AM

I gave it a try and it turned out great. No more buying smoked cheese.
I picked up a bunch of Tillamook Cheese really cheap. I used the vintage white medium cheddar (in blue wrapper). I cut into 4 pieces, smoked it for almost 2 hours in my Bradley smoker, alternating apple & alder bisquettes. I unplugged the heating element and just used the smoke generator.

Rich