some more smoked cheese

[mofomatic]

today's work. smoked this batch 5.5 hours on apple pellets.

[Puff]

That looks like a tray set for a banquet. How will you handle it from this point forward? I have some cheese I did on my first smoke 2 weeks ago. I am counting the days it has been vac sealed, going on 16 tonight

[mofomatic]

the people at the cheese counter talked me into using this cheese paper stuff. it's a two layer breathable wrap, supposed to keep the humidity the same as a real cheese cave and let it age and keep properly.

http://www.formaticum.com/products/cheese-paper

i wrap it in this stuff and let it rest in the fridge for a week or so.

my neighbors liked some of the test pieces i made when i finished the cold smoker. so i did a similar batch to this and they got wines to go with each type of smoked cheeses, wound up doing a smoked cheese and wine tasting type of deal. which was more fun than i thought it would have been.

one of the clerks at the cheese counter tried to sell me some bourbon infused smoked goat cheese for $40 a pound. so i thought i would try to make my own...smoked goat cheese, vac sealed in some 15 year old scotch? not sure what type of whisky to try yet. still have time to think about it.

[Puff]

I was reading that the cheese is held in the fridge for a day to help dry off any surface moisture. After that, sealed for a minimum of 2 weeks or it will taste like an ash tray if you sample it immediately. Additionally you can keep it sealed for several months, years if you wax it. It sure smelled like an ash tray but I still went in for the trial. Today is day 17 while I would gladly open it, I figured I'd wait till we all get together for Christmas.

I guessing that a cheese cave would be significant if we were making the cheeses from the original curd. I'm no expert so I have no clue but I think out loud a lot these days. There are several not too far from us here and the video is pretty interesting. I should wrap my wife's Christmas presents this well. On the other hand .. You have already had a satisfactory tasting with good results. I will post my findings in a few days.

My goal in cheese smoking comes mostly from having some cob smoked cheddar from a Vermont products store we have passed for 35 years in Charlotte, Vt. Their start was as usual, maple syrup. They started offering samples of a pile of stuff but when we tried the cob smoked cheddar, it was amazing. At $5 a 6.00 for a small piece, we limited our supplies and now that I can hopefully get the same product here in the yard, I will keep filling the fridge . Good luck
How long has your cheese been out of the smoker so far?

[The Czar]

I want some....

where is my sample?

[mofomatic]

i've been letting it sit for about a week before i start in on it. i've not noticed any ash tray like flavors. the outer surface has a very strong smoke flavor, that does smooth out after a while. but some people have said it tastes good. its just a pure smoke flavor. a few friends have said my cheese needs even more smoke.

I'm working up in hour increments, normally i'd go for a heavy smoke on my bbq, but with the cheese, i think you should be able to taste some of the cheese under the smoke. the strong sharp cheddars seem to hold up the best to more smoke.

i've been getting good results with apple pellets. its cheaper to buy the regular bag of pellets than the stupid cartridges that go with the smoke pistol, so i wound up with way more than i need. i've been burning them off in the big smoker so i can move on to other flavors.

[mofomatic]

some more cheese view for ya. beacher's flagship cheddar.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

Dang that looks good!!

[Rodcrafter]

I'm with DC on this one. I want some too!

[Puff]

I am starting to buy the pellets in 5 lb bags . I did try microwaving a paper bowl full for the tray prior to lighting it and it has really seemed to help the continous burning. I'd had a few sessions burn out after an hour but I'm usually outside working on something while it's smoking so I just re-light it but , it looks like this recommendation has been a good one.