How big..

inkjunkie · Dec 15, 2014

Once I get the "mailbox mod" done to our MES I plan on reading up some more on cold smoking some cheese. We grate our own cheese, how big of a piece can be efficiently smoked? Pretty much all of the pictures I have seen are of smaller pieces. Thanks in advance for any help provided...

donr · Dec 15, 2014

I cut it to about the size of a Town House cracker, because that's how I eat it.

Scientific guess below.

The thicker the piece, the longer it would need smoked, maybe in multiple sessions with some resting in between. It would also need to mellow longer to allow the smoke to penetrate throughout the block.

How big of a block do you want to hold while grating?

mr t 59874 · Dec 15, 2014

inkjunkie said:
Once I get the "mailbox mod" done to our MES I plan on reading up some more on cold smoking some cheese. We grate our own cheese, how big of a piece can be efficiently smoked? Pretty much all of the pictures I have seen are of smaller pieces. Thanks in advance for any help provided...

I would smoke the grated cheese. The time in the smoke will depend on the color and density of your smoke. Start with short smokes, just a few minutes and adjust from there.

Tom

mfreel · Dec 18, 2014

IMHO, it has to do with the thickness of the cheese, how long you smoke it, and how long you keep it.

My cheeses are generally about 1.5" to 2" thick. Lately, everything has been going about 2.5 hours using alder pellets. I vacuum seal for a MINIMUM of 2 weeks.

If you had thicker cheese, I would bump up the smoke time a little, maybe .5 to 1 hour. If you're talking about something that's closer to 6" thick, I think you'd be looking at around 3 to 4 hours.

The cheese needs time to let the smoke permeate.

It's been my experience that the longer I wait, the sharper the cheese gets. I have some that's about a year old that's my favorite. Started off as regular cheddar and now it has a great, mild sharpness.

Clear as mud?

cmayna · Dec 18, 2014

I typically get the 2# blocks at the store and the cut them into 5 smaller blocks that average 3"x2"x1.5" as shown here.

It sure wouldn't take very long to smoke grated cheese. I'd be concerned in overdoing it with the smoke.

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inkjunkie · Dec 18, 2014

mfreel said:
IMHO, it has to do with the thickness of the cheese, how long you smoke it, and how long you keep it.
My cheeses are generally about 1.5" to 2" thick. Lately, everything has been going about 2.5 hours using alder pellets. I vacuum seal for a MINIMUM of 2 weeks.
If you had thicker cheese, I would bump up the smoke time a little, maybe .5 to 1 hour. If you're talking about something that's closer to 6" thick, I think you'd be looking at around 3 to 4 hours.
The cheese needs time to let the smoke permeate.
It's been my experience that the longer I wait, the sharper the cheese gets. I have some that's about a year old that's my favorite. Started off as regular cheddar and now it has a great, mild sharpness.

Clear as mud?

Very much so, thanks for the confusion....lol...

mr t 59874 · Dec 18, 2014

cmayna said:
It sure wouldn't take very long to smoke grated cheese. I'd be concerned in overdoing it with the smoke.

Nice color on your cheese cmaya. Your quote is correct, the reason I suggested starting out with short smokes.

injunkie, try to smoke to a desired color rather than time regardless of thickness as too much smoke will make the outer edges much stronger than the center, even over time. Adjust the thickness to your procedure and liking, you can then adjust the color from there. In time using your equipment and monitoring the color and taste, you will have an idea as to how much time is needed for your liking.

Tom

bertman · Dec 18, 2014

I had read somewhere on here that something close in size to a stick of butter. I have no complaints with that, other than it doesn't last long.

inkjunkie · Dec 18, 2014

Mr T 59874 said:
Nice color on your cheese cmaya. Your quote is correct, the reason I suggested starting out with short smokes.

injunkie, try to smoke to a desired color rather than time regardless of thickness as too much smoke will make the outer edges much stronger than the center, even over time. Adjust the thickness to your procedure and liking, you can then adjust the color from there. In time using your equipment and monitoring the color and taste, you will have an idea as to how much time is needed for your liking.

Tom

Desired color....time to start experimenting...Thanks for the advice...

dingo007 · Dec 19, 2014

cmayna said:
I typically get the 2# blocks at the store and the cut them into 5 smaller blocks that average 3"x2"x1.5" as shown here.

It sure wouldn't take very long to smoke grated cheese. I'd be concerned in overdoing it with the smoke.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do the same....my experience has been that 2-3hrs works for me.....I did one batch for 6hrs and felt it was to smokey.

27babda8-4791-4304-96a3-dc1b2a7ead65_zps2d9abb5d.j

dingo007
Dec 19, 2014

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