Smoking the Cheddar, part Two

This morning i managed to successfully smoke some cheese. I broke some rules. I made some stuff up as i went along. I learned what works and what does not, so now i can confidently make a proper blog to share the technique.

Smoked cheese at my local grocery costs about $1.50 per ounce. I managed to make a fresh, delicious, easily-customizable version for about $.75 per ounce, or about half price. I could have done even better had i used less expensive cheese, but my boyfriend was paying and he let me splurge on the raw milk organically-raised vegetable rennet cheese, because he loves me.

Here are our players:

• Sharp White Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses, both melted and misshapen from my failed attempt last night

• Fine sea salt (coarse would have been better)

• Cherry wood chips

• Old pie tin, cookie sheet, and wire cooling rack

• That can of olives i mentioned in the last blog 

• Grill, charcoal bits (outdoors, not pictured) 

 First, grab your wood chips and put a couple of handfuls into a bowl. cover them with water and let them soak while you get everything ready, or at least half an hour before you start smoking. I used about a third of the bag, but a quarter of the bag is probably more realistic. I had a lot of chips left over.

Next, pour some of the salt in a thin layer into the pie pan, and arrange your cheeses on the wire rack.

Get your charcoal ready, and have some tongs on hand. You will realistically need 4-5 briquettes or, if you are very lucky and your neighbor lets you use his fancy pants all natural charcoal, about 4-5 medium/smallish chunks.
If you are like me and not grill-competent, then "getting the charcoal ready" means lighting it on fire in the grill and when it is glowing red and very hot, you're good to go.

While your charcoal is heating up, remember that can of olives? It's time for the can of olives.

It doesn't have to be a can of olives, really. It could be a can of anything. I had olives, so that's the can i used. You could have beans, or corn, or soup. Whatever. Make it a can of something you're about to eat.
Open the can and eat the contents. Or i guess you could put them in a bowl or something for later. It's up to you. I'm not here to judge. Do with the contents of your can whatever feels right.
Now rinse the can and grab a hammer and a nail and bash some holes in the can. You'll want holes in the bottom and a few holes in the sides, near the bottom. I didn't take pictures of this part because i forgot.
Sorry, i'm new at this. Use your imagination.


After your can has a suitable number of holes, put some of your now ready charcoal into it with tongs. Put the can on the grill first, then charcoal into the can. If you do it the other way around, your hand will get burnt. And that will hurt. A lot. Trust me on this.

here is my can with hot charcoal.

 Then add a handful of your damp wood chips to the top of the can. It will start smoking pretty soon.

here is my can with wood chips and smoke.

While that's getting going, arrange your pans with cheese and salt in the grill. Put them as far away from the heat source as possible. We're trying to build a very smoky, very cool environment. Heat means melted cheese and a sad you.

What's that square box, you ask? Why that is the smoker box that i attempted to use last night and it failed miserably. So today i just put some coals into it and dumped wood chips on top.

Now just close the lid of your grill and go do something else for a bit. Check on the progress of your smoked foodstuffs every twenty minutes or so. Add more soaked wood chips as needed and give your smoker can a little shake to keep the air holes clear so that the tiny fire keeps burning and making smoke. If you're afraid that it might be getting kinda warm for your cheese, you can pack it in ice. The ice will melt into the pan below the cheese so it won't get soggy, and you can dump it out as needed.

See? Ice!

After about an hour and a half, this is what my cheese looked like:

Notice that the salt is also pretty tanned. It's got a delicious smokey flavor that i look forward to putting on popcorn and in chili.

Keep smoking for anywhere between half an hour and four hours or more, depending on how smokey you like it. I found that two hours with cherry wood was perfect for me. Other woods, different cheeses, and temperature variances will give different results. Experiment until you get it just the way you like it!

Here's some closeups of that cheese:

NOM

OM NOM NOM

Now the cheese needs to rest. It's had a rough day and it's likely to be a little harsh if you try to eat it right away. Put it in separate ziplock baggies or wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least a few days so that the flavor can mellow.

Your salt can be transferred to your favorite salt receptacle and used to season your favorite salty things. Everything will taste like it was cooked outdoors!

 

The total cost of this food adventure, not counting the charcoal that my neighbor gave me in exchange for a small share of the haul, was less than $20 total. It yielded 20oz of fancity smoked cheese and as much fancity smoked salt as i felt like making, which in this case was a quarter cup. I used $2 worth of wood chips, $13 for cheese (you could go a LOT cheaper than i did and still get excellent results) and a few cents worth of salt. I also have enough wood chips to smoke two more batches of cheese.

Overall, a great success! So get out there and start smoking!