Edam Cheese, smoked

[passedpawn]

A while back I got these weird round moulds, so I made a couple of "balls" of Edam cheese and pressed them into these odd shapes. I sliced one of them into cheese steaks tonight and smoked it over apple wood (while watching several episodes of Better Call Saul )

The cheese tastes great (a little salty) before smoking. I'm going to lather these in olive oil, bag them for a couple of weeks, and I'll post back on the result. But for now, the pics:

 

[Staestc]

A while back I got these weird round moulds, so I made a couple of "balls" of Edam cheese and pressed them into these odd shapes. I sliced one of them into cheese steaks tonight and smoked it over apple wood (while watching several episodes of Better Call Saul )

The cheese tastes great (a little salty) before smoking. I'm going to lather these in olive oil, bag them for a couple of weeks, and I'll post back on the result. But for now, the pics:

Those just look awesome!

 

[bernardsmith]

They do look "awesome". But how did you smoke them? Wouldn't the heat have melted the cheese? How do you keep enough heat from the cheese to smoke them like that?

 

[S-Met]

Looks like a webber or similar, do you have a cold-smoke attachment? Or do you make a tiny fire, 1/4 chimney or so to keep heat down?

 

[passedpawn]

Looks like a webber or similar, do you have a cold-smoke attachment? Or do you make a tiny fire, 1/4 chimney or so to keep heat down?

Right, that's a weber smokey mountain. I just lit a few briquets and put some apple chunks on top. The air supply at bottom was almost completely choked off, and barely open at top. It did get warm in there, but worked out great. I had my IR temp gun out there and forgot to measure the cheese temp.

 

[bernardsmith]

I am impressed.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks! I have no idea what I’m doing, but it’s fun for me so I just make it up as I go along. I hope nobody sees this and assumes it’s a good idea.

 

[passedpawn]

You know, you research this stuff online. Hear tons of bad stories about "too much smoke", "no smoke", "cheese melted", etc. And then one night you just say feck it, and you throw it on the smoker and damn the torpedos.

Oh man, this stuff is super good. Just EXACTLY what you'd expect. Nice smokey flavor on this cheese. Couldn't be happier.

 

[S-Met]

I want you to know how much you suck right now. I need a beer and am really hungry. Tha cheese looks amazing! What are you pouring with it? Thinking a slightly bitter pale.

 

[passedpawn]

I want you to know how much you suck right now. I need a beer and am really hungry. Tha cheese looks amazing! What are you pouring with it. Thinking a slightly bitter pale.

Octoberfest! I brewed this back in June. Completely forgot about it. Put it on tap last week. It's really good (just poured another ). It might look dark there, but I've gravitated to a fairly light (and lightly malty) ocfest. I used to make them much darker and maltier.

 

[passedpawn]

haha, just looked at the pic and you can see I've been nibbling on that cheese. Can't keep my hands off it.... I'm a hogue.

 

[S-Met]

Good call on the octoberfest. The maltieness should go well with the light smoke.

 

[passedpawn]

Good call on the octoberfest. The maltieness should go well with the light smoke.

Here were my choices. I've got a pale ale in cold storage, but it has a slightly soapy taste that I believe came from the dry hops - at least the first keg did - haven't had the nerve to test the second. Will be brewing an IPA this wkend.

 

[S-Met]

I think that was the only choice. But I challenge you to test a bite of cheese with either of the porters after are let to warm to 55-60 deg and you will be pleasantly surprised. So long as they are more bitter, less sweet on the finish.

 

[imasickboy]

Feck the beer. I'm more interested in the Edam. Do tell...

I've got the beer and the smoke thing covered, but making the cheese is what I want to learn from you.

FWIW, if you want to smoke cheese, I recommend an A-MAZE-N pellet smoker, (~$30-35), and some pellets. No new grill required.

 

[passedpawn]

Feck the beer. I'm more interested in the Edam. Do tell...

I've got the beer and the smoke thing covered, but making the cheese is what I want to learn from you.

FWIW, if you want to smoke cheese, I recommend an A-MAZE-N pellet smoker, (~$30-35), and some pellets. No new grill required.

Yea, I kept thinking about the amazen tube. Also considered piping the smoke from my weber kettle to the weber smoker with some ducting, ghetto-like. Meh, this worked so well I won't do either anytime soon.

Regarding making cheese, it's harder than beer I think. But I've got it sorta figured out. You can do it, but it takes some practice. I've found that the online recipes at cheesemaking.com are pretty good. Temperatures, times, pressures, etc are all important. Most cheeses require pressing, which you'll need to consider.

 

[passedpawn]

Cheese ages great. I had some of this same smoked cheese last night. Tasted great.