Smoking Cheese

[tmfast]

Hi all,
I half heartedly tried smoking cheese last week, 3 briqs, 1 apple chunk for 20 minutes. Turned out great.
Tonight, I would like to do it better. I drilled several holes in a old soup tin can to put the briqs & wood chunk in. Removed the plastic handle from one of those screen splater things you put on a frying pan to put on top of the grate to put the cheese on. It is about 75 degrees her right now.
Just wondering. Is this screen too fine, and is the can a good idea?

 

[David Lohrentz]

I don't think you need a soup can. Depending on the type of metal, or remnants of the glue or label on the can, you may get things in there that you don't want. It is possible to make a fire with just a couple of lit pieces with a chunk balanced on top. You can just do that right on the fire grate.

If your ambient temperature is 75, you may want to add some cold mass to your cooker. I use frozen fire bricks or a bowl of ice water in summer. At this time of year, my cooker and terra cotta liner start out very cold.

Splatter screen should be fine, but it would be easy to test it with lighting a match, blow it out, hold the screen on top and see if the smoke goes through.

 

[tmfast]

Thanks David,
I boiled the can and scraped the glue off. It was still a bad idea. I got 3 coals with an apple chunk on top. So far, so good. Got water & ice in the pan. I will do it again when it is colder outside.

 

[Mike A.]

Cold weather is a big plus for smoking cheese!

Also, I have found that it improves dramatically after a few weeks in the frig. I smoke, then vacuum-seal and leave it for a while. It gets even better.

 

[Phil Hartcher]

Freeze/chill the cheese first.

Vacuum seal or seal in a ziploc bag or sealed container for a few days like Mike says increases the flavour dramaticaly.

regards