Smoking Cheddar - Part Three of What Has Gone Before

My all time highest view count for a post on aviewfromthecottage.blogspot.com was this blog post I did on smoking cheddar cheese. It is a great way to add distinctive flavor to your run of the mill medium to sharp cheddar cheese.

It is possible to can cheese. It is a high aid food, so it can be canned in a water bath canner. The FDA does not recommend that you can cheese, so I won't tell you to do it, but I and many others have done it for a life time with no problems, but use your best judgement. I will put the directions for canning cheese at the end of this post. Now on with the story....Blog Post Originally from January 2013.

One day this past fall, I was in the back yard smoking chipotle peppers, (I grow jalapeno peppers and let them ripen until they turn red, just for this purpose). As I was taking the last tray of peppers out of the smoker, I was lamenting to myself that there was still so much good smoke left and I hated to waste it... I was casting about for something to put in the smoker to take advantage of the remaining smoke, when it dawned on me that I had a huge block of cheese in the house that I was going to cut up into pieces and freeze. I am vegan and don't eat cheese, but my husband loves it. He is especially fond of smoked cheese, but it is so expensive that I usually only get it for special occasions. So I decided to smoke some of the cheddar just as an experiment.

 I was afraid that the cheese would melt, and I didn't want to waste it, so I started out by just putting one small chunk of cheese in the smoker. I looked in the side door of the smoker and checked for heat. The coals were mostly gone and all that was left was the fruit wood prunings smoldering in the tray, so I put the block of cheese on the rack and put the lid on. I left it 5 minutes and then lifted the lid to make sure it the cheese wasn't melting through the cracks. It was warm to the touch on the surface, but was still firm. So I turned the cheese and smoked it for another 5 minutes, then it took it out and smelled it. It smelled wonderful! When my husband got home, I had him try a piece. He said it tasted better than the store bought smoked cheese.

So I set aside some time the next day to smoke the rest of the block of cheddar that I had. The smoker that I have is a Brinkman Smoke 'n' Grill.  I got it on sale at the end of the season at Ace Hardware for $29, but they normally run about $45. It has two racks and two pans, one pan for coals the other pan for water, (if you a smoking a turkey or something that takes a long time, it is necessary to have the water to keep things from drying out). I took one pan out and set it aside. I put the other pan on the hanger at the very bottom of the smoker. Then I soaked small twigs and branches of fruit wood, no larger around than my finger, in a bucket of water. *Note I have a supply of fruit wood prunings from my fruit trees, but if you don't have fruit trees, you can purchase Hickory smoking chips and the natural briquettes at the grocery or hardware store.*

While the branches were soaking, I took several layers of newspaper, twisted them tightly and dripped candle wax on them until they were coated, (I use candle wax instead of lighter fluid, because I don't like lighter fluid). I put the newspaper in the pan I had set aside, add a healthy handful of tinder sized twigs, and then placed a small mound of  natural hardwood briquettes on the twigs and newspaper twists and lit the paper. I let the briquettes burn until they were covered in a light coating of ash and were mostly white on the outside, then I took a pair of tongs and placed three briquettes in the pan that was in the smoker. I placed a small pile of the soaked fruit wood twigs on the briquettes, making sure they were in contact with the coals, closed the side door and placed the lid on the smoker. Before long thick smoke started to leak out around the edges of the lid indicating it was time for me to put the cheese on the rack.

I took the lid off the smoker and checked to make sure it wasn't hot inside the smoker, then I placed the blocks of cheese on the rack making sure to leave room for the smoke to circulate around each block.

 I smoked the cheese for 5 minutes on each side. I did several batches of cheese, so as the briquettes burned down and the twigs were consumed, I added more to the pan in the bottom of the smoker, using the side door.When I was finished smoking the cheese, I took them inside on a tray and put them in the fridge to cool. Once cool, I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and then stacked them in a gallon freezer bag, and labeled them with contents and date. They will keep for many month without freezer burn since they are double wrapped.

                  Here is a recipe for one of my husband's favorite smoked cheese sandwiches:

Two slices of homemade whole wheat bread (or a good quality store bought equivalent)
Mayo
2 -3 Slices turkey breast (or leftover Thanksgiving turkey if it is that time of year)
One thin slice of red onion
2 Tbsp. whole berry cranberry sauce (for the Fall and winter version) or 4 slices of Granny Smith apple (for the Spring and Summer version)
Clover sprouts
2 thin slices of smoked cheddar

Spread mayo thinly on both pieces of bread. Place 1/2 turkey on bottom piece of bread, place cranberry sauce or apples and the sliced onion on the turkey then add the remaining turkey, smoked cheese and the sprouts. Top with the second piece of bread. Press down lightly to settle ingredients, cut into halves and serve. * If you're not a mayo fan then replace the mayo with honey dijon mustard.   Provecho!

*The FDA does not recommend that cheese be canned, but I have done it successfully for years, with no ill effects,  but use your best judgement.
 To can cheese, choose a semi-hard cheese like cheddar or mozzerella, although I have read about someone having good success with cream cheese... It takes about 10lbs. of cheese to fill 12 wide mouth mason jars. Grate the cheese and place it loosely in the jars, keep a bowl full of grated cheese close by since you will need to keep topping off the cheese in the jar as it melts in the jars. Place the jars in the water bath canner that has about 2 -3 inches of hot water in it. You don't want the water to splatter or boil into the jars of cheese so make sure the level of water is no more than 1/2 up the jars when the canner is full of jars. heat the water to a simmer and use wooden spoon to push the cheese down so it will melt. Once the cheese you put in the jar is melted, add more, repeat the process until all the jars are fill to within an inch of the rim of the jars with melted cheese. Use a soapy cloth to thoroughly clean the rim of the jar, removing any oils that the cheese may have left, so that the jars will seal properly. Place a new mason jar lid that has been boiled in a pan of water and and is very hot, on each jar and screw the band on snugly, (but do not crank it down tight, the jars can crack when the begin to create a vacuum.). After all the jars have lids and bands, fill the canner with water to 1 inch above the tops of the jars and put the lid on the canner. Once the water has reached a rolling boil set the timer for 40 minutes. process. When the 40 minutes is up, turn the canner off and take the lid off, but Do Not Remove the Jars from the Water!! Allow the water to cool, before removing the jars. If you remove the jars while the cheese is still hot it may boil some of the oil from the cheese out over the lid and your jars won't seal. Once they are sealed, gently wash and dry jars of cheese to remove any residue that may be clinging to the jars. Dry jars and mark the lids with what kind of Cheese it is and the date.
I recently opened the last of some jars cheese I canned 5 years ago. I needed to make a casserole for a friend that was recovering from surgery. I am vegan I don't have cheese on hand, so I used the storage cheese to make her some comfort food. I opened the jar and smelled it, it had a sharp cheddar smell. I heated the jar under hot water until the oil from the cheese started to liquify along the sides of the glass jar. This made it easier to get the cheese out. The cheese sliced fine but was very crumbly when I tried to handle it much, due to the fact that some of the oil from the cheese floats to the top while it is canning. I took a small quantity and crumbled it over a few corn chips to see if it would melt,and broiled them under the broiler. I then had my husband do a taste test for me. The cheese wasn't inclined to melt over the chips, but my husband said it tasted great. So I made a roux with oil, flour, garlic, seasonings and Srirachi sauce, then I added powdered milk from my food storage supplies, and water to make a sauce, and slowly added the cheese, stirring to melt and to incorporate after each addition. It made a perfectly beautiful cheese sauce that smelled wonderful. I poured the cheese sauce over the noodles and veggies and worked it through with a wooden spoon. Once everything was coated well and there was some cheese sauce pooled up about half way up the noodles, I sprinkled the top with coarse bread crumbs from a home made loaf of bread and then crumbles some cheese on top, sprinkled the top with Italian seasoning, covered the top lightly with foil to keep it from burning. I baked it at 350 for 1/2 hour or so. It smelled great and looked tasty. I got rave reviews from my friend who said the casserole was delicious and a real hit with her 3 year old daughter . So there you have it, canned cheese will not have the same consistency coming out as when it went in, but it was still good after 5years and had developed a fine sharp flavor. And if you smoke it first it will have a rich mellow smokey flavor to boot!

Blog  Link parties this post is linked to:
thehomesteadinghippy.com