My wife recently returned from Italy and she absolutely loved some
smoked mozzarella cheese. I cannot think of the name off hand....
See, the wife is a picky / finicky eater... and well when I find out
she likes something in particular I attempt to indulge it, as well as
possibly learn how to make it myself, that is if I have the right
tools.
Smoking Cheese:
Is this a cool smoke? or a hot smoke? I'm assuming cool but without
any real initial knowledge I'm just shooting in the dark.

Any insight or possible links to a guild would be greatly appreciated.
----------------------------------------
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
- Arthur C. Clarke

LewZephyr wrote:

> My wife recently returned from Italy and she absolutely loved some
> smoked mozzarella cheese. I cannot think of the name off hand....
> See, the wife is a picky / finicky eater... and well when I find out
> she likes something in particular I attempt to indulge it, as well as
> possibly learn how to make it myself, that is if I have the right
> tools.
> Smoking Cheese:
> Is this a cool smoke? or a hot smoke? I'm assuming cool but without
> any real initial knowledge I'm just shooting in the dark.

Funny you should ask, I'm doing a load of sardo and cheddar today.
The most important aspect, by far, is temperature control. Ideally
you want to cold smoke at ambient temperature, but that's difficult
to do without special equipment. I found I had to build a cold smoker
to make that happen. I use a smoke generator made by Bradley and
some custom cabinets.

Whatever you're using you want to stay below about 90 F for most
cheeses. Really fine, aged cheese will be damaged if the temp gets
too high for too long. You can usually tell by looking at it if
this has happened. The oil in the cheese will collect on the
surface and the texture will be altered... usually in a fatal way.

Mozz is a soft, non-aged cheese so you have a bit more leeway as
far as damaging the texture with excessive heat. Soft cheeses
have the problem of high moisture content though, so make sure
the surface is completely dry. Use a fan if you have to. Also,
always make sure cheese is at room temp before smoking it or
you'll get condensation and off flavors.

Here's a decent write up on the subject. Good luck and let us
know how it comes out.

http://www.bbqlodge.com/cheese/cheese.htm

PS - You might also want to look into making your own mozz. It's
easier than you might think and the results are outstanding.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser...LA_JOYCES.HTML

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 21:19:54 GMT, I needed a babel fish to understand
Reg > :

>LewZephyr wrote:
>> Smoking Cheese:
>> Is this a cool smoke? or a hot smoke? I'm assuming cool but without
>> any real initial knowledge I'm just shooting in the dark.
>
>Whatever you're using you want to stay below about 90 F for most
>cheeses. Really fine, aged cheese will be damaged if the temp gets
>too high for too long. You can usually tell by looking at it if
>this has happened. The oil in the cheese will collect on the
>surface and the texture will be altered... usually in a fatal way.
>
>Here's a decent write up on the subject. Good luck and let us
>know how it comes out.
>
>http://www.bbqlodge.com/cheese/cheese.htm
>

Reg,
Thank you for the informative response. It may be a bit
before I can get a kick off on trying this. I presently have a barrel
smoker with side firebox... as well as living in Houston. The smoker
would be at 90 degrees ... well just sitting there.
I think I will look into acquiring a cheep bullet smoker or possibly
an actual cold smoker to attempt this process.
Your info and the link you gave will be a great asset in my
decision process for this ... um adventure.

Oh, and I think in time ill give making that mozzarella a run as well.
----------------------------------------
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
- Arthur C. Clarke

LewZephyr wrote:

> Reg,
> Thank you for the informative response. It may be a bit
> before I can get a kick off on trying this. I presently have a barrel
> smoker with side firebox... as well as living in Houston. The smoker
> would be at 90 degrees ... well just sitting there.
> I think I will look into acquiring a cheep bullet smoker or possibly
> an actual cold smoker to attempt this process.
> Your info and the link you gave will be a great asset in my
> decision process for this ... um adventure.

Here's a cheap way to make one, and it's easier to keep the
heat down than doing it with a bullet smoker. Good luck with
it all.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldsmoker.html

> Oh, and I think in time ill give making that mozzarella a run as well.

Blessed are the cheesemakers.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com