Unlike fresh cheese, smoked cheese has a nutty, smoky flavor. Since cheese at temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius can produce condensation, it is better to use the cold smoking method. To do this, you can purchase a cold smokehouse, but you can also use improvised means and make the task easier.

Steps

Cheese preparation

Wait for a cool day. To prevent the cheese from melting, it must be cold smoked. Although we will try to keep the temperature low, it will be easier for you to achieve the desired effect if the air temperature is no higher than 15 degrees.

• If you do decide to make this on a warm day, use a small batch to prevent the cheese from melting as much as possible. A store-bought cold smoker is the best method for warm days.

1. Slice the cheese of your choice. You can smoke any cheese, as long as it is not too soft and will not fall through the bars of the grill. Gouda, Cheddar and Gruyère are popular options. To ensure that the cheese is completely smoked, use pieces no larger than 10 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm so that the smoke completely saturates them.

   • If you want the cheese to be smoked on top but soft inside, use large pieces.

2. Dry the cheese and warm to room temperature. Unwrap the wrapper and leave the cheese in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, remove from the refrigerator and wait until it comes to room temperature. This will evaporate some of the moisture, making it easier for you to achieve the smoked crust effect. Blot moisture from the surface of the cheese with a paper towel.

   Consider purchasing a cold smoker. You can buy a cold smoker adapter if you already have a regular one, or purchase a separate unit. The price varies greatly (from 2000 to 6000 rubles). However, when using a cold smoker, the risk of melting the cheese is minimized, and the process itself becomes much easier.

   • Some cold smoking devices are small, low heat, and use a special fuel made from wood dust. Such a device can be placed in the lower part of a regular smokehouse and used as indicated in the instructions.
   • Other cold smoking devices have special compartments for connecting to a hot smoker. If the manufacturer is different, you may have to make the connection yourself. With some models, you may even need a drill and bolts and nuts, but it's best to find out before purchasing.
   • Either way, once you set up a cold smoker, cook the cheese over wood chips or pellets for 1-6 hours, turning at least once, then remove from the smoker and refrigerate for 1-4 weeks. See the Hot Smoker section for more tips.

3. You can also make your own cold smoker. It depends on what tools you have available:

   • To make your own cold smokehouse, you can use two methods: a regular (hot smokehouse) or a closed grill. You can use a saucepan filled with ice or create a small smoke source using a can. Both methods are described in the Hot Smoker section.
   • If you don’t have a smoker or grill and don’t intend to buy one, you can try smoking cheese over a kitchen heating element installed in the refrigerator. The method is successful, but complicated, as it requires additional control and special attention to fire safety.

   Smoking cheese over a hot smoker or grill

   1. Smoke the cheese over a pan of ice. This is the easiest way to keep cheese at a low temperature when smoking in a hot smoker or grill. Place a wire rack on the pan and place the cheese on it. Then proceed to step Light a fragrant smoke source. If you don't have enough space for a pan with ice or you are afraid that the process will slow down too much, try the next step.

      • If space allows, fill a colander with ice and place it over a saucepan that will collect the melted water. This will make it easier for you to replace the ice.
      • Read the section on preparing cheese if you haven't already.

   2. You can also use a tin can. Use a clean, large tin, such as a soup can (300 ml). Using a jar you can make a small chimney and keep the fire and temperature low.

      • If you have a large smoker, you may need a large coffee can to provide sufficient smoke density.

   3. Light a source of aromatic smoke. If using ice, light the fire as usual using 3-4 small charcoal briquettes (or the heating element of an electric smoker). To create smoke, place a pan of aromatic wood chips or pellets over a heat source (see Tips section for more information). If you are using a tin can, then you have two options:

      Make holes for ventilation. There should be enough smoke, but the burning process should be slow and gradual.

      Put the cheese. Once you have a source of smoke at the bottom of the smoker or grill, place the cheese on the grate at the top. Close the smoker or grill.

      Check the cheese often. When using these methods, you should check the cheese every 15-20 minutes, especially if this is your first time. Please note the following problems and correct them:

      • Maintain the fire by adding charcoal, wood chips or pellets every 30-40 minutes (if using the first method, add dry and wet wood chips).
      • If there is moisture on the cheese, it will soon begin to melt. Reduce the number of vents or cool the cheese using the following methods.
      • If using a pan with ice, replace the ice with fresh ice. If the day is cool and the fire is not strong, you don't have to do this.

   4. Smoke for 0.5-6 hours, turning occasionally. Cheese easily absorbs flavors, so it does not need to be smoked for as long as meat. Turn the cheese every 15-30 minutes or at least once during the smoking process. Wait until a darker smoke ring forms around the cheese before removing it from the heat.

      • Soft cheese in a warm smoker will be ready in 30 minutes if you prefer a lightly flavored cheese. Most often, cheese is smoked for one to two hours.
      • Thick pieces of hard cheese on a cold winter day need to be smoked for 4-6 hours. For the first time, it is recommended to do this for 3 hours so as not to interrupt the real taste of the cheese.

   5. Let the cheese soak before using. Remove from smoker and wrap in wax or parchment paper. Store in the refrigerator for at least a week to allow the smoke flavor to mellow. The cheese will taste best after 2-4 weeks in the refrigerator.

   Smoking cheese in an empty refrigerator

   Designate a refrigerator that will only be used for smoking. The refrigerator may become saturated with the aroma of smoke, so it should be completely empty. It should be installed in a fire-safe location, such as a garage or basement with a concrete floor and no flammable materials nearby. A refrigerator doesn't have to be functional.

   • Before continuing, please re-read the cheese preparation instructions at the top of the article.

   1. Place a hot plate at the bottom of the refrigerator, preferably one with temperature control.

   2. Place a pan with wood chips. Use a small loaf pan, can, or other non-flammable container. Fill it with wood chips or pellets that are intended for smoking or are made from clean wood without toxic additives.

      • For more information on wood scents, see the Tips section.

Despite the fact that the history of smoking cheese goes back more than a thousand years, the production of smoked cheese on an industrial scale began at the end of the 19th century. There are two main ways to smoke cheese - cold and hot. Cold smoking is carried out at low temperatures (up to 40 degrees) and lasts for a long time - from several hours to several days. Hot smoking occurs at high (up to 80 degrees) temperatures and occurs very quickly - several tens of minutes. At such high temperatures, cheese melts quickly, so the industrial method of smoking cheese is completely automated. In addition, rapid hot smoking places more serious demands on food safety, since at such temperatures there are dangerous components in the smoke, which requires additional means of smoke filtration in such smokehouses. The productivity of large industrial smokehouses is up to several hundred kilograms of product per hour.

How to make smoked cheese at home

Hot smoking of cheese at home is problematic, so it is necessary to use cold smoking. There are several methods of smoking at home. Using each of them, you can smoke any type of cheese - both purchased and home-made. The varieties can also be any: the main thing is that the cheese is hard. You can use Dutch cheese, Parmesan or feta. Let's look at some of the ways to make smoked cheese:

• Using a stationary smokehouse. The cheese is first cut into pieces 10x10x5 cm. Thicker ones are undesirable, since the smoke will not completely saturate it. After this, the cheese is placed in the refrigerator in an open form, for example, on a baking sheet, where it is kept for 24 hours. After this, we take it out of the refrigerator, and the cheese is at room temperature for an hour. This will help get rid of excess moisture. Next, the cheese is placed in a smokehouse and kept there for the required time. As a rule, it lasts several hours. Wood chips, aromatic twigs or special granules act as a source of smoke. During the process, the pieces must be turned over at least once. After cooking, the smoked meat is placed in the refrigerator for several days, where it comes to condition.
• Using a grill or barbecue. For this method you will need 1-2 kilograms of ice. Preliminary preparation of the product is the same as in the previous method. Raw materials are placed at the bottom of the grill to produce smoke and the grill is set on fire. A grate with pieces of ice is placed on top - they will help maintain a low temperature during smoking. It is necessary to provide for the possibility of replacing ice when it melts. A grill with cheese is placed above the ice. The top of the grill is covered with a lid, which should have holes for smoke to escape. Smoking lasts from half an hour to 6 hours. In this case, it is necessary to regularly maintain the fire by adding coal and changing the melted ice.
• Using a homemade smokehouse. If you don’t want to buy a smokehouse, you can make one yourself. An empty 200 liter barrel can be used as a smokehouse. Aromatic twigs or wood chips are placed at its bottom, the layer thickness is no more than 1-2 cm. The cheese is placed on top of the barrel on a grate attached at a height of about a meter from the bottom. Typically, the grilled cheese is placed on a baking sheet or large frying pan. The top of the barrel is covered with a wet rag so that the smoke from the branches has contact with the cheese longer. A fire is lit under the barrel and, in fact, smoking begins. During the process, the cheese is turned over several times. The criterion for readiness is that the crust turns dark yellow or brown.
• Using an old refrigerator. You can use an old refrigerator as a smokehouse. An electric stove is placed at its bottom, on which there is a frying pan with wood chips or twigs. It is advisable to equip the refrigerator with an internal thermometer, since its thermal insulation allows it to reach high temperatures even with minimal heater power. The cheese is placed in a special container (pot, frying pan or baking sheet) on the refrigerator racks. If there is not enough of it, then it is advisable to place it on the bottom shelf. Smoking at a temperature of 40 degrees lasts several hours. You can shorten this time if you increase the temperature to hot smoking mode, but you should not do this at home - the smoky material that decomposes at such temperatures contains a large amount of phenols that are harmful to humans.

Is smoked cheese healthy?

The use of cheese in cooking is very wide - from a simple snack for beer and salad components to inclusion in recipes for serious meat and fish dishes. Smoked cheese is useful only if it is produced in a high-quality manner. At the same time, all useful microelements that are part of milk must be preserved. These are important components such as phosphorus and calcium; they are necessary for normal hair and skeletal growth, as well as for maintaining healthy nails and teeth.

The high nutritional value of smoked cheese is achieved due to the fact that the fats included in its composition, during heat treatment, change their structure for the better and are evenly distributed throughout the entire volume of the product. This adds calories, while maintaining the supply of almost all vitamins, proteins and amino acids. During smoking, vitamins A and D are preserved. The calorie content of good smoked cheese ranges from 320 to 420 kcal/100 g.

If the composition contains various food additives with the prefix E, or it was smoked using the so-called. “liquid smoke”, the beneficial qualities of such cheese are in great doubt. A considerable part of these additives are harmful to the liver, and liquid smoke is even carcinogenic.

How long does smoked cheese last?

Unlike ordinary, unsmoked cheeses, the storage of which is limited to 4-6 months (and even then the cheese can survive this period if it is in intact packaging and special storage conditions), smoked cheese lasts much longer. Thanks to the partial polymerization of fats, as well as natural antioxidants that enter the cheese during the smoking process, its shelf life increases. For example, ordinary sausage cheese in cling film can be stored for up to 4 months. If the cheese has not been unpacked after smoking, then its “life” can reach up to a year. For example, Adyghe homemade cheese has a shelf life of about 30 days, but if it has been smoked, it can be eaten after several years.

We hope you enjoyed our article on cheeses. If you want to add some new information or some recipe, share with us in the comments block.

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At the beginning of the 19th century, the first canned goods appeared, separated after thermal processing, in sealed containers. However, thermal processing is now abandoned by the most common method of preparing canned food. Sterilization is one of the main technological stages Sterilization of canned food and thermal processing of the product, which ensures death bacteria by eliminating microbiological food at temperatures in a moderate climate (15-30 ° C), and sometimes at higher temperatures.It guarantees the safety of canned food for food (according to microbiological indicators Mainly, canned food is sterilized at a temperature of 120 ° C, sometimes above 100 ° C. Sterilization is intended for the preservation of canned products, which means the preservation of food value, organoleptic properties, and costliness. getting the hang of it autoclave for canning If you change the hour for preparing canned food, you are guaranteed to lose all bacteria. It is recommended to use sterilization and packaging of all types of canned food in glass containers of various sizes from 0.2 to 3.0 liters in squeezed or sealed jars.

1. Seat the jars filled with food tightly.
2. Place balls in the autoclave - jar on jar, up to Golovin. Place a wooden lattice at the bottom.
3. Fill with water, making sure to cover the jars with a ball no less than 2 cm.
4. Close the lid of the autoclave and tighten the bolts.
5. Using a car pump, pump the autoclave up to 1 atm and visually (with additional water) or by ear check the tightness of the seal. The pressure is required to save the filling of the cans, because when heated, it will leak Pressed in the autoclave itself and in the middle of the jars .
6. Heat the water in the autoclave to 110 ° C (the pressure will increase). When the temperature rises to 110 ° C, wait an hour and soak the jars for 50-70 minutes. Be sure to do this so that the temperature does not exceed 120 ° C. This processing regime achieves both the death of pathogenic organisms and the savory taste of canned food.
7. Remove from heat (simmer) and leave to cool (you can also use cold water) to a temperature of no more than 30 ° C.
8. The cob giblets will be squeezed in an autoclave. Open the autoclave, pour water through the hose and remove the jars.

It is necessary to add that the pressure gauge of the autoclave will show pressure at a temperature of 110 ° C - 2.5-3.5 atm, and at a temperature of 120 ° C - 4-4.5 atm. Then, keep pressure on the heating temperature of the autoclave and the volume of air between the lid and the jars.

Sterilization modes for canned food

Every person knows how little it takes to turn an ordinary dish into a culinary masterpiece. Housewives actively use aromatic spices and herbs, cheese and mushrooms for this. There is another way to transform the taste of quite familiar products - smoking.

Moreover, this process can be carried out easily and simply at home. The end result will be delicious brisket, mackerel that exudes crazy aromas, or incredibly tasty cheese.

For many, smoking cheese is new, but not the product itself, but the fact that you can do it in your own apartment or country house. But knowing some secrets of cooking at home won’t hurt anyone.

Simple recipe

To prepare delicious, aromatic cheese, you will need ordinary table napkins, culinary thread and, of course, ordinary hard cheese of your favorite varieties.

Important preparatory stage

In order for the aroma of smoke to permeate every piece, the cheese must be cut into bars weighing about 200 grams. Then each piece is wrapped in a napkin, preferably in three layers, and the packaged product is wrapped with culinary thread on top.

Hot smoked cheese is excellently produced in a home smokehouse, but it also needs to be prepared. Firstly, choose the right sawdust; knowledgeable people take only alder sawdust; in the absence of them, apple and plum (fruit tree) will do. Secondly, the sawdust is moistened with water and squeezed out. Thirdly, the cheese is not immediately placed in the smokehouse; first it must be empty. And only after the smoke starts to come out, you can put the pieces on the grill or hang them.

Smoking cheese - instant readiness

It is necessary to take into account the fact that cheese is a ready-to-eat product. Therefore, when smoking at home, it will take very little time, in contrast to cooking the same brisket or fish (pike perch, mackerel).

Of course, the temperature in the smokehouse and the size of the pieces play an important role, but in general the process lasts no more than five minutes. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that experienced experts do not recommend tasting the product right away. Pieces of cheese must be freed from napkins and threads and placed in hermetically sealed containers. Then put the cheese in the refrigerator for a day, during which time the smoke aromas will be more evenly distributed.

Now the cheese can be used to make sandwiches and pizza. It’s also good to serve this product on a large platter in the form of sliced ​​cheese, which will be a good snack for beer and red wine. Household members and guests will be surprised by the skill of the owner, for whom smoking cheese at home will be a process that brings pure pleasure!

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Having an ordinary home smokehouse, you can prepare any smoked delicacies: meat, lard, poultry, fish. But few people have tried to make the smoked cheese beloved by many. This dairy product has many beneficial qualities and is widely used in cooking. This smoked product is ideal for making hot sandwiches, pizza, savory salads and snacks. Smoking cheese at home is a simple process, but it still requires some rules that you need to know.

Composition, calorie content, benefits and harms of smoked cheese

Cheese is a healthy and nutritious product containing large amounts of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and vitamins. The product is simply necessary for the health of bone tissue, hair and nails.

Cheese also contains fatty acids and easily digestible protein, which ensure the normal functioning of the entire body. But a product made only from high-quality raw materials, smoked naturally, without the use of preservatives and flavoring additives, can be considered useful.

The procedure for hot smoking cheese is quite fast and the product does not have time to accumulate harmful amounts of carcinogens. Therefore, it can be consumed by everyone, except people who have an individual intolerance or allergy to dairy products.

You should also beware of questionable products that are treated with liquid smoke. Given the high calorie content, overweight people should not consume large amounts of smoked cheese.

100 g of smoked cheese contains:

• Protein – 23.5 g;
• Fat – 30.8 g;
• There are no carbohydrates.

Technology of smoking cheese in a hot smoked smokehouse

Smoking cheese takes very little time. In addition, cheese does not need to be seasoned with spices and marinated like other products.

To prepare you will need:

Preparation:

Any hard cheese is suitable for smoking. You can try the simplest ones - Dutch or Russian. The cheese must be cut into portions of approximately 200 g. Such pieces will quickly acquire the aroma and taste of smoke.

Then wrap each piece in a cloth or paper napkin and tie it with thread. If napkins are used, you need to wrap them in several layers.

Prepare the smokehouse. Clean it thoroughly to avoid any foreign odors. Sprinkle two small handfuls of wood chips evenly onto the bottom.

Place the empty smoking apparatus on a lit fire, close the lid tightly or, if available, fill the water seal with water.

After thick white smoke comes out of the hole, remove the lid and place the prepared cheese on the grill.

The cheese is smoked for only 2 minutes, at a temperature of 80-90⁰C. After cooking, the cheese must be removed from the smokehouse, freed from thread and napkins. Then place the smoked product in an airtight container and place it in a cool place (refrigerator) for 24 hours.

During this time, each piece will be evenly saturated with the smoky aroma, and the taste will become brighter and richer. You can enjoy this delicacy with a glass of light wine or use it to prepare savory dishes. Bon appetit!

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