Preparation:
Smoking Cheese from the, Home book of Smoking Meat, Fish and Game by Jack Sleight and Raymond Hull
Almost any cheese may be given a gentle smoking to enhance its flavor.
From a short exposure to very heavy smoke, cheese may pick up a slightly sooty flavor, so a light smoke and a somewhat longer application is desirable. Two hours of light smoke is a fair average. Low temperature-especially with softer cheeses-is essential. The oven should not get above 80F. Below 75F will be better.
To give maximum absorption of smoke, the cheese should preferably be in fairly thin slabs-not thicker than 1 1/2 inches. Any rind, peel, wax coating should be removed before smoking begins.
The cheese will necessarily lose some weight, will shrink a little, and
become somewhat firmer in texture during smoking. This is merely the result if partial dehydration, and does not indicate any loss of nutriment.
After smoking, cheese should be wrapped again as it was before, and kept under refrigeration. However, it will not yield its finest flavor if it is eaten cold. Remove from refrigerator an hour or two before it is required, and give it time to warm up to room temperature.
After smoking the cheese remains fresh and free from any sign of mold or decay much longer than a similar unsmoked cheese, even kept at room temperature. |
