Cheese: Grilled vs. Smoked

I was supposed to be traveling this weekend for work. When that got cancelled, I needed a good project for the weekend. I thought about raking the leaves, cleaning the attic, catching up on my bills and finally decided to smoke some cheese.

Why smoke cheese you ask? Well, there has been a lot talk recently about the art of cold smoking, which is the process of smoking something without cooking it. I saw it on some Food channel show. I read about in Edible Memphis magazine. I heard about one of the cooks using this method for something in his sauce last week at a BBQ competition. What better to cold smoke? One of my favorite things. Cheese, of course.

The title of this blog also mentions grilled cheese. Where did that come from? I am not talking about the sandwich. I was actually on the phone with my sister. She mentioned that when in Argentina recently, she had grilled provolone, known as provoleta. Since she mentioned that it was magnificent, I figured that as long as I was smoking cheese, why not grill some too?

Smoked Cheese

I started with three types of cheese: a red wax gouda, an aged cheddar from Roth Käse in Wisconsin (of course), and provolone from Whole Foods.

I then did some research on the web on how to cold smoke with my Big Green Egg. A website called the Naked Whiz provided a fairly simple method, that I ended up basing my method on.

1) I first smoked cherry wood chips in water for over an hour. I like the cherry wood because it is not overpowering like a hickory. Other fruit wood would also work well, like apple or peach.

I then wrapped the soaked wood in a little tin foil package and cut holes in the top of the package for the smoke to get out. I got this method from Americas Test Kitchen's awesome cookbook called Best Recipe. They use it when smoking ribs on a Weber charcoal grill. Great recipe.

2) I lit 8 charcoal briquettes using my chimney starter. I put the eight hot coals at the bottom of my Green Egg and then placed the wood chip package on top.

3) I used the place setter to hold a large aluminum pan with ice cubes. I put the grate on top and then another raised grate on top of that.

4) I closed up the Egg so that the vent on the top was barely open and the one on the bottom was about half way open. This allowed me to keep the temperature at about 75 degrees. I little warmer then it was outside. I wanted to keep the smoker as cool as possible, so I wouldn't melt the cheese.



5) After an hour, I was done. I removed the cheese. As you can tell from the pictures, the cheeses all sweated a bit and the provolone even melted a bit. I let them sit for about 10 minutes before my wife and I tried them.

Each cheese had a definite smoke flavor. The gouda took to it the best. It had this awesome mild smoke taste that infused the entire brick. The cheddar wasn't all that smokey. The intrinsic flavor of the cheddar prevented the smoke flavor to really come out. The provolone was somewhere in between.

I am assuming this is why I see smoked gouda at the grocery store, but rarely any other smoked cheeses. My wife was very happy with the amount of smoke each of the cheeses had, but I was looking for a bit more smoke, especially in the cheddar.

6) So, I put the whole setup back together. I added three more briquettes to the still hot original briquettes. Then for the smoke, I opened up the tin foil package. I added new soaked wood chips and put the side with the holes face down on the briquettes. I then opened up the other side all the way. Once the smoke started to release. I added some of the cheese back into the Egg. I smoked them for another 20 minutes. This did the trick and all three cheeses had a much more intense smokey flavor.

In the end, I ended up finding a way to get a nice mild smokey flavor in the cheese the way my wife likes it and I found a way to have an intense smokey flavor the way I like it. We tried the cheese with pears, as well as on hamburgers later in the evening. It was perfect with both.

One more thing, according to the Naked Whiz, do not put the cheese in the refrigerator right after removing the cheese from the grill. It will cause everything in your fridge to smell like smoke. This is good advice. As of right now, my wife still indulges me without complaining about my little weekend projects. If I smelled up the entire fridge with smoke, she may no longer be so willing.


Grilled Cheese

So now for grilling the cheese. I already mentioned that I was going to grill provolone. However, the cheese lady at Whole Foods recommended I try a Greek "grilling cheese" called Halloumi. Sounded good to me. If I was going to grill cheese anyway, might as well try two types.

Grilling cheese is not all that easy. How do you grill cheese without ended up with a gooey mess? The halloumi was easy, as its natural properties prevent it from melting. However, the provolone was more difficult. I actually tried grilling provolone before and failed miserably. So, I scoured the web for some advice.

The best advice was from a video by Michael Chiarello on the Food Network website. Apparently leaving the cheese out at room temperature for at least an hour, will cause a skin to form around the cheese. This helps prevent the cheese from melting. The other advice was to grill the cheese at a very hot temperature, allowing the outside to be grilled without melting the inside (similar to grilling a steak).

1) For the provolone, I made a marinade that was similar to chimichurri sauce. It included garlic, red pepper, fresh oregano, and olive oil. I pressed this marinade into the cheese, so that it wouldn't fall off.

2) For the halloumi, I decided to use just lemon. The Greek halloumi reminded me of a fried cheese dish that I used to have as a kid at a local Greek restaurant in Racine, Wisconsin. The dish is called "Saganaki." They would basically douse Greek cheese in brandy and then light it on fire at the table. They would then use lemon to put the fire out. It was delicious. After doing some research, sure enough, halloumi is one of the cheeses often used in Saganaki.

3) Unlike smoking cheese, I now had to get the grill hot. I put the cheese on once the grill hit 450 degrees. I started with the provolone and grilled each side until it started to melt (about 1 minute). Then I put the cheese in a little aluminum tin on the raised grate for another minute or 2 until it really started to melt. I made sure to oil the grate generously before putting the cheese on. Otherwise, it would stick and I could lose the best part of the grilled cheese.

4) As predicted, the halloumi was easy. I grilled it on both sides with the lemon until both the lemon and the cheese were slightly browned.

5) Served both. I have to admit at this point, I have had a lot of cheese. So, I again I needed my wife to help me evaluate the final product.

The provolone was delicious. It had the warm, not quite crispy outside with a delicious garlicky marinade. Literally melted in my mouth. It was even better on some country bread.

The halloumi was good, but not as good as the provolone. I squeezed the grilled lemon on the cheese before serving. It had good flavor, but the consistency was a little cardboard like. I guess that is why it was so easy to grill. I probably would have liked it a lot more, if it was the only cheese I had for the day. However, after trying three different smoked cheeses twice and the grilled provolone. I was a bit cheesed out.

I think my next endeavor for cold smoking will be malt for my friends home brew. I will fill you in on that when the time comes.

Thank you for reading. This blog was brought to you by Lipotor. I think I better go for a run.