Cold-smoked cheese

Preparation

Start preparing for cold smoking the cheese the day before by unwrapping your cheeses and placing them on a (cake) rack. I opted for a piece of Brie, a white Cheddar, a St. Bernardus beer cheese and a piece of mature cheese.

Then place the pieces of cheese in the refrigerator for 24 hours. This will dry the outside of the cheese, allowing the smoke to adhere well during cold smoking.

Twenty-four hours later, take the Cold Smoke Generator and fill it partially with beech wood smoke chips. About 10 centimetres of smoke chips will produce smoke for about 2 hours.

Ensure that the barbecue is empty and place the filled Cold Smoke Generator at the bottom of the barbecue. I light the wick by lighting half a firelighter cube under the start of the wick. Wait until the firelighter cube has burned out and the barbecue is filled with smoke.

PThen remove the rack with the cheese from the refrigerator. Place the cheese on the BBQ using the rack, or place the cheese directly on the BBQ rack. Close the BBQ with the lid and ensure that both the top and bottom air vents are slightly open.

ZSoft cheeses often have a milder flavour, which means you smoke them for a shorter time than harder cheeses with a more pronounced flavour. I smoked the brie for a total of 45 minutes, the beer cheese for an hour and the cheddar and mature cheese for 1.5 hours.

Turn each cheese halfway through the smoking time so that the cheese is smoked evenly, and remove the cheese as soon as it has had enough smoke.

Now place the baking paper in a large sealable container and put the smoked cheeses on top. Close the container and leave the cheese in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, wrap each cheese individually in airtight packaging. Vacuum sealing is ideal, but resealable bags from which you squeeze out as much air as possible are also fine.

Now place the wrapped cheeses back in the refrigerator to rest for a week. This allows the smoky flavour to spread throughout the cheese.

After 7 days, the cheeses can be unwrapped and cut. For example, to make a delicious smoked cheese platter with some chutneys and toast. Enjoy your meal!