A successful cold-smoking cheese experiment. Suluguni worked better than Tzfatit, Imeretian cheese and Halloumi: firm enough, flavorful, and clearly improved by smoke.
Ingredients
- Suluguni cheese — one wheel or block
Preparation
- Cut the cheese into pieces approximately 1.5–2 cm thick.
- Place the pieces on a rack in the refrigerator for 2–4 hours to dry the surface.
- Cold-smoke for about 2 hours with gentle airflow.
- Keep the smoke generator below and slightly aside from the cheese, not directly underneath it.
- After smoking, rest the cheese in the refrigerator for 1–2 days.
- Vacuum-pack any remaining portion and allow it to mature for about a week.
Notes
- The surface should be dry before smoking.
- Suluguni produced the best results among the cheeses tested so far.
- Tzfatit remained too wet and released liquid during smoking.
- Halloumi can be smoked successfully, but benefits less from extended resting.
- A few days of resting noticeably improves the flavor.