Smoked Gouda - Recipe
You probably think that smoking gouda is as easy as putting the cheese in your electric smoker, leaving it in there for a couple of minutes, and then taking it out. However, the recipe isn’t that simple. There are a few considerations, including time, the type of wood you use, the ideal type of smoker, the type of gouda e.t.c.
Equipment
- Smoker
- Refrigerator
- Parchment paper
- Vacuum sealer
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Gouda
- Wood pellets (hickory or any fruitwood)
Instructions
- There is one essential detail to know before you attempt to smoke some gouda, i.e., you can only cold smoke the cheese, and the ideal temperature range is quite limited. Given the nature of the cheese, if your smoker reaches anywhere above 40° F, you’ll actually be cooking the cheese rather than smoking it.
- This is why electric smokers are preferred. However, even with a grill, you can make it work by using a smoke tube. Users recommend the AMNTS12PF Pellet Tube Smoker because it’s small enough to work with most grills and can work for up to 11 hours with just 15 oz of pellets.
- Even with an electric smoker keeping the cheese below 40° F in normal weather conditions is challenging to pull off. You can get around this by using winter to your advantage if you live in a cold state. According to World Population Review, North Dakota is one of these cold states withtemperatures of around 24°F in winter.
- If that doesn’t work because of the season or your location, you can use ice. Place the ice in a rimmed baking sheet. Place a cooling rack with the cheese onto the baking sheet. This will keep the cheese close to the ice while keeping the two separate.
- With these materials and equipment, you can start preparing the grill. If you’re using a pellet tube smoker, this will involve filling it up with pellets and lighting the flame while your cheese and ice setup is still in the fridge.
- As for the wood pellets, hickory tends to work pretty well for smoked gouda. The same is true for most fruitwoods. If you can’t decide on the wood, a blend will work just fine. The Traeger Grills Signature Blend is highly recommended by reviewers because it incorporates maple, hickory, and cherry, and these pair well with just about anything, including gouda cheese.
- Ignite the pellets in the tube smoker and let them burn for about 5minutes. After that, extinguish the flame, and the wood pellets should start smoking. Place the smoker in your grill, and assuming you don’t live somewhere cold, your cheese + ice setup should be in there as well.
- Of course, the gouda should be unwrapped; otherwise, the smoky flavor won’t penetrate the cheese. You can let the cheese smoke for anywhere between 30minutes and an hour. That said, the longer you smoke it, the more intense the smoky flavors. Also, remember to turn the cheese and replace the ice every so often during this period to keep the cheese cool and ensure it smokes evenly.
- When you remove it from the smoker after 30 minutes or an hour, wrap it in parchment paper and follow up by putting it in the fridge for 48 hours. The last step is to vacuum seal it and leave it in the refrigerator for an additional 14 days before serving.
Video
Notes
There seven different variations of regular gouda where the age is concerned. There are, of course, the other variations we highlighted, although the differences are in how these cheeses are made, with one example being fenugreek-infused gouda.
According to WebMD, Fenugreek is a herb with many health benefits used as a vegetable in India. It’s also used to flavor foods such as cheese hence the fenugreek-infused gouda. What you want is young, regular, and unaltered gouda. This is because younger gouda is milder, softer, and smoother, and hence the smoke will be able to leave more of an impression.
Nutrition
Calories: 202kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 14gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 65mgSugar: 1g