Smoky cheeses

Smoky cheeses carry the flavour of wood smoke: bacon, campfire, toasted bread and sometimes a bitter, tarry edge. Most get it from being smoked after they are made, like oscypek, scamorza affumicata, smoked provolone and Bandel; a few, like Idiazabal, once took it up from the hearth smoke of shepherds' huts. The wood shapes the flavour: beech and alder are mild, oak and hickory stronger, fruitwoods sweet.

Smoke and its flavours

Wood smoke carries phenols, such as guaiacol and syringol, which taste smoky and slightly medicinal, and other compounds that brown the rind. Most cheese is cold-smoked at temperatures low enough that it does not melt, for anything from a few hours to several days. The smoke flavour stays mostly in the rind and the outer layer, which is why a thin slice cut through the whole cheese tastes more balanced than the rind on its own.

Smoky cheeses of the world

Poland's oscypek is smoked in highland huts and grilled at stalls in Zakopane. Galicia's San Simón da Costa, a pear-shaped cow's milk cheese, is smoked over birch until its rind turns a glossy copper. Asturias makes Gamonéu, a lightly smoked blue. Italy's scamorza and provola affumicata are smoked stretched curds, and Bandel cheese, from near Kolkata, is sold both plain and smoked. Smoked Gouda and smoked cheddar are made in many countries.

Cooking with smoky cheese

Smoky cheese gives meaty depth to vegetarian food: smoked scamorza on pizza or in a pasta bake, smoked cheddar in macaroni, grilled oscypek with cranberry jam. A little goes a long way, so cooks often mix it with an unsmoked cheese. It pairs with dark beer, peaty whisky, apples and pears, and with smoky foods such as grilled aubergine and roasted peppers.

Worth knowing

Oscypek: Smoked sheep's milk cheese of the Tatras
Scamorza: Smoked as scamorza affumicata
Idiazabal: Basque sheep's milk cheese, often smoked
San Simón da Costa: Galician cheese smoked over birch
Gamonéu: Lightly smoked blue of Asturias
Bandel cheese: Small cheese of Bengal, plain or smoked
Provolone: Also sold smoked as provola affumicata

Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.

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