Make Homemade Side Dishes Feel Like They Came From A Steakhouse With This Cheese Tip

When you can't go to the steakhouse, why not bring the steakhouse to you? Sure, you might not be able to mimic the dimly-lit, knotted-wood, rustic ambience of your local beef haunt, but there is one simple tip that will lend such a smoky signature robustness to your homemade steak sides that friends might just skip that trip to Ruth's Chris in favor of your house. The hack — just add smoked cheese.

According to the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, "Smoked cheese is any cheese that has been cured with smoke from a fire," (and Wisconsin being "the Dairy State," and renowned for their cheeses, they ought to know). The process of curing or smoking cheese (often a cold smoke, so as not to melt the cheese) results in a variety of smoky sensations from the bold, deeply fire-tinged, slow-build of a sharp cheddar that fills your senses like a campfire, to the milder smoke incarnations that marry and mingle more subtly, highlighting for example, the nutty-savoriness of a gouda. Both of which are perfect for pairing with the rich, grilled, meaty-umami flavor of steak. Some of the most popular types of smoked cheese are of course, the aforementioned gouda and cheddar, as well as provolone, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, parmesan, and the inimitable, Gruyère.

Once you decide to submit to the fire-forged goodness of smoked cheese for a tête-à-tête with your steak, you'll find the pairing intoxicating and the number of sides you can dress in smoke — veritably infinite.

One of the laziest ways to use smoked cheese to complement a beautiful steak is to simply shred it over the top of sides, such baked potato, steak fries, or even garlic bread before broiling. But if you've got a little more time, try mixing it into creamy, riced Yukon gold potatoes with whipped butter and chives for a truly heavenly mash-up. Or let your taste buds soak in the soot-tinged smoke of a gruyere-laden au gratin — pure magic! But why stop there? Ever had a three-cheese mac using smoked gouda and cheddar cheeses, with an unsullied fontina back (to keep things from getting too hazy)? Or wrap your veggies in a tummy-warming blanket of toasty wood-smoked cheese, firing up a smoked cheese sauce to drizzle over roasted broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus. Turn things up to a four-alarm fire when you belly up to a smoky take on Tennessee onions.

But don't forget, while you're working your way through all those mouthwatering sides and all their cheesy possibilities, that these smoky flavors come with their own very particular set of flavor notes, imparted by the type of wood used to smoke them. Unleashing an untapped world of fire-kissed prospects that will allow you change up each and every one of those rib-sticking sides, from the down-home intensity of hickory to the sweet fruit-smoked goodness of apple, cherry, and maple woods, and the subtler, crowd-pleasing earthy char of oak, there's more than enough smoke to go around.