The smoked, keeping form of Adyghe cheese: hot-smoked over oak or acorn wood until the rind turns caramel-red and seals; saltier and firmer than the fresh white cheese, it keeps for weeks.
Smoked Adyghe Cheese (Red Cheese)
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the milk almost to a boil, then slowly ladle in the whey from the edges until the curd stops rising and the whey runs clear.
- Lift the curd with a skimmer into a cheese basket to drain and take its round shape.
- Salt both faces of the young round.
- Dry it, turning often, then wrap in clean cloth.
- Hot-smoke over oak or acorn-wood shavings for 7–8 hours (traditionally over several days in the hearth's smoke), until the rind is red-brown and firm.
- The cheese is now saltier and denser and keeps for weeks; serve sliced, or grate it over hot dishes.
This is the recipe from the Recipes section of the Circassian app, where you can also scale it and save it to your favourites.
Kitchen words in Circassian
The words for what is in this dish, in Kabardian (East Circassian) and Adyghe (West Circassian), with audio from the Circassian app’s lessons and audio course.
| English | Kabardian | Adyghe |
|---|---|---|
| milk | шэshe | щэshche |
| salt | шыгъуshyghu | щыгъуshchəghu |
| food | шхынshkhyn | шхыныshkhənə |
| delicious | IэфI'ef' | IэшIу'eshIu |
| This is delicious! | Мыр IэфIщ!Myr 'ef'shch! | Мыр IэшIу!Myr 'esh'u! |
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Smoked Adyghe Cheese: questions
How long does it take to make Smoked Adyghe Cheese?
About 120 minutes, according to the recipe in the Circassian app.
How many people does this Smoked Adyghe Cheese recipe serve?
It serves 6. The servings control above the ingredients recalculates every quantity for 1 to 40 people.
What is Smoked Adyghe Cheese made of?
The ingredients are: 4 litres whole milk (cow, or cow + sheep); 200 ml sour whey or yogurt whey (to coagulate); 1.5–2 tbsp salt, plus extra to rub; oak or acorn-wood shavings (the authentic wood), or beech, for smoking.
Is Smoked Adyghe Cheese an everyday or a festive dish?
The Circassian app files it as an everyday dish (Cheese & Dairy).
Where does this Smoked Adyghe Cheese recipe come from?
From the Recipes section of the Circassian app. The app’s recipes draw on Amjad Jaimoukha’s book Circassian Cuisine and were cross-checked against Russian and Adyghe food sources.
Sources
- Circassian app, Recipes section, recipe “Smoked Adyghe Cheese (Red Cheese)” (recipe data last changed July 2026). The app’s recipes draw on Amjad Jaimoukha’s book Circassian Cuisine and were cross-checked against Russian and Adyghe food sources.
- Circassian app: audio course, Kabardian and Adyghe (the kitchen words: cheese, meat, milk, bread, tea, water, food, delicious), and the lessons’ vocabulary (chicken, salt, butter, honey).
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