Good cold. Surprising hot.
A cheese whose domed shape is created by hand, matured for a minimum of 30 days and smoked with real wood smoke. Cold, it separates into strips and sections. Hot, it reveals a soft, creamy centre.
The same 600 g cheese moves from a premium cold cheese experience to a warm sharing centrepiece — without changing product, recipe or format.
Texture · Structure · Peel-apart
The layered hand-shaping process develops a characteristic strip-like structure. So the cheese can be sliced or pulled apart into strips — an original way of serving it, by hand, not only with a knife.
Cold serving guide
Creamy centre · Structured outer layer
When heated, the smoked exterior keeps its structure and shape while the centre turns soft and creamy. The result is a molten-cheese effect and a sensory experience completely different from the cold product.
Heating instructions
The characteristic shape of BRĂDET cheese is not achieved by pressing it into a mould. After the main production stage, each piece is turned, folded several times and shaped by hand, then placed into a dedicated mould. This is how the cheese takes on its distinctive, widely recognised domed form.
A minimum of 30 days of maturation under carefully controlled conditions helps preserve the domed shape, the smooth surface and its characteristic strip-like texture.
Finally, the cheese is smoked with natural wood smoke, which gives it the colour, aroma and character specific to BRĂDET Smoked Cheese.
The final shape of every piece is given by hand, not by an industrial mould.
No added flavourings and no liquid smoke — only milk, salt, rennet and time.
The time in which the internal structure and the flavour profile develop.
Real wood smoke, which gives the colour, the aroma and the characteristic rind.
What sets BRĂDET cheese apart from other products comes from the interaction of manual shaping, processing pH, brining, controlled drying, maturation and natural smoking.
A tailored recipe and controlled processing pH establish the elasticity and behaviour required for the next stages.
After the main process, each piece is turned inside out by hand several times, forming a mushroom-like structure. The central core — the “cheese navel”, as the cheesemakers call it — is removed, and the remaining piece is folded several times and shaped by hand into a rounded form.
The hand-shaped piece is placed in a dedicated mould. Brining parameters are controlled to support elasticity, surface quality and the characteristic domed geometry.
Temperature, humidity and airflow are managed throughout drying and maturation. A minimum maturation of 30 days develops the specific inner texture and outer structure.
Natural wood smoke contributes aroma, colour and the stability of the outer surface, completing the product’s sensory identity.
Know-how. Exact pH, brine concentration, airflow and smoking parameters remain proprietary production know-how.
The manual stage: the piece is turned, pressed and shaped by hand.
A minimum of 30 days of maturation, then smoking with natural wood smoke.
A minimum of 30 days of maturation gives the cheese time to develop its characteristic internal structure. Rather than behaving like a homogeneous industrial block, it separates naturally into sections and fibres.
Its structure can visually recall the segments of a mandarin when it is opened and shared at the table. Natural smoking develops its colour, aroma and rind, completing the matured flavour.
Let it stand 30–40 minutes at room temperature before serving. Straight from the fridge, the smoke aroma and matured flavour stay closed.
A thin blade, held a few seconds under warm water and wiped dry, goes cleanly through the smoked rind without crumbling the slices.
Sourdough bread, walnuts, grapes, acacia honey, wholegrain mustard, green apples. In the glass: a dry, round red or a dark beer.
In the fridge, between 2 and 8 °C. Once opened, wrap it in baking paper and then loosely in foil — the rind needs to breathe. Eat it within a few days of opening.
The domed shape calls for a different approach than a rectangular block. The four movements below bring the internal structure out, instead of crushing it.
Take it out of the wooden container and place it on a steady board, rounded side facing up. That way you see exactly where the blade goes in.
Press the blade straight through the middle, top to bottom, in one continuous movement. The cut face shows you which way the internal fibres run.
From each half, cut slices of 1–1.5 cm, working from the centre outwards. You will get curved slices with smoked rind along one edge.
Take hold of the edge of a section and pull gently along the fibre. The cheese separates into long strips, like the segments of a mandarin — a genuinely delicious spectacle.
Heated whole, in a conventional oven or in the microwave, the cheese keeps its structure on the outside while the inside turns soft and rich. Place it in the middle of the table and eat it straight from the wooden container — it withstands both methods, you need no other dish.
Five seconds that explain what happens to the centre in the heat better than any description.
Three for the cold version, three for the hot one. All start from the same 600 g piece.
Moon-shaped slices, walnuts, grapes and acacia honey. Leave the smoked rind on the slice — that is the part that gives the contrast.
Pulled apart into strips and laid on a board, alongside olives and roasted peppers. The starter that keeps the table gathered around it.
It travels whole, in its container, and is opened on the spot. No knife, no plates — just bread alongside.
Baked whole and placed in the centre, with toasted bread, new potatoes and pickles. Everyone dips straight from the container.
Before baking, tuck thyme, rosemary and a thin sliver of garlic into the scored cuts. The aroma enters the centre along with the heat.
Taken hot from the oven exactly as everyone sits down. It holds its temperature for a good few minutes in its container.
See the shape. Discover the texture. Remember the taste. Brădet Lactate · From the foothills of the Făgăraș mountains, since 2005