[Sca-cooks] Fresh buffalo cheese (long)

Kathleen Madsen kmadsen12000 at yahoo.com
Sat May 5 17:02:45 PDT 2007


True mozzarella is a little sack of lightly stretched
mozzarella curd that will fall apart if you touch it
too hard.  It is extremely moist and is sold in
containers of water or whey, depending on the
manufacturer.  It is impossible to grate but you can
cut it into strips and cubes but they don't hold their
shape either.  I sometimes just mash it in a bowl with
a fork, easier that way.

The information that's on Whole Foods website is
actually mis-classified, it should be under both Fresh
(which it is) and Soft (which it's not).  The
semi-soft would actually be the deli-style which is
what most people are familiar with, the big tube of
slightly elastic cheese that looks kinda plasticy.

Here's a website for Paula Lambert's company, The
Mozzarella Company.  http://www.mozzco.com/  Paula
lived in Italy for several years and loved the fresh
mozz she would get there.  When she moved back to
Texas she wasn't able to get her mozz fix as she
wasn't able to find a comparable cheese available in
the US.  She has a very entrepreneurial spirit and
decided to go back to Italy, learn how to make it, and
then come back to Texas to make it for sale to
mozzarella lovers here.  She's absolutely histerical
if you ever get the opportunity to attend one of her
presentations or tastings.

Mozzarella Fresca sells prepared mozzarella curd that
you can buy and then turn into the finished product. 
There was actually an episode on the Travel channel
the other day on the Epicurious show where they were
pulling mozz.  They were doing a great job but made
the single, classic mistake that all of us who love to
play with food make.  They got carried away pulling it
out.  You just want to let it droop slowly from one
hand to the other until the surface gets nice and
smooth, usually takes about 4-5 "pulls", then you form
a knuckle and twist it off to form the little ball
shapes.  In order to get that really delicate curd you
want to pull it as little as possible, the more you
pull the tougher it gets.  The chef guy and his
sidekick had turned it into rubber ball consistency
that you could probably bounce off the floor.

So if anyone wants to have lots of fun playing with
their food and making a lovely period cheese this is
one of those "instant gratification" ones that doesn't
require waiting before eating.

I was going to say "Recipe", but it's really a
"Technique":

Cut mozzarella curd into 1" cubes.
Put into a bowl of salted water that has been heated
to 140 degrees F.
After a few moments the curd will begin to melt, stir
gently until it forms a lump in the bottom, you'll
still be able to see melted cube shapes in it.  Pick
up the mass and hold in one hand, allow it to drop
slowly into the other hand letting gravity do all the
work.  Pass it from hand to hand until the surface
becomes smooth and glossy.  Either form into a large
ball or form knuckles of cheese balls and pinch them
off with a twisting motion.  Tuck ends inside the
balls and form a smooth shape.  Place pulls mozzarella
into a cold water bath.

In looking online you can find mozzarella curd online
at http://www.todarobros.com/,
http://www.goldenagecheese.com/ (these people look
like they have the best price, and your local
specialty cheese shop.  I used to know the chef with
Mozzarella Fresca and as my friend and I were cheese
groupies for a demo he was doing at Andronico's he
would pass me off 5 or 10 pounds of free curd
everytime we crossed paths at a show.  Nice guy.

Eibhlin, who's feeling terribly long-winded tonight

*************************************************

Why not grated?  The information on
Wholefoodsmarkets.com indicates 
that it
is a semi-firm cheese, and the nutrition information
says that a 
serving is
1 oz. GRATED!
Is your memory of it that it is too soft to grate?  Is
it about the 
same
consistency of regular Mozzarella, or softer?


More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list