[Sca-cooks] Couple of quick questions for the list....
Kathleen Madsen
kmadsen12000 at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 3 16:31:13 PDT 2008
Greetings, Maire! I can help with the first two.
>
> 1. I'm trying to track down a particular kind of
> cheese I had in this astonishing salad in Santa Monica this
> past summer. I suspect, but have not verified, that they
> may have been using a really fresh buffalo mozarella. It had
> a fresh taste, was fairly pale, and had a texture unlike any
> cheese I've ever eaten--a bit like a cow's milk
> mozarella, but somehow creamier? like a cross between a
> mozarella and a cream cheese? Definitely not chewy or
> crumbly....It was served as part of a caprese salad, made
> with heirloom tomatoes, organic evoo, and baby
> arugula....mmm......
That would either be Mozzarella di Buffula; i.e., buffalo milk mozzarella, or Burratta. Burratta is only found in the summer months and can be quite difficult to get ahold of; it's mozzarella stretched around unpulled mozz. curd. The texture of a real, hand-pulled mozzarella is absolutely devine - completely unlike the dry, chewy stuff we usually see in the grocery store. As you bite into the "real" thing it kind of shreds and melts a bit and the moisture spreads across your palate, there's a slightly tougher outer layer to the mozzarella sack that allows it to hold it's shape. You also normally find it in a container with a bit of water or whey to keep it moist, there's one that's sealed into a plastic pouch that I usually get here. It just amazing with fresh tomatoes, EVOO, and fresh ground salt and pepper. Yum! I can forward a cow's milk recipe if you ever want to try making your own and Mozzarella Fresca has a great how-to video on mozz.
pulling that you may be able to get to from their website.
> 2. A friend is experimenting with one of His Grace's
> recipes from the "Miscellany," and has a question
> about one of the ingredients. It's the meat-based
> recipe called "A soup called Menjoire," and the
> problem ingredient is the half-cup of hippocras. It's
> unclear if this is referring to hippocras *powder* (I.e.,
> just the spices), or if it's intended to be half a cup
> of spiced wine. We're both guessing that it refers to
> the wine, but we're not sure....
>
I'd try sending David an email: DDFr at best.com He or Betty should be able to tell you pretty quick what the answer would be, and I know they'd appreciate the question. I wouldn't be surprised if a clarification showed up in a later edition of the Miscellany.
Regards,
Eibhlin
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