By: dieta

dieta — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:04:19 +0000

Burrata, melted with olive oil and dipping herbs. Last month, in my quest for a super-soft mozzarella, I made A Cheese of My Own . This month, continuing my cheese challenge for New England Cheesemaking, I’m taking mozzarella in another direction. Mozzarella is a pasta filata cheese, which means a cheese in which the curds have been stretched or spun. Filata means “spun” and pasta means “paste” in reference to the cheese paste or curds. Burrata is another pasta filata cheese, a softer twin of mozzarella in which one portion of the cheese is stretched while another portion is separated, broken up, mixed with heavy cream, then put back as the filling in a sort of “purse” made of the remaining cheese. You have to work fast and make a tight purse, which can be a little tricky. The softness of this cheese comes from the curd filling–which is not worked much. This cheese is best made with farm-fresh or local milk, either slow-pasteurized (at 145 degrees for 30 minutes) or used raw. If you’re using pasteurized store-bought milk, add 1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride directly to the milk when you put it in the pot. Do NOT use ultra-pasteurized milk.

Comments on: Three Ways: Tomatoes

By: dieta