Buon Natale!

Merry Christmas!

Welcome to Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

For my final entry of 2012, I'm going to write on something I probably should have weeks ago.

Why has Italian cheese been my preoccupation lately?

Surely other countries produce fantastic cheese and possess cultures rich in cheese lore and a commitment to maintaining the sacred traditions of cheese making.

But, of course. And they shall receive my undivided attention in the coming months.

Italy, you see, has a special place in my heart. And not only is it the wondrous variety of lactose-based ambrosia the nation produces that enthralls me.

Italy’s geography and culture are a smorgasbord of enchanting and sometimes befuddling disparity. Each region, distinct and unique, has its own marvelous thing going on, as seen in its loyalties (regional identification is fierce), dialect, cuisine…You name it. This banquet for the senses is embodied in the singular character of each region's cheeses.

When you shop for cheese in Italy, you'll find only the cheeses produced in the region you're in. Each locale is passionate regarding their own. With rare exceptions, a shop keeper wouldn't dream of selling a cheese from anywhere else.

Italians take their cheese very, very seriously. So much so, that a whole raft of laws have been put in place to ensure that a cheese bearing a particular name is made in its proper region, according to time-honored processes with traditional ingredients, and that it achieves a consistent standard of flavor and quality. These laws are referred to as Denominazione di Origine Controllata (D.O.C. for short). To date, 26 cheeses have been granted the coveted D.O.C. status. These (and their regions of origin) are as follows:

•   Asiago: Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

•   Bra: Piedmont

•   Caciovacallo: Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania

•   Canestrato Pugliese: Apulia

•   Casciotta d'Urbino: The Marches

•   Castelmagno: Piedmont

•   Fiore Sardo: Sardinia

•   Fontina d'Aosta: Piedmont

•   Formai de Mut: Lombardy

•   Gorgonzola: Lombardy

•   Grana Padano: Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto

•   Montasio: Friuli-Venezia Giulia

•   Mozzarella di bufala: Campania

•   Murazzano: Piedmont

•   Parmigiano-Reggiano: Emilia-Romagna

•   Pecorino Romano: Lazio, Sardinia

•   Pecorino Siciliano: Sicily

•   Pecorino Toscano: Tuscany

•   Pressato: Veneto

•   Provolone: All regions

•   Ragusano: Sicily

•   Raschera: Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna

•   Robiola di Roccaverano: Piedmont

•   Tallegio: Lombardy

•   Toma: Piedmont

When you visit your favorite cheese shop, look for the D.O.C. stamp on the rind or wrapper of the goods on display. Although a name-controlled cheese may vary a little in flavor and appearance due to various factors (e.g., different cheese makers, ripening times, season in which the cheese was produced, etc.), nonetheless you can be confident that it's the real deal.

Treat yourself this holiday season to a selection of some of the finest cheeses on earth. It's a treat that will make your Christmas and New Year's feasts memorable ones, indeed!

For the latest and greatest on everything CHEESE, follow the blog of America’s #1 Cheese Maestro, Steven Jenkins, at www.fairwaymarket-jenkins.blogspot.com and get the ultimate cheese "bible"--his Cheese Primer here.

One more time this year... Darklings  Get it here, curl up in front of a fireplace, and enjoy a good after-Christmas feed read!

Some Holiday Cheese

Merry Christmas!
Welcome to Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

Today's delectable offering is one well known to many of us --

Provolone (pro-voh-LOH-neh)

Provolone, a cheese originating in the province of Basilicata in southern Italy, is what you get when you rub a Mozzarella in brine, tie it up with a rope, and hang it out to dry in a room at the right humidity and temperature.  Provolone, a spun or pulled curd cheese (pasta filata in Italian) made of cow's milk, is now produced in just about every region of Italy. In southern Italy, Provolone is even more popular than Mozzarella or Romano.

The origins of the name Provolone come from the Campanian word "prova," which means "spherical." Provolone comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from balls weighing 8 ounces to 200-pound "torpedoes."

With age, Provolone attains a marvelous intensity of flavor. At three months, the cheese is gently piquant. At one year, it becomes decidedly sharp. At a year and a half, it's both very sharp and spicy. Cheeses aged one year or more are often called Provolone piccante.

Far from the bland stuff we buy at the local grocery store for sandwich filling, real Provolone is fragrant and firm, with a light yellow exterior and a yellowish rind. Provolone is wonderful by itself or accompanied by veggies, salami, crusty bread, and hearty red wine.

It's true. Provolone is not just for your favorite submarine sandwich any more. Get yourself a slab, ball, loaf, torpedo, or whatever shape you can find and chow down!

Just in time for Christmas! Darklings... Buy it here!

Beautiful Bleat

Welcome again to Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

Sheep. What do they remind you of? Wooly socks? Insomnia? Docility? Mutton? Lamb chops?

In Italy, sheep mostly mean CHEESE! (Just the thing I'm reminded of. Quite a lot actually.)

The milk of sheep is used to make a wonderfully flavorful cheese generally known in Italy by the name Pecorino (pen-koh-REE-noh), from the word "pecora" (sheep).

Pecorinos tend to be oily, as characteristic of sheep's milk cheeses. Sheep's milk has a very high butter fat content, which is why the cheeses made from it taste so good.

The best Pecorinos are produced in the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, the Marches, and Lazio in central and south central  Italy; and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia off Italy's west coast.

Of all the heavenly Pecorinos these regions have to offer, my personal favorite hails from Tuscany. Called Pecorino Toscano (ton-SKAH-noh), it can be young and un-aged, creamy and smooth and bursting with flavor.  If it comes from Siena, it's most likely rubbed with tomato paste and aged for about six months, making it firm, off-white in color, sort of flaky, and rich with the flavor of nuts and herbs. From the town of Pienza, it can be a Peperino infused with dried, hot peppers for a more piquant cheese experience. Or it might be rubbed with olive oil to yield a very nutty, rich flavor of herbs and grasses and wild flowers. Yum!

Pecorinos are hardly ever used as an ingredient in other dishes, so intense and assertive is their flavor. The cheese is a lovely accompaniment to other foods, such as salami, prosciutto, olive, fruit, crusty bread, or grated in salads.

Wherever the origin of your Pecorino, enjoy it with your antipasto favorites. You'll be sure to love it!

And now for this commercial break... Darklings  Buy it here!

A Fontina of Flavor!

Welcome to another installment of Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

Tonight, it's back to northern Italy and the province of Piedmont to explore another beautiful cheese--

Fontina d'Aosta (fawn-TEE-nah DAOW-stah)

True Fontina d'Aosta is an Italian semi-firm cheese with the deep, rich flavor found in cheeses made from top quality raw cow's milk.  This Fontina is firm--never wobbly, shiny, or bulging, like some cheeses that are marketed as "Fontina" but are far from it.

Not to say that some Fontina-style cheeses can't be quite fine. Some Italian varieties, such as Galbani and Mauri (from Lombardy), and Carmognola (from Piedmont), are very good, indeed.

Fontina mixes beautifully for use in cooking. For example, Fontina is renowned as the main ingredient in fonduta, the Italian delicacy similar to Swiss or French cheese fondue. While fondue is eaten from a communal pot using bits of bread, meat, and vegetables stuck on the end of long-handled forks, fonduta is whipped and poured onto individual plates filled with rice, boiled potatoes, polenta (Italian corn meal mush), and cooked or raw vegetables. Fonduta combines Fontina with butter, eggs, and white truffles to produce a dish of unsurpassed deliciousness.

Because Fontina combines so well with other ingredients, it's easy to forget that it's also one of those "good for all occasions" cheeses that can stand alone or be eaten with a combination of meats and fruit. Try it for lunch sometime with a nice crusty loaf and a glass of red wine. And enjoy!

And now for this commercial break... Darklings  Buy it here!

Softly, Softly, Nice and Cheesy: Part Last

Yet again...Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

And for my final offering on Italy's "soft" side I bring you...

Mozzarella (moh-tsah-REH-lah).

Some of the best Mozzarella cheese comes from the milk of the water buffalo.

Water buffalo have lived in the region to the south and west of Naples (in the province of Campania) since the 2nd century A.D. Mozzarella was made from their milk in the hills near Salerno until the 1940s, when the animals were destroyed by Nazis retreating the region during the Second World War. After the war, Italy brought in more water buffalo from India. Since then, these herds have expanded, and now a thriving water-buffalo milk industry exists... which ensures a plentiful supply of Mozzarella di bufala.

While Mozzarella can also be made from cow's milk, Mozzarella di bufala is considered by many to be the better of the two. It's sweeter and has a greater depth of flavor than the cow variety. It also has a slightly different color... sort of a greenish-yellow shade. Whether it's made of cow's or water buffalo's milk, fresh Mozzarella is considered a pulled, or "spun", curd cheese.

If you want a Mozzarella with a longer shelf life (say a week or so), buy it salted. Salted not only keeps longer, it's good to eat all by itself with some crusty bread and a nice red wine. The unsalted version doesn't last nearly as long and is usually confined to use in cooking.

Mozzarella features prominently in a number of Italian delicacies, such as caprese--a lovely dish comprising slices of the cheese alternated with ripe tomato slices, fresh basil, freshly ground black pepper, and drizzled with extra-virgin oil--or as the main treat in an antipasto.  Yum!

Now you know: Mozzarella is way beyond that rubbery, flavorless stuff found on pizzas. Moist, sweet, slightly salty, milky, buttery, and nutty, it's one truly marvelous cheese!

Softly, Softly, Nice and Cheesy: Part Middle

Here again... Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

Another delightful Italian "softy" is Ricotta.

Primarily a product of Lombardy, Ricotta is made from the whey byproduct of cheese made of fresh sheep's and goat's milk. Like Mascarpone, Ricotta is actually more of a dairy product than a cheese.

Ricotta was originally made in Rome (in the province of Lazio) from whey that was the byproduct of Romano cheesemaking. The disposal of whey has always been a problem. You can't just throw it away because it fouls up sewers and waterways by promoting the growth of algae, which uses up the water's oxygen supply and kills the fish. In the last century, it was discovered that whey could be turned into "cheese" by heating it up to create a new curd that, when drained, could be turned into Ricotta.

Italian Ricotta is made mostly from the whey of sheep's milk or the milk of water buffaloes, though cow's or goat's milk can also be used. This Ricotta has a wonderful mild, sweet, and nutty flavor and a somewhat dry texture.

Ricotta, like Mascarpone, mixes well with other foods, enhancing their flavor and texture. You can eat it with fruit or vegetables, mixed in with dessert or pasta recipes, or just by itself.

Italian buffalo milk ricotta is a particularly wonderful taste experience. Look for it at your favorite specialty shop and pick some up. You'll be glad you did! 

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Softly, Softly, Nice and Cheesy: Part First

Once again, it's Prudence Dapperling's "Big Cheese" Blog!

For the last few weeks, we've been looking at some of the big, brash, blue and crumbly cheeses of Italy. Piquant, captivating, and in your face (they're never shy about dominating the flavor palette on your plate), these brilliant morsels well reflect the bold character of their native country.

Not to say that Italy--that glorious Gucci boot lolling in the Mediterranean--doesn't have a soft and mellow side. No, indeed. Some of the most tender, gentlest cheeses come from there.

These "softies" play well with others (foods, that is), and are used in a variety of dishes.

One such delight is Mascarpone (mahs-kar-POH-neh).

Mascarpone, from the province of Lombardy, dates from the sixteenth century. It's made from the cream of cow's milk and is rather more of a dairy product than a cheese; no starter culture (the bacteria that turns milk into cheese) is used, and no curds are involved. Pale yellow in color, Mascarpone is soft, sweet, and smooth (yum!) with a butterfat content of 70% to 75%--the highest it can be without turning into butter. It's very similar to English clotted cream or buttercream cake icing.

These qualities make Mascarpone an ingredient that adds richness and sparkle to many Italian dishes, both sweet and spicy. For example, it's the main ingredient of tiramisu, a dessert of northern Italy made of lady fingers soaked in espresso, Strega liqueur, cocoa, and sugar.

In the province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Mascarpone is sometimes combined with anchovies, mustard, and herbs to make a savory mixture for spreading on bread.

And, of course, Mascarpone can be enjoyed just as it is, sprinkled with sugar, cocoa, grated chocolate, finely ground coffee beans, or served with raspberries or strawberries.

Pick up some Mascarpone, toss it into your favorite dessert, whip it into a spread or a sauce for pasta, or just eat it by itself. You're sure to love it!

And now for this commercial break... Darklings  Buy it here!

The Greatest Cheese on Earth!

Welcome to Prudence Dapperling's "Mouse in a Million" BIG CHEESE Blog!

You're probably asking yourself, "The 'greatest' cheese? Really? And how would Dapperling know?"

I'm a mouse, remember? (Says so on my passport. Right page, seventh line from the top.)

 

And mice know these things.

Anyway, the cheese I consider to be the greatest ever, in terms of history, shelf-life, and all-around awesomeness, is... drum roll, please...

Parmigiano-Reggiano!

If you want to talk "big cheese," this one, produced in the Italian province of Emilia-Romagna, is the biggest. Wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano weigh in at 66 to 88 pounds!

This cheese was the stuff that powered the mighty Roman legions on their marches across Europe and most of the known world. Parmigiano travelled well. Needing no refrigeration, the cheese had (and has) a "shelf life" of several years.

And flavor? Wow! It's huge. Thick, delicious, bold. Parmigiano is a hard cheese (a "grana") that can be grated into fine grains for spreading around on other foods or chipped off for enjoying all by itself. The flavor is spicy (like cinnamon or nutmeg), salty, nutty... in short, just plain wonderful.

Get yourself a wedge and chow down. Once you do, I'm sure you'll agree: Parmigiano-Reggiano is the greatest cheese on earth!