When cooking or meal-prepping with cheese in the past,
you may have learned that "too much of a good thing" is not just something people say. There
are plenty of mistakes everyone makes with cheese. Here's a look at some of the worst offenders.
For many Americans, a plastic can or tub of grated cheese is the only
parmesan cheese they've ever known. But next time you're at the grocery store,
think twice before reaching for that familiar plastic container.
Most parmesan cheese sold in America is not even real parmesan, according to Forbes,
because genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano is really expensive — a single wheel can cost more than
$1,000. In short, don't trust a wedge of parmesan cheese sold at most grocery stores
in the United States and definitely do not trust the pre-shredded stuff.
Bloomberg News tested store-bought, pre-grated parmesan cheese in an
independent lab and found that some brands contained higher percentages of cellulose,
a cheap filler also known as wood pulp, than is deemed safe.
In addition to the horrifying thought of sprinkling an excess of 2 to 4 percent of,
quote, "powdered cellulose" over your food, consider that cheese,
once grated, will dry out. Even though parmesan is a dry cheese,
pre-grated parmesan is dryer and lacking in flavor relative to freshly grated.
Pre-shredded cheese is convenient, of course — even pet birds won't disagree — but what you
get for that convenience you sacrifice in taste, oooey-gooey meltiness, and savings.
With pre-shredded cheese, potato starch and cellulose work together to prevent clumping,
and natamycin is added as an anti-mold agent.
Freshly grated cheese lacks these preservatives, so it tends to taste better, and melt more
smoothly. You also get more bang for your buck. As Taste of Home explained, an 8-ounce block of
cheese will yield more volume of grated cheese than an 8-ounce bag of pre-shredded cheese.
When you grate your own cheese, you also have more choices available to you. If you want
grated cheddar cheese, at most supermarkets, there might be two or three varieties at most.
If you're grating your own cheddar cheese, the world is your cheesy, delicious oyster — and this
is what we mean when we say, "There's a first time for everything!" Grate away, cheeseheads!
"I'm gonna give you some cheese."
"That's a lot of cheese."
At this point, you're probably thinking that the box grater is your new BFF,
but before you get too comfortable, just remember
the cheese you're using — specifically the temperature of that cheese — matters too.
Although you should serve cheese at room temperature, it's best to shred cheese
when it's cold. This means you should begin grating immediately after taking the cheese
from the fridge. If you try to shred cheese that is too warm, it will become a mushy mess.
This rule also applies to hard cheeses, like parmesan. Even if it seems solid at room
temperature, put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Soft and/or fresh cheese may not need
to be grated at all, but you should still wait to crumble or cut it until it's sufficiently cold.
You can freeze cheese and then grate it,
but there are some definite drawbacks to letting cheese anywhere near your freezer.
"I can tell by the gross weight I'm not gonna like it. I like my cheeses
in the ounces. When they weigh as much as a Fiat I get worried."
There are types of cheese that should never be frozen,
such as fresh cheese and cheese with holes or air pockets.
But even with cheese that can be frozen,
bear in mind that freezing can affect flavor and dry out the cheese.
Cheese comes into your home with its moisture content carefully balanced
and you're going to want to replicate its ideal storage conditions as much as possible.
That means covering it completely and not leaving it exposed in the fridge to dry out.
Exposed cheese in the refrigerator will also start to take on the taste of food
it's being stored next to, so unless you want your cheese to taste like leftover salad greens,
sausages and even cake, you should probably cover it up.
But not with plastic wrap. Cheese is a living, breathing thing,
which means completely closing it off from air will suffocate its flavor. Moreover,
plastic wrap's artificial, plasticky taste will start to absorb into cheese after a day or two.
The best way to store cheese is in cheese paper, but if you don't have cheese paper handy,
The Splendid Table recommends wrapping your cheese in wax paper or even aluminum foil.
Some people say you should put mayonnaise on the outside of a grilled cheese while
others say you should put butter on the outside. Regardless of your method,
don't forget to also pay attention to what goes inside the sandwich: the cheese.
"Mom cuts off the crust."
"Yeah, well, I don't."
The ideal grilled cheese sandwich is crispy on the outside and melted on the inside.
While it seems like that shouldn't be too hard, if you've ever had a grilled cheese
that was ultimately just a slice of unmelted cheese between two slices of burnt bread,
you know that it is, in fact, possible to mess up something that seems so simple.
First, remember that good things, like a delicious grilled cheese sandwich,
come to those who wait. Spread your butter or mayo all the way to the edges — even on
slightly toasted bread, just depends on how you like to make your grilled cheese.
Be sure to use bread with a tight crumb so cheese doesn't get all over your pan.
Next, use a cheese that melts well. While cheese aficionados may scoff at American cheese,
it really is the best for this sandwich. Lastly, grill your grilled cheese low and slow.
High heat is not your friend here. Especially if you're using, say,
an iron for the melting, which we don't really recommend!
It's okay to stray from the classic cheeseburger, but there's no point in putting cheese on a
burger if it isn't going to melt, right? Sorry to crush your Greek cheeseburger dreams, but feta is
incapable of melting. Mozzarella and provolone — Or, pro-VAH-loan, as a lot of people say it.
It's really supposed to be pro-vah-LOAN-ay, but let's not get too sidetracked here...
Both have a high water content and will turn into a messy mess on a burger. While Halloumi,
not to be confused with Houdini, doesn't melt, and is meant to be put directly on a grill.
If you're going to have a cheeseburger, stick with one of the classics, like American Kraft singles.
Kraft cannot technically call this product "cheese" per FDA regulations,
but it's America's favorite, quote, "pasteurized cheese product" and what
other cheese melts over the top of a burger so perfectly? If you insist on eating real cheese,
though, cheddar, Swiss, or blue cheese all taste really nice on top of a burger.
Have you ever had really fresh mozzarella? It's creamy, delicious, and very, very moist.
The best mozzarella is made from buffalo milk, and this type of mozzarella is ideal
for the slightly soggy in the middle, thin-crust Neapolitan-style Margherita pizza which calls for
generous splotches of melted mozzarella on top. It is less than ideal, however, for an
American-style slice due to its moisture content. Low-moisture mozzarella, on the other hand,
will melt and stretch but remain dry enough for a pizza crust to stay nice and crispy.
Additionally, low-moisture mozzarella has a much longer shelf-life than fresh mozzarella.
It doesn't taste great at room temperature, but it is the type of cheese that really comes alive
under heat. If you want to snack on mozzarella that isn't melted,
get yourself some fresh mozzarella di bufala. Avoid sticking it in the
refrigerator and simply slice up the fresh cheese and serve at room temperature.
"Who ordered the deviled cheese and sausage?"
"Right here dude."
This is an Italian tradition that has more or less become accepted as a rule around the world:
Thou shalt not mix seafood and cheese! One Italian chef in London was so offended that
a customer requested parmesan to sprinkle on his crab ravioli that he denied the request.
In response to the customer's bad review on TripAdvisor, the irate chef replied:
"Try parmesan on cow dung, it should taste fine for you."
Where does this rule come from? You could argue that it is because most seafood has a delicate
flavor profile, and a bold, assertive cheese could easily overpower that.
In Italy, this taboo might be a product of geography.
Italy's major cheesemaking regions are generally land-locked
and given their distance from the sea, their historic cuisines developed without an
emphasis on seafood. Italy is also a largely Catholic country and,
for centuries, Catholics were forbidden from consuming meat and dairy on Fridays.
Even if you follow this rule, you don't even have to look outside Italian cuisine to find an
exception or two. Anchovy pizza! Clam pizza! Once you look beyond Italy, the exceptions multiply.
For example, you can get a tuna melt at any deli in New York City.
Some rules are made to be broken — sometimes. But proceed with caution.
Is there anything as kitschy fun as fondue? Some people might say that fondue is making a comeback,
but, really, has sharing a melted pot of cheese ever actually gone out of style? If you have
a fondue set gathering dust because the idea of fondue is intimidating, it's time to think again.
You should know that getting the perfect consistency of fondue
is more art than science — and you can absolutely adjust as you go.
Of course, the absolute worst feeling is watching your nearly perfect sauce
break or split, so remember, just like with your grilled cheese, you need to go low and slow.
Heat up some white wine, toss your grated cheese of choice with corn starch,
and slowly add the cheese to the not-too-hot wine.
Let the cheese melt before adding more, but don't let the cheese get above its melting point.
If the liquid comes to a boil, the protein in the cheese will coagulate and pull out the fat,
leaving you with a lumping, unappealing sauce.
If you find the sauce is getting too hot, take it off the stove for a minute or two.
Temperature is the only tricky thing about fondue or, really, any other cheese sauce.
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