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[waluigijpeg]

truly he gets me

[waluigijpeg]

most mozzarella recipes you find online are lying to you. (OR they only show half the process. but THAT one is for a good reason.)

nearly all recipes you see call for adding acid, either citric acid or vinegar, to milk, which curdles it and lowers its PH and makes it stretchy, and then stretching it. some recipes add rennet.

that is… well, it's not really our beloved mozzarella. that will make you cheese that tastes like milk. now cheese is still cheese, i'm not hating! and you can call it whatever you like.

but it's missing two major processes of making delicious mozzarella, which i'll get to in a second.

SECONDLY, you'll sometimes see videos of "making mozzarella" that are just: cutting up mozzarella curds and stretching them.

now this is for a good reason. because making mozzarella curd is a pain in the ass! it's expensive, time consuming, takes up unreasonable space, and milk gets contaminated SO easy. so these cooks are letting the dairy make good mozzarella curd, which transports way better, then stretching it fresh.

this is basically the best of both worlds. your old-school new york italian spots tend to do it like this, ordering curds from a good dairy. your italian-american grandad, if he makes mutz, might make it this way. it's great.

NOW, back to the real topic, what are these fake mozzarella recipes missing?

first, they're missing culture. the sourness of really tasty cheese comes from lactic acid produced by certain bacteria. this kind of fermentation also produces many other flavors, most of which we find pretty delicious. in the recipes i have, that bacterial culture is usually thermophilic (enjoys growing at high heat) lactic acid bacteria. but if you're careful with heat, you can use a mesophilic culture, which also exists in yogurts, so you can start your cheese with yogurt or buttermilk or whatever.

the bacteria grow, they sour the cheese, and they also make it delicious! something that citric acid doesn't do.

the SECOND missing ingredient is even more important. it's lipase. lipase is an enzyme that exists in milk that breaks fats into fatty acids. for instance, it's what's responsible for the flavor of provolone. it's got that bite to it. that little bit of "mmm!" that's characteristic of good italian cheese.

it is also what makes milk go rancid.

thankfully, it is deactivated by heat pasturization. this is usually ideal, but we want this enzyme in cheese! so we add it back.

without lipase, your cheese will have no piquancy. without culture, your cheese will be okay, but it will have no character.

i would say that these flavors are essential to good italian-style cheeses of all varieties. also i barely mentioned it, but please add rennet too.

cheese is delicious and you deserve the good stuff. thank you. that's all