"Center-cut" Parmigiano -- legit or no

[Fat Guy]

I was up in the Bronx the other day buying some Parmigiano Reggiano. The guy selling it had some whole wheels and also some pieces that had come off other wheels. I pointed to a piece that looked nice to me and asked how much it weighed. It was the right weight for me so I told him I'd take it. He said, when packaging it up, "This is a really nice piece, center-cut." Is that a legitimate claim and distinction? Or was he just making me feel good. I will say, perhaps because I have a feeble mind that's easy to influence, that the cheese tastes particularly good to me.

[gfweb]

I'm always bummed by the wastage in parm that comes from the edge of the wheel. Seems like 15% or more is unusable rind. If that's what he means by center cut I'm all for it.

[Fat Guy]

It was a rectangular prism with rind on one edge, so assuming it's from the center it's top- or bottom-center not dead center of the wheel in all three dimensions.

[Mjx]

Unless you see your cheese being taken from the wheel, all centre cut means is that you have no guarantee of the quality, which is stamped on the rind.

Only the wheels that are of the highest grade get to keep the Parmigiano Reggiano stamp that is repeated all around the edge (it goes on before the cheese is mature), unmodified. There is a second grade that is considered okay, but not premium: the stencilling gets a modification of indelible parallel horizontal lines and a branding. The third and lowest grade has the stencilling scraped away completely, since it isn't considered Parmigiano, and it cannot be sold as such; it is either used as animal fodder, or ground and blended with other cheeses, to be sold as unspecified 'grated cheese'.

The medium grade is fine, but you should know it for what it is, and not pay top dollar for it. All else being equal, a piece cut from the centre does give you more edible product for your money (although the rind during cooking is great for adding depth to soups).

(Spent some time at a great B&B outside Parma, which is also a small Parmigiano producer, and learnt this then.)

Edited to add corrections from notes I took during a tour of the Parmigiano factory, since my recollection was not 100% on.

[djyee100]

I always shop for center-cut pieces of cheese from the big wheels. I tell myself that because they have the rind on only one edge instead of two, I'm getting more for my money. Cheesemongers are supposed to cut the big wheels in standard ways (according to diagrams, even) to minimize the differences in the pieces and give people a little of everything. I buy the center-cut pieces anyway.

Some people say that the flavor of the cheese varies depending on where it is in the wheel. That kinda makes sense, if you think about how a cheese dries and ages. The parts closest to the rind will age first, and (they say) the most strong-flavored cheese from a particular wheel lies closest to the rind. Whether more or less aging of a certain cheese will appeal to you, that's a matter of taste.

Edited May 15, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Yup - I'm center cut all the way. I recall asking the woman at the cheese counter one day if they had any center cuts - she tried to tell me that they didn't exist. She stated that the cheese was cut in half horizontally, then into the spokes of wheels and therefore that all pieces had rind on one side. There was no explaining to her that a wheel of parmesan is huge and therefore does have center cuts - and furthermore I buy them at that store on a regular basis. So bottom line - when I see they have them - I buy at least a couple!

[pazzaglia]

The way they mechanically cut Parmigiano and Grana in Italy is kind of like an apple slicer resulting in a cylindrical piece and lots of wedges. An experienced cutter using a specialty grana knife (that is used to stab and then separate the cheese using levarage) may use his skill to avoid getting a cylinder.

At least here, in Italy, is shrink-wrapped and put in with all of the other pieces (with crust) and charge the same price per kilo as the wedges with the crust.

As you noted, the advantage is that there is no crust so you can use it all. The disadvantage, at least with grana cheeses that are not well-aged, is that the cheese from the middle is a little wetter and tends to clump together when you grate it. Also, I noticed in my cylindrical center-cut cheeses there seems to be less crystillized sugar - this could be the result of the slower aging and evaporation from the center of the wheel.

If your next wedge has a nice crust... save it and then toss it in boiling water when making polenta. Take it out before adding the polenta flour and then you could either fight over the flavorful, hot, soft crust or... let it cool and keep it in the freezer to use again, and again until it is fully dissolved. Mine disappears due to hungry kitchen loiterers immediately!!!

I imagine, adding the crust to boiling water would flavor a soup or stock base - melting some of its fat in the liquid.

L

P.S. Do not pressure cook the cheese crust. ; )

Edited May 15, 2011 by pazzaglia (log)

[Toliver]

If your next wedge has a nice crust... save it and then toss it in boiling water when making polenta. Take it out before adding the polenta flour and then you could either fight over the flavorful, hot, soft crust or... let it cool and keep it in the freezer to use again, and again until it is fully dissolved. Mine disappears due to hungry kitchen loiterers immediately!!!

I imagine, adding the crust to boiling water would flavor a soup or stock base - melting some of its fat in the liquid.

Yes. This. Don't throw the rind away. There's some flavor still to be had in it.

[Anna N]

I save all my parmesan rinds - they take a soup to the next level.