Melting mozzarella inside sous vide meatballs?

[Dan Rose]

Comrades,

As part of an effort to win a final round of a meatball competition here at work, I'm experimenting with sous vide Italian meatballs encapsulating blobs of mozzarella. Ideally, I'd like to get the cheese runny, but not escaping the meatballs, so that it's a surprising burst of yum when the judges take a bite. Since it appears that mozzarella doesn't melt until around 60C normally, I'd like to try reducing its melting point, perhaps through incorporating additional milk fat.

That said, my first attempt of melting some cheese in a pot with a few tablespoons of milk resulted in a blob of cheese in boiling milk. Where's the alleged melting at 60C? Why won't it mix with the milk?

Any ideas or tips of other avenues to try?

-Dan

[ScottyBoy]

If it was me I would use burrata instead. Pretty much just a creamier mozzarella you could chill it down enough to form into balls to put inside.

Good luck!

[IndyRob]

Some sort of Mozzarella/Brie alloy?

ETA: Or perhaps start at the fondue end of the spectrum and find a formulation that firms up nicely when chilled?

Edited March 20, 2012 by IndyRob (log)

[TheTInCook]

Yeah, check out the modernist 'constructed cheeses'

[Chris Hennes]

In particular what you need is a liquid, sodium citrate, and possibly a texturizing agent such as a carrageenan. Dissolve the sodium citrate in the liquid, bring to a simmer, and slowly add shredded cheese, probably until it is as thick as you want it when it's hot. Let it cool and see if it sets up enough for you. If not, you will need to play with the carrageenans to get to your desired texture.

ETA: An immersion blender is very handy here if you've got one.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Shalmanese]

What's wrong with cooking a meatball to 60C? I actually like my meatballs a little bit over what I would have a steak or burger.

[TheTInCook]

In particular what you need is a liquid, sodium citrate, and possibly a texturizing agent such as a carrageenan. Dissolve the sodium citrate in the liquid, bring to a simmer, and slowly add shredded cheese, probably until it is as thick as you want it when it's hot. Let it cool and see if it sets up enough for you. If not, you will need to play with the carrageenans to get to your desired texture.

ETA: An immersion blender is very handy here if you've got one.

Maybe gelatin? IIRC, a lot of carrageenan gels melt at >60 deg C.

[slkinsey]

What's wrong with cooking a meatball to 60C? I actually like my meatballs a little bit over what I would have a steak or burger.

Right. Who wants a medium-rare meatball?

[Dan Rose]

In particular what you need is a liquid, sodium citrate, and possibly a texturizing agent such as a carrageenan. Dissolve the sodium citrate in the liquid, bring to a simmer, and slowly add shredded cheese, probably until it is as thick as you want it when it's hot. Let it cool and see if it sets up enough for you. If not, you will need to play with the carrageenans to get to your desired texture.

ETA: An immersion blender is very handy here if you've got one.

Thanks, Chris! I'll give it a shot.

I did a test with small mozzarrella cubes inside the meatballs, and while they were good, a stronger cheese may work better. Going to do another test with lots of different varieties of cheeses, and this will be really handy to reduce the melting temp of harder cheeses like parmesan.

[jorach]

I'd try making the parmesan constructed cheese from Modernist Cuisine's spaghetti carbonara recipe as detailed here-ish:

http://egullet.org/p1806417

[Chris Hennes]

Good call, that stuff was intense.

[Dan Rose]

Update:

Just did a test run (have the final round of the competition on Monday), with meatballs encapsulating...

• Garlic confit (see, e.g. Recipe)
  Very delicious, tasty, and sweet with the burst of garlicky goodness... Texture slightly off-putting - the garlic was done in oil at 85c for 90 minutes and was soft and mushy, but we took whole cloves and embedded them in the meatballs, so they still had a slight firmness at the first bite to break the outer surface, and then turned into mush when you chewed... That would have been fine, but with the softness of the meatball, the sudden firm/squishy ball in the center came off more as a chewy overcooked bit of gristle or something.
  
• Deconstructed parmesan cheese (as noted above)
  Delicious, although maybe a bit subtle and overpowered by the meatball spices... However, the aftertaste was pure parmesan, for several seconds. Excellent. The gel held nicely at serving temp too.
  
• Smoked gouda
  Wonderful, and had the texture I was going for with the mozzarella initially - with the meatballs at 54c, the gouda was a molten ball of yum. The texture was amazing and unexpected, biting through the meatball shell. Flavor was good, but not as good as the above two.
  
• Gorgonzola
  Tried this as an oddball idea. The salty/sour flavor went nicely with the meatball, but it was quite non-traditional. I'd do it again, but maybe changing up from the oregano/thyme flavor. It was good, but I don't think it would win an Italian-specific combination.
  

So, for the competition, I'm going to mush up the garlic confit into a paste and combine it with the parmesan gel, with a small ball of the combination in the center of each meatball. Wish me luck!