Buffalo Mozzarella

[malcolmjolley]

I’m looking for new ideas to fuel my addiction to Buffalo Mozzarella. I have been binging on Insalata Caprese and a salad I make with Arugula, Buffalo and prosciutto with a very simple dressing of EVOO and fresh lemon juice.

Is anyone doing anything interesting and tasty?

[MatthewB]

Ummm, pizza.

[marlena spieler]

I’m looking for new ideas to fuel my addiction to Buffalo Mozzarella.

my friend, food writer emi kazuko, inspired by one of the fusion chefs, marinated fresh mozzarella in miso and it was terrific!

simply submerge fresh mozzarella hacked into a few pieces, in yellow miso. the miso is very salty and it does a funny firming up thing to the mozzarella. leave it in the fridge 1 to 2 nights. before serving rinse with cold water, then cut up into small cubes (1/2 inch maybe) for a japanese inspired tapa thingie.

(save the miso for another use, or for more mozzarella).

i found myself addicted to this recently. but you mustn't think of it as mozzarella any longer, it goes more cheesey, saltier, more firm.....and forget about evoo, tomatoes, etc. these are best naked.

[Bill Klapp]

Spaghetti alla Checca. Check out the "Uncooked Tomato Sauces" thread on this board.

[MatthewB]

Ummm, pizza. 

Lest anyone miss the joke . . .

What *not* to do with buffalo mozzarella

[Craig Camp]

Some pizza types are made with fresh mozzarella in Italy. Wonder what the deal was. Of course they can cook the pizza in about 5 minutes.

[alanamoana]

if you're making the mozzarella yourself, you can spread it out on a piece of plastic wrap, spread pesto or a sundried tomato paste or something like that on it, roll it up. slice it and eat it on crostini. it's just another version of caprese i guess, but it's a little different looking.

i guess if you're buying it, you can do the same thing by slicing it thinly and layering it?!

[sandra]

Serve it with fresh figs instead of tomatoes, drizzle with evoo and salt (no pepper)...

Serve it with prosciutto...

Also in little cubes with olives...

Pasta with tomato sauce, aubergines and mozzarella...

Pasta al telefono - tomato sauce and loads of mozzarella - add it in while pasta and sauce a very hot, so that it melts and gets stringy like a telephone wire...

[badthings]

I make pizza with Bufala all the time (I do have a hard time getting the slices on the pizza without eating them raw). Never had a problem with dripping. I slice it, and make as thin a crust as possible and cook it as hot as my poor little oven can handle -- which means that it cooks in under 10 min.

I thought that the rather draconian rules for the vera pizza napoletana demanded bufala, but I was wrong.

To me Bufala is the most obvious food item for which price is no object (after fruit maybe) -- there is just no comparison with even artisan fresh cow mozzarella, which in any event costs almost as much. I wonder why no one has tried dairy farming Buffalo here.

So my position is that it's like a perfect peach -- who needs a recipe? Just eat it over the sink. (Or put it on a cheese plate).

[malcolmjolley]

So my position is that it's like a perfect peach -- who needs a recipe? Just eat it over the sink. (Or put it on a cheese plate).

badthings: I couldn't agree more and have eaten pounds of the stuff over the sink myself (good with Mexican hot sauce). Yum.

Bill_Klapp: I had forgotten about that thread. In fact I do a version of "Checca", which has its roots in an old New Basics recipe, that includes lots of lemon rind.

This is making me think of something along the lines of "marinated in lemon and mint." hmmm....

(edited for typos - you would think I would learn)

Edited August 12, 2003 by malcolmjolley (log)

[giuliochef]

Mozzarella in carrozza (in carriage), it's like a sandwich: 1 or 2 days old mozzarella, sliced (because it should be quite dry). Now, cut your usually bread (the "toast bread", we call "pan carrè", but if you have some home made bread use it) in the same shape of the mozzarella slices (often triangle shape). It's better if the bread is not very fresh, so use a two days old bread and soak it in fresh milk for few minutes. Put the mozzarella between bread slices (add a fillet of anchovie and a caper or slice of ham for better taste), pass all in plain flour, then in eggs, finally in breadcrumbs and then fry it: Serve for a delicious afternoon snack.

Sformato di patate (potatoes) and mozzarella: grease with butter a pan and cover with bread crumbs; prepare a rich mashed potatoes (with butter, grated parmesan, pepper, nutmeg and eggs), put in the oven-pan alternating with layers of mozzarella slices. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and garnish with butter. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes.

[malcolmjolley]

Brilliant!

[Bill Klapp]

I am going to do a post on pizza soon, but buffala most definitely IS used on pizze in Italy. In fact, in the north, they often charge a premium for it, as what we think of as mozzarella is sometimes called fior di latte, and not even considered to be true mozzarella (but tasty, nevertheless). The deal is this: while it is true that buffala is soft and watery, the true Italian pizza has a very thin crust, is sized for one person (10-12", but given the thin crust, not really too much food), uses toppings, including the buffala, sparingly and in small pieces and, most importantly, is baked in a wood-fired oven that can reach temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit plus (mine once hit 900F!). I used to drain my thin slices of buffala on a paper towel, but soon discovered that I was just throwing away flavor. A wood-fired pizza does not bake so much as it BLISTERS, and therein lies the magic. In a hot oven, a single pizza can cook in as little as TWO MINUTES, and rarely takes more than 5 minutes. The water in the buffala and tomatoes or other high-moisture toppings vaporizes, which has the additional benefit of making the crust crisper (similar to commercial bread ovens that have misting devices attached, or spraying your own bread with water out of a spray bottle to crisp the crust). Some of this may seem counterintuitive to some of you, but it is gospel.

[malcolmjolley]

I know I've posted this before, but on the topic of pizza and hot ovens, no one is more thorough or entertaining than Jeffrey Steingarten.

The excerpt re: pizza comes after the profile on him below:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly...,807445,00.html

[KNorthrup]

As part of a cheese plate in an Italian restaurant a couple years ago, I got a ramekin of something rich and warm and slightly crumbly and it turned out to be baked buffalo mozzarella. It was very very good. The flavour was like a savory panna cotta and the texture was more towards cheesecake. No other ingredients. But I haven't yet figured out how to duplicate it.

[Craig Camp]

My garden is pumping out ripe tomatoes and I confess to eating a caprese with mozzarella di bufala at least once a day for the last five days. I am not sick of it yet.

I am on the way to the store to buy some more now...

[Busboy]

We call this a "large stack" and got the idea from the Dahlia Lounge in Seattle:

Slice red tomato (or whatever color catches your fancy), green tomato and the buff. Dredge the green tomatoe and the buffalo mozzarella in flour, then egg white/milk and then 1/2 flour 1/2 corn meal with a little salt.

Fry the green tomato and the mozzarella until the mozzarella is just runny, stack with the red tomato in whatever order and ratio you prefer, slide a couple of fresh basil leaves in between slices.

Serve with a sauce made by simmering shallots slowly in wine and butter for hours until barley brown, then adding more butter and, if you prefer, pureeing until smooth.

Very crisp and summery -- a cross between boardwalk eating and the Moosewood Kitchen.

[boaziko]

I make pizza with Bufala all the time (I do have a hard time getting the slices on the pizza without eating them raw). Never had a problem with dripping. I slice it, and make as thin a crust as possible and cook it as hot as my poor little oven can handle -- which means that it cooks in under 10 min.

I thought that the rather draconian rules for the vera pizza napoletana demanded bufala, but I was wrong.

To me Bufala is the most obvious food item for which price is no object (after fruit maybe) -- there is just no comparison with even artisan fresh cow mozzarella, which in any event costs almost as much. I wonder why no one has tried dairy farming Buffalo here.

So my position is that it's like a perfect peach -- who needs a recipe? Just eat it over the sink. (Or put it on a cheese plate).

badthings,

Well I guess that if USA is what you mean by "here", than I may have some goodthings , or at least good news : Star Hill Dairy,(South Woodstock, Vermont ) is on the way of doing just that. As of a month ago, when we visited the place, they were making various yogurts, and were experimenting on the mozzarella. We saw their Buffalos and herd a baby buffalo, only 2 days old. From over the window we noticed their dairy-lab with an Italian expert consulting them).

We had to go to the local store to purchase some plain and flavored yogurts, which were just great.

Just as a food note, there are currently 2 dairies in Israel producing quality buffalo mozzarella. , both are less than an hour drive from Tel Aviv).

[Craig Camp]

I have to admit I do not see the reason for cooking mozzarella di bufala di Campana. It is like using great wine to cook with - a waste. Why not just use really good cows milk fresh mozzarella when you cook it. The delicate Creamy flavor of mozzarella di bufala di Campana is altered by cooking. Maybe mozzerella di bufala from other places...

Reminder this is milk from water buffalo not Buffalo Bill buffalo.

For more info click here