Stringy cheese for calzoni

[piazzola]

I went on a wild food chase in the mist of the moslem community and found people very receptive one of my stops was a popular bakery where they making a pizza dough like and paste some very fine and thin lamb ground mix with spices.

I did not think I'd like to try that so I went for calzoni and to my surprise included a delicious stringy cheese. It reminded me of similar Georgian cheese called Suluguni but I don't know what Lebanese cheese this is or how it is called. Does anyone here know its name? Thanks

[tryska]

are you sure it's not mozzarella?

[FoodMan]

You should've asked them. It's very difficutlt to say but I would guess it's a mixture of cheeses in there. Probably mzzarella is one of them. If the cheese filling tatsed salty then Akawi mightbe another one in there as well.

Elie

[Daniel Rogov]

There is a possiblity that the cheese in question is chalumi.

Although many believe that the cheese originates in Cyprus, the truth is that this delightful cheese (one of the few cheeses meant to be cooked before eaten) originated with the Bedouins of the Arabian Penninsula and Syria.

Generally made from sheeps' or goats' milk, thecheese is now as popular in Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Irael and Lebanon as it is in Cyprus. It is also a favorite in Australia. At its best, chalumi is just salty enough, has a fat content of between 24 - 30% and is considered ideal for slicing and frying or for grilling in slices, or for cooking on skewers over hot charcoals.

My own favorite method of preparing chalumi is to place olive oil in a frying pan, heating the oil until it is very hot, adding slices of cheese and then sprinkling the cheese generously with sesame seeds. Cypriots and Greeks also use this method, the Cypriots cooking the cheese until it is dark brown and crisp on both sides, the Greeks cooking it just until it begins to brown. The cheese can also be used to fill burrekas (boreks or whatever other spelling you like) and when baked does tend to be a bit stringy as you describe.

Worth trying!

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[SuzySushi]

Chalumi = aka haloumi in the USA.

[tryska]

Chalumi = aka haloumi in the USA.

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that's the stuff the Chicagoans douse in sherry and set on fire, right?

[SuzySushi]

that's the stuff the Chicagoans douse in sherry and set on fire, right?

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You mean the Greek appetizer? That's usually kasseri or kefalotiri, which are harder cheeses than haloumi, and they usually use brandy (higher alcohol content & easier to flame).

Edited August 29, 2005 by SuzySushi (log)

[tryska]

ah. i got it all backwards.

thanks for clarifying.

[piazzola]

Thank you for your replies so far but not is isn't haloumi

nor it is straight mozzarella it is a bit sour, salty but also has a tinge of sweetness

I have tried it with and without spinach

As I say Georgian Suluguni is the closest thing so it may have Turkic origins by that I mean any regional variation beween Turkey and Uzbekistan and all in between

[Behemoth]

haloumi is that sqeaky stuff that I love so much, but I don't think it gets all that stringy. Have you tried a middle-eastern brand of string cheeses? I suspect it might be that. Not the kind you get in the supermarket, I mean the kind with the nigella seeds.

[piazzola]

Oh well I'll have to visit that Arab-Turkish street again drop by and if the baker or the attendants if they don't mind what kind of cheese is that.

[helou]

Oh well I'll have to visit that Arab-Turkish street again drop by and if the baker or the attendants if they don't mind what kind of cheese is that.

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it is probably akkawi, a white cheese similar to halloumi but less salty and less hard. it is used (soaked first to get rid of the salt) in a breakfast sweet called kunafeh and it stretches for ever when it's really hot. akkawi is also used in a number of savory pastries and is eaten for breakfast with cucumbers and olives.

[piazzola]

Thanks I have also found another called naboulsi