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How mozzarella became the perfect pizza cheese

20 points by Libertatea 12y ago

jnardiello 12y ago
Or maybe it's just because mozzarella is the most typical and wide-spread cheese in Naple area (Italy) - where "pizza" was invented. Just a guess.
- frandroid 12y ago
  But other places might have tried to bake flat bread, sauce, vegetables with cheese on it, and only the one which used mozza ended up spreading around.
peatmoss 12y ago
If you've never tried Georgian "suluguni" cheese, it is an amazing replacement for slabs of fresh mozzarella. I just wish it was easier to come by. I've had some success making it, but that has been inconsistent. I am not cut out to be a cheese maker.
jfaat 12y ago
The biggest issue I take with this article and the study it references is that they insist on calling the shredded abomination we consume in the US "mozzarella" without so much as a nod to the real thing [1]. I can say fairly confidently that Buffalo Mozzarella melts much more nicely than it's cow-milk counterpart. The cheese they refer to here is not, in fact, the "perfect pizza cheese". [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella
- RRiccio 12y ago
  Actually in Naples, worldwide capital of the pizza, they use Fior di Latte (cow-milk mozzarella) instead of buffalo mozzarella unless you specifically ask for it -- which usually costs more. This is done both from a cost perspective and because the cow-milk mozzarella is not as fresh as the buffalo one (which in isolation of course tastes better). Since buffalo mozzarella is usually consumed within 24 hours of production, it liberates too much milk in the pizza.
  - jfaat 12y ago
    Very interesting, thank you for the correction. I lived there when I was young, but never realized this was the case.
- lobster_johnson 12y ago
  Note that there is a big difference between dried and "fresh" mozzarella. The fresh [1] kind has a lot of water; it's typically sold either tightly plastic-wrapped box, or in a bag or box in a bath of liquid. It's noticeably squishy. If you use it as-is, your pizza will be a small sea of water. It needs to be dried a little out before use. The dry kind has been dried (it's a little more than that, but drying is the important part) until its moisture content is around 45-52%, compared to at least 60% for fresh mozzarella, and it's either a block or shredded. The low moisture content means it lasts a long time in the fridge, and the long shefl life makes it popular in restaurants. The difference, on pizza, is how it melts. The wet kind just doesn't melt that well; it turns into white globs with a kind of leathery exterior [2] and looks not unlike fried egg whites. The dry kind melts much more evenly [3], and doesn't have that same leathery texture. Both types of mozzarella are definitely "real" mozzarella. The Italians even have several types of classic Italian dried mozzarellas, such as scamorza. You can also get smoked, dried mozzarella, for instance. The true shredded abomination is the stuff that isn't cheese at all, but some horrific stuff made from vegetable oil and food dyes, sometimes in the name of being "healthier". Oh, and American cheese. There's no cheese in American cheese. Personally, I think buffalo mozzarella is overrated. You can get good and bad buffalo-cheese pizza, and good and bad cow-cheese pizza; the big taste difference is usually elsewhere, in my experience. [1] http://www.cheese.com/media/img/cheese/Fresh_Mozzarella.jpeg http://www.cheese.com/media/img/cheese/Fresh_Mozzarella.jpeg [2] http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/grimaldispizza.jpg http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/grimaldi... [3] http://bit.ly/1CQwsXW http://bit.ly/1CQwsXW
  - jnardiello 12y ago
    Don't mean to troll, BUT scamorza isn't mozzarella. It's just another kind of cheese. Different stuff
    - lobster_johnson 12y ago
      You're right, I really meant mozzarella-like cheeses. In Italy there are other variations on dry mozzarella, too, that is different from the stuff you find in US stores.
BigChiefSmokem 12y ago
Making food is a lot like making musical instruments, or writing elegant code for that matter. You can mass produce or machine generate it and it will be decent, but to get that nuance - that warm sound, that rich texture, that super edge case - you need human hands and human instinct behind the process. Another example of how science and technology can sometimes be perfect to a fault. Turns out, deep down, we don't like perfect.
- twiceaday 12y ago
  This is a heap of feel-good nonsense. You are simply referencing the meme of home cooking and artisan hand crafted instruments without juatification. Furthermore, the aforementioned items are all highly subjective and strictly for human consumption so it is no surprise that human involvement is paramount. What is the correct/best amount/type of human involvement?
  - BigChiefSmokem 12y ago
    No it's from many years of experience in all of the stated domains (cooking, coding, and crafting instruments with my own hands). The grave mistake very logical people make is to think that they can define, decipher, and manipulate all properties of any given domain without any regard to that fact that no domain exists in a vacuum, and thus, not all thing in this universe can be quantifiable. Trying to quantify human involvement in anything is pretty much the same as asking, "why are we here?".
    - SnacksOnAPlane 12y ago
      I disagree. Everything is quantifiable. Everything comes down to physical reactions that happen predictably. Even emotions like love and hate boil down to patterns of neurons firing and hormone levels.
RRiccio 12y ago
I'm surprised they didn't mention that this is due to Neapolitan geography, where the pizza was popularized in its current form. The urban legend says that poor people just took the fresh/cheap ingredients they had available: flour, tomato sauce from the Vesuvio area tomatoes, mozzarella which is widely available in Campania along with olive oil and basil, also used in abundance locally.
ama729 12y ago
Speaking about pizza, does anybody has the perfect recipe for the pie/whole pizza? I saw once here from a obsessed chef but can't remember the link. Thanks!

20 points by Libertatea 12y ago

Or maybe it's just because mozzarella is the most typical and wide-spread cheese in Naple area (Italy) - where "pizza" was invented. Just a guess.

frandroid 12y ago
But other places might have tried to bake flat bread, sauce, vegetables with cheese on it, and only the one which used mozza ended up spreading around.

peatmoss 12y ago

If you've never tried Georgian "suluguni" cheese, it is an amazing replacement for slabs of fresh mozzarella. I just wish it was easier to come by. I've had some success making it, but that has been inconsistent. I am not cut out to be a cheese maker.

jfaat 12y ago

The biggest issue I take with this article and the study it references is that they insist on calling the shredded abomination we consume in the US "mozzarella" without so much as a nod to the real thing [1]. I can say fairly confidently that Buffalo Mozzarella melts much more nicely than it's cow-milk counterpart. The cheese they refer to here is not, in fact, the "perfect pizza cheese". [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella

RRiccio 12y ago
Actually in Naples, worldwide capital of the pizza, they use Fior di Latte (cow-milk mozzarella) instead of buffalo mozzarella unless you specifically ask for it -- which usually costs more. This is done both from a cost perspective and because the cow-milk mozzarella is not as fresh as the buffalo one (which in isolation of course tastes better). Since buffalo mozzarella is usually consumed within 24 hours of production, it liberates too much milk in the pizza.
- jfaat 12y ago
  Very interesting, thank you for the correction. I lived there when I was young, but never realized this was the case.
lobster_johnson 12y ago
Note that there is a big difference between dried and "fresh" mozzarella. The fresh [1] kind has a lot of water; it's typically sold either tightly plastic-wrapped box, or in a bag or box in a bath of liquid. It's noticeably squishy. If you use it as-is, your pizza will be a small sea of water. It needs to be dried a little out before use. The dry kind has been dried (it's a little more than that, but drying is the important part) until its moisture content is around 45-52%, compared to at least 60% for fresh mozzarella, and it's either a block or shredded. The low moisture content means it lasts a long time in the fridge, and the long shefl life makes it popular in restaurants. The difference, on pizza, is how it melts. The wet kind just doesn't melt that well; it turns into white globs with a kind of leathery exterior [2] and looks not unlike fried egg whites. The dry kind melts much more evenly [3], and doesn't have that same leathery texture. Both types of mozzarella are definitely "real" mozzarella. The Italians even have several types of classic Italian dried mozzarellas, such as scamorza. You can also get smoked, dried mozzarella, for instance. The true shredded abomination is the stuff that isn't cheese at all, but some horrific stuff made from vegetable oil and food dyes, sometimes in the name of being "healthier". Oh, and American cheese. There's no cheese in American cheese. Personally, I think buffalo mozzarella is overrated. You can get good and bad buffalo-cheese pizza, and good and bad cow-cheese pizza; the big taste difference is usually elsewhere, in my experience. [1] http://www.cheese.com/media/img/cheese/Fresh_Mozzarella.jpeg http://www.cheese.com/media/img/cheese/Fresh_Mozzarella.jpeg [2] http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/grimaldispizza.jpg http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/grimaldi... [3] http://bit.ly/1CQwsXW http://bit.ly/1CQwsXW
- jnardiello 12y ago
  Don't mean to troll, BUT scamorza isn't mozzarella. It's just another kind of cheese. Different stuff
  - lobster_johnson 12y ago
    You're right, I really meant mozzarella-like cheeses. In Italy there are other variations on dry mozzarella, too, that is different from the stuff you find in US stores.

BigChiefSmokem 12y ago

Making food is a lot like making musical instruments, or writing elegant code for that matter. You can mass produce or machine generate it and it will be decent, but to get that nuance - that warm sound, that rich texture, that super edge case - you need human hands and human instinct behind the process. Another example of how science and technology can sometimes be perfect to a fault. Turns out, deep down, we don't like perfect.

twiceaday 12y ago
This is a heap of feel-good nonsense. You are simply referencing the meme of home cooking and artisan hand crafted instruments without juatification. Furthermore, the aforementioned items are all highly subjective and strictly for human consumption so it is no surprise that human involvement is paramount. What is the correct/best amount/type of human involvement?
- BigChiefSmokem 12y ago
  No it's from many years of experience in all of the stated domains (cooking, coding, and crafting instruments with my own hands). The grave mistake very logical people make is to think that they can define, decipher, and manipulate all properties of any given domain without any regard to that fact that no domain exists in a vacuum, and thus, not all thing in this universe can be quantifiable. Trying to quantify human involvement in anything is pretty much the same as asking, "why are we here?".
  - SnacksOnAPlane 12y ago
    I disagree. Everything is quantifiable. Everything comes down to physical reactions that happen predictably. Even emotions like love and hate boil down to patterns of neurons firing and hormone levels.

RRiccio 12y ago

I'm surprised they didn't mention that this is due to Neapolitan geography, where the pizza was popularized in its current form. The urban legend says that poor people just took the fresh/cheap ingredients they had available: flour, tomato sauce from the Vesuvio area tomatoes, mozzarella which is widely available in Campania along with olive oil and basil, also used in abundance locally.

ama729 12y ago

Speaking about pizza, does anybody has the perfect recipe for the pie/whole pizza? I saw once here from a obsessed chef but can't remember the link. Thanks!