Mozzarella question!

[unborn_chicken]

Hello there,

I'm new to this forum and i hope someone will be able to offer some advice.

I'm fond of simple italian pasta dishes with only two or three flavours. I think the clean taste of pasta, buffalo mozzarella, parsley and lemon is simply delicious.

However, whenever i add mozzarella to cooked warm pasta (torn into bitesized chunks as recipies suggest) rather than melting evenly into the pasta to form a creamy, cheesy sauce...the mozzarella tends to clump together to form one big stringy cheesy blob. So what i get is pasta and a cheese ball.

Can anyone suggest why this may be happening? Is it perhaps the type of mozzarella i'm using? (I'm using a buffalo variety from the supermarket) Do you think a better quality cheese from a deli would behave better?

All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[jkath]

Hello and welcome to Discuss Cooking!

I love buffalo mozz sliced with fresh tomatoes and basil leaves myself
(now I'm hungry!)

Anyhow, I'm sure someone will be right by to offer you some advice.

 

[middie]

wish i knew the answer to that. anywho, like jkkath said someone will be along who can answer for you. welcome to dc !

 

[kyles]

Moved to specialist forum egg, cheese and dairy

 

[kitchenelf]

Buffalo mozzarella I don't believe will melt into a creamy mixture - it's more stringy. If you want that creaminess of melted cheese you may have to make a bechemel and incorporate cheese into it - like regular grated mozzarella. Whenever I use water-packed mozzarella I expect it to stay in chunks. Hope this helps a little. Let me know if we can help you with anything else - and welcome to the site.

 

[middie]

kyles thanks for moving this. it didn't even dawn on me earlier lol

 

[ironchef]

Because of it's texture and composition, mozzarella will never melt down into a creamy type sauce. The best way is to cut the mozzarella into small 1/2" cubes and then toss it with the hot pasta to create more manageable "strings".

There's actually a pasta in Italy utilizing that quality of mozzarella. I believe it's called "Pasta al Telefono" or something like that. The strings of the melted mozzarella is supposed to mirror telephone cords, hence the name.

Traditionally, I believe they use a tubular type of pasta like rigatoni or ziti, then toss the pasta with a pomodoro sauce, and then add the mozzarella with torn basil at the end. Just google for a recipe and you'll find something.

Like KElf said, if you're determined to get a creamy type sauce, you can try and melt it down, incorporating it into a bechamel type sauce. I've never tried it, and I don't think that it would work properly, but that might be your best option. Keep in mind that because the flavor of mozzarella is so delicate, you will for the most part lose it once you incorporate it into a creamy type sauce.

 

[kitchenelf]

I don't think the water-packed/buffalo mozzarella will melt down but the grated packaged stuff will. I think if the cheese in question is added to a bechemel it would end up being a tan telephone cord versus white and I can't see it incorporating at all.

 

[Bangbang]

Use shredded cheese.

 

[corazon]

I love buffalo mozz sliced with fresh tomatoes and basil leaves myself
(now I'm hungry!)

I'm with you jkath.

I used to have that problem too, but have started to wait until the pasta cools to add the fresh mozz to it. Usually, while the pasta is cooking I'll cut up my mozz and tomatoes and put in a separate bowl on the dining table. That way, my family can dish out as much of the topping as they want and the pasta has usually cooled down enough by the time I have dished it out and it gets to the table. Hope this is helpful!

 

[jennyema]

Even the shredded mozarella will be stringy when melted.

Adding some of the hot pasta cooking water right after you add the cheese helps to create a creamier sauce.

Actually, this is a common technique to use in many sauced pasta dishes.

 

[corazon]

Hmm...maybe I don't understand.

Unborn chicken, do you want a creamy sauce or do you want the mozz to stay in bite size pieces? I thought the latter but maybe I was wrong.

 

[kitchenelf]

Well now, that brings up a point we all didn't go with corazon. We all assumed he wanted creamy - lol - if it's NON creamy then you just need to toss the cheese right before you take your pasta out of the pan instead of heating it more.

 

[unborn_chicken]

Thanks for all the helpful advice!

I think you're all right as regards the creamy sauce. Buffalo mozzarella isn't quite right for the job, plus the flavour is too delicate.

As for the stringy chunks, well...they always seem to join together, into one giant cheese lump when i toss them into the pasta.They don't stay separate and evenly distrubuted. Perhaps this is pure coincidental bad luck! I will however try the suggestion of allowing the pasta to cool first and also try the sprinkling as a topping idea too.

Once again, thanks to everyone.

 

[kitchenelf]

I wonder if you tossed them in a tad of evoo first if that would help? I say pasta is just too hot otherwise.

You can never let it be said that we, here at Discuss Cooking, don't have an opinion!