Jasmine Ho
Mr. Hayes
English 1A17
17th
January 2013
Word Count: 1010
Cheese
“Why are there
so many kinds of cheese? They simply look the same to me,” said Peony, she then
randomly took a piece of Parmesan to have a look from the cheese session in
Whole Foods Market. “Well, of course there are differences, like …” “Actually
how does milk turn into these cheese curbs?” She ignored me and continued
talking. Obviously, she is bored doing
grocery shopping with mum, and simply trying to find something to talk about. A random question from my sister reminds me
that, though cheese is an often-used ingredient in cooking, the production of
cheese is like a mystery to lots of people.
Generally speaking, the three principle ingredients of cheese are milk,
rennet enzymes that curdle the milk, and microbes that acidify and flavor the
milk. Each strongly influences the
quality and character of the final cheese. Pasteurization, adding of rennet,
heating, molding, and aging are the basic processes that make a piece of
cheese.
“And how do we decide which kind of cheese to
use in a particular dish?” Peony’s question pulled me out of my mind. Indeed, this is a good question. The flavor of the dish will definitely be
affected with the misuse of cheese. So what
are the factors to be considered? The
differences in taste and texture of different kind of cheese determine how are
they used. It is not possible to go
through every single kind of cheese, so I’ve chosen 4 well known cheeses to
introduce.
Mozzarella:
When we talk about cheese, Mozzarella must be the first few kinds of
cheese that pop up in most people’s head, however, a majority of them might not
know how is it looks like. Mozzarella
looks like bean curd, creamy white in color with very soft texture. Fresh mozzarella sold in grocery stores or
supermarkets are usually packed in brine in order to keep its freshness and
softness. Mozzarella is originated from Italy;
the most traditional ones are made by milk of water buffalo. In recent years, an increasing number of
cheese manufactures tend to use cow’s milk instead of water buffalo’s, due to
the relatively lower supply of the latter one.
Since the texture of Mozzarella is soft as tofu, people seldom grate or
cook it, they simply cut into thin slices and serve cold is the most common way
of eating it. The after-taste of it is not very strong; therefore, people
usually eat it with food of stronger or outstanding taste. Italian’s well-known appetizer, Caprese
Salad, is the combination of mozzarella cheese with tomato slices and balsamic
vinegar.
Brie: I bet many people have
tried Brie, but they just do not know its name. Brie is very common for spreading due to its
creamy interior. It is named with its
origin, Brie in France. It
has a pastel yellow color interior, which is covered by a thin white powdery
crust. Brie is produced from either
whole or semi-skimmed milk. The cheese
curd is obtained by adding rennet and the heating of milk. It is then casted into round cheese molds to
be drained and aged for several weeks. Stronger
flavor resulted with longer aging period. For the convenience of consumers, supermarkets
usually cut a mold of Brie into smaller portions, like a piece of pie, and wrap
it up air tight to preserve the quality of cheese. Due to the strong taste and creamy texture,
Brie goes very well with food having insipid flavor. This is why Brie is usually served as cracker
spreading in appetizers or snacks in wine tasting.
Parmigiano-Reggiano: Among
all kinds of cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano should be most people’s favorite. Every time I mentioned this name, queries
like “I haven’t heard of this name? What’s that?” are raised. Actually, Parmigiano-Reggiano is the Italian
name, it is known as Parmesan in English.
The hard and dry Parmesan cheese curd is obtained by adding in rennet to
heated raw cow’s milk, and then being fermented for almost twelve months.
Though the fermentation period is long, Parmigiano-Reggiano does not have black
or dark blue molds, which brings a “smelly” taste. On the contrary, the pale yellow cheese
brings a very unique, strong after-taste, which lots of people are “in-love”
with it. Parmesan is commonly grated
over pasta, risottos. The creamy sauce
of the famous Italian pasta dish, Carbonara, is a mixture of eggs and large
amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Furthermore, the hardest part of the cheese crust is sometimes simmered
in cream soups to increase the flavor of the dish.
Gruyère:
The
same case as Brie, Gruyere is a kind of cheese that is really popular, but its
name is not known by a lot of people.
This cheese is originated and named after the town of Gruyère in
Switzerland. The curd is made by adding liquid
rennet into raw cow’s milk, then heated by low heat, and poured in molds to be
drained and aged from 3 to 10 months.
The appearance of it has nothing special; it is light yellow in color,
no molds, and hard in texture. Since the
cheese curb is drained and aged in a large round mold, supermarkets often cut
them into size of small blocks in the convenience of the customers. The taste of Gruyère is sweet with slight taste
of saltiness; this distinctive but not overpowering flavor makes this cheese
famous for being used in cooking with various foods. Moreover, though the texture is hard, it is a
good melting cheese. The melted Gruyère
is very creamy, which it can be the base sauce for many dishes. It can be used from appetizer to dessert, for
instance, French onion soup, quiches, and also the alluring cheese fondue!
Everyone must have tried cheese; even infants have cheese
sticks as snacks. Though it is such a universal
food, not many people know a lot about this delicious food. By knowing more of it, you will find that
every single piece of cheese has its uniqueness that deserves people to
appreciate it.
