Cooking with Cheese
The culinary world often seems very faddish, as the food media and chefs strive to be innovative and fashionable. Usually these fads concern some obscure ingredient (fennel pollen is a “hot” item currently), or rediscovered technique or style (look at the number of “bistros” in your neighborhood). But one stylish food today is that most historical and commonplace of foods, cheese. Restaurants are wheeling out cheese carts with a myriad of choices, (the restaurant Artisanal, in NYC, lists 200 cheeses on their menu). A cheese steward follows, much as the wine list is followed by the sommelier. But while a lot of attention is paid to composing a suitable cheese course, or defining hundreds of different cheeses, I haven’t easily found basic advice about cooking with cheese.
To understand how to cook with cheese you need to know what happens when cheese is exposed to heat. Cheese is formed primarily of water, fats, and proteins. Beyond 140 degrees F, or after lengthy exposure to any heat, the protein coagulates (joins together) and separates from the fat and water, producing a tough, stringy mass. After coagulating, no amount of heat or stirring will smooth out the cheese, and the dish can not be fixed. Therefore, the best approach to working with cheese is to minimize the exposure to heat, both as to temperature and time, by whichever of the following is appropriate:
- Add the cheese at the end of the cooking time and off the heat.
- Microwave any dish with cheese at no more than 70% power. - To brown cheese, put the dish 4 – 6 inches under the broiler just until melted.
- Add cheese toppings during the last 5 – 10 minutes of cooking, and keep the oven between 325 and 375 degrees.
- Grate, crumble, or shred the cheese before adding; do not add cheese in large chunks or slices that take too long to melt. To grate or shred soft cheeses more easily, put the cheese in the freezer for a few minutes.
When appraising how a specific type of cheese will react to heat, first look at fat content. A lower fat cheese, such as cottage cheese, ricotta, or feta has a higher proportion of protein and will not stand heat as well as a higher fat cheese. At the extreme, diet or non-fat cheese versions of naturally higher fat cheeses (cheddar, brick, or Monterey Jack) will never melt. Also, higher fat cheeses like whole milk mozzarella or provolone will melt better and blend more easily in sauces that have other fats and liquid components as the different fats and liquids bond well. Therefore, higher fat cheeses are a good choice for baked dishes and sauces where you want the cheese to be well blended with the rest of the food.
Latest Articles