{"id":6748,"date":"2019-04-08T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T19:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?p=6748"},"modified":"2023-04-27T15:40:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T22:40:33","slug":"calabria-dispatch-18a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/08\/calabria-dispatch-18a\/","title":{"rendered":"Calabria Dispatch #18: We Herd You Were Making Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 8, 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cheese Week started on Sunday, March 31st.\u00a0 But first, as has become customary when new people join us for a week, we went out for pizza the evening before.\u00a0 The pizzeria is Il Ghittone in Montepaone Lido, a nearby town.\u00a0 It\u2019s the pizzeria that serves French fries and pizza\u2026the one that has the automatic external defibrillator that I mentioned in a prior post<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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Say “cheese”: the Master’s Class plus four Cheese People and instructors.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pizza and French fries were child\u2019s play compared the fat-and-cholesterol-laced week we were about to encounter.<\/p>\n

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A few of the cheeses we tasted on the first day of Cheese Week.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunday started out slowly.\u00a0 It was a day devoted to tasting Italian cheeses.\u00a0 It was meant to be an introduction to the coming week.<\/p>\n

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Spoons of cheese about to be passed around for tasting.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We tasted and discussed each of the following cheeses:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ricotta di Pecora (sheep\u2019s milk ricotta) served with orange blossom honey<\/li>\n
  2. Ricotta di Vacca (cow\u2019s milk ricotta)<\/li>\n
  3. Pasta Filata (pizza cheese) [Pasta Filata, in addition to being a cheese in itself, is also the name of an entire family of cheeses that includes numbers 4 through 9 below.]<\/li>\n
  4. Fior di Latte #1 (essentially Mozzarella but made from cow\u2019s milk so it\u2019s not called Mozzarella in Italy)<\/li>\n
  5. Fior di Latte #2<\/li>\n
  6. Provola (not as aged as Provolone)<\/li>\n
  7. Provolone Dolce (\u201csweet\u201d Provolone, but aged more than Provola)<\/li>\n
  8. Provolone Piccante (\u201cspicy Provolone, i.e. aged longer)<\/li>\n
  9. Burrata (fresh Fior di Latte or Mozzarella surrounding a center of shredded, Pasta Filata [called stracciatella] mixed with heavy cream)<\/li>\n
  10. Burrino (sheep\u2019s milk cheese surrounding a center of butter)<\/li>\n
  11. Robiola di Vacca (much like American cream cheese but a bit softer)<\/li>\n
  12. Stracchino<\/li>\n
  13. Taleggio<\/li>\n
  14. Taleggio with Mostarda<\/li>\n
  15. Formaggio di Capra Semistagionata (partially aged [semistagionata] goat cheese)<\/li>\n
  16. Grana Padana<\/li>\n
  17. Pecorino Romano<\/li>\n
  18. Pecorino Sardo<\/li>\n
  19. Caciotta<\/li>\n
  20. Gorgonzola Dolce<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Between #13 and #14 we were served a snack of pizzette (mini pizza) with truffled pasta filata and mozzarella\u2014just to fend off hunger (right!).<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    One of three courses we had for lunch on Friday, all vegetarian, all cheese-inflected.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Mid-afternoon we had a cannoli-inspired “snack” made with sheep’s milk gelato (in place of ricotta) topped with chocolate chips, an unbelievable slice of candied orange (not orange peel, but a whole orange!), and a cannolo shell.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    A mid-afternoon snack: Sheep’s Milk Gelato, Chocolate Chips, Candied Orange, Cannolo Shell.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    After the last cheese, we had a few hours to recover before having a cheese-inflected dinner.\u00a0 After a couple of statins and some red wine for the resveratrol it was time for bed.<\/p>\n

    Monday was a day of lectures by Yi-Chern Lee, a milk scientist and Product Manager for Fonterra in New Zealand.\u00a0 But first\u2026Chef John wanted to feed us!\u00a0 We moved from the dining room, which had been set up as a lecture hall, to the kitchen where we were served polenta concia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Pecorino Calabrese coated in peperoncino and Pecorino Fossa coated in ash (from the wood-burning pizza oven).<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Chef John\u2019s version of polenta concia was over the top and it was exactly the reason that I did not have breakfast before getting to class.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve figured out by now that Chef John loves to feed people and loves to present them with new flavors.\u00a0 When Chef John is not teaching, as was the case on this day, he is more likely to use his time in the kitchen to whip up one dish after another for us.\u00a0 I figured we weren\u2019t going to get far through the morning before food arrived so I skipped breakfast though I did have a doppio<\/em> (double espresso).<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Polenta Concia as interpreted by Chef John.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Chef\u2019s rendition of polenta concia consisted of polenta with milk added for smoothness.\u00a0 After cooking it was mixed with Parmigiano Reggiano and porcini trifulata (saut\u00e9ed and braised porcini mushrooms) and put into individual terracotta bowls with a splash or three of extra-virgin olive oil on the bottoms.\u00a0 An egg was put on each one after which they were baked and then topped with Lamb Ragu.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Maestro Postella’s notes describing the basic steps in making mozzarella.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Appropriately fortified, until lunch, Yi-Chern started his lecture.\u00a0 He covered a lot of territory starting with the basic chemical constituents of milk from different animals and factors that affect milk and milk quality.\u00a0 Much of the day was devoted to discussing each of the possible steps in cheese-making.\u00a0 Not all of the steps are used for every cheese but we covered all of the possibilities.\u00a0 I have 12 pages of notes from his lecture.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Tomini: plain, in rosemary oil, in peperoncino oil, and in garlic oil.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The next day, Chef John demonstrated one of many possible ways to make cow\u2019s milk ricotta.\u00a0 It is pretty much identical to the method I have been using though I learned a few tricks about how to keep it creamy should one want it creamier rather than drier.\u00a0 It\u2019s called direct ricotta in that it is made directly from milk.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Ricotta being made.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Traditionally ricotta is made from the whey left over from cheese making.\u00a0 The whey is acidified and heated which causes that last bit of protein to coagulate forming ricotta.\u00a0 The yield is very low so unless you are producing cheese on a very large scale it is not practical to make ricotta using this method alone.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Putting ricotta into molds to drain.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    After the cow\u2019s milk ricotta, the rest of the day was devoted to making sheep\u2019s milk cheeses and other dairy products, including:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Yogurt<\/li>\n
    2. Buttermilk<\/li>\n
    3. Tomini di Pecora (of the following varieties):\n