A really wonderful surprise
Jan. 13th, 2006 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fpbYesterday I was visiting the local Tesco's, and, as I suppose most people do, I moseyed over to the Discounted Fresh Food counter to look for bargains. I found a couple of nice items - and more than twenty Mozzarelle di Bufala.
I suppose everyone knows a thing called Mozzarella, at least as a main ingredient of pizza. Most people will have seen the vacuum-packed kind, usually made in Denmark and good for nothing except melting - if that. Those of you who care about food, and the Italians, will know the real kind, sold floating in its own whey; produced mostly in Italy, although the Germans have now learned to do it quite well and cheaply. However, the really knowledgeable gourmets, and most Italians, will have heard of this kind: made partly with buffalo rather than cow milk, and coming from a restricted part of southern Italy (from where the very best tomatoes and pasta also come). Mozzarella di Bufala is scarce, often counterfeited (with cow milk alone) and hard to find outside Italy, or even in many parts of it. You will not be surprised to hear that it is bleedin' expensive, too.
The packaged items on the discounted counter certainly answered this description. Even discounted, they cost twice what a normal decent mozzarella package with its whey would have set me back in Tesco's, and three times the German-made version in Aldi or Lidl. I stood there for a while, making my mind up; then I decided - what the Heck, you will not have this opportunity again! - if indeed it is an opportunity and not a rip-off - and, for once, I did actually have money to spend. So I bought the lot; but I was prepared to be disappointed.
I was not. My God, was I not. When I finally tasted one, I could not believe what was in my mouth. I have not eaten anything like that for decades. It was not only the real thing, but excellent even by the standards of Mozzarella di Bufala: so soft and moist they almost literally melted in the mouth, and as for the flavour... there are things that language, at least mine, simply cannot render. A taste both forceful and delicate, stronger than that of any normal cow-milk mozzarella however good, yet neither overpowering nor distorted; quite simply the best thing that can be made with milk.
Now my main problem is to hope they do not go off. I have frozen some - less than I would have liked, because my freezer was already half full - and placed the rest in the fridge, hoping that their condition remains as it is; but really top-quality Mozzarella di Bufala is a very fresh kind of food, and apt to go acidic and unpleasant in a few days - in which case I will have blown some money. Even so, I really and truly thanked the Lord, after that first bite, from the bottom of my heart. Experiences such as this are among the kind of things that make you grateful to be alive.
I was also a bit worried. To have so many expensive Mozzarelle di Bufala discounted for quick sale suggests that they have not succeeded as Tesco's was hoping, at least in this particular store. And I was thinking: Tesco's must have employed a really brilliant buyer, who seems to have gone for the very best product that could be found. If this line bombs, it is a slap in the face for quality, and possibly a loss for the producer. And the producer deserves to succeed; however pleasant it may have been to me, to find product of such quality discounted is not fit reward for work done to such high standards. I hope I am wrong, and frankly I cannot believe that such fine product could not find a market.
I suppose everyone knows a thing called Mozzarella, at least as a main ingredient of pizza. Most people will have seen the vacuum-packed kind, usually made in Denmark and good for nothing except melting - if that. Those of you who care about food, and the Italians, will know the real kind, sold floating in its own whey; produced mostly in Italy, although the Germans have now learned to do it quite well and cheaply. However, the really knowledgeable gourmets, and most Italians, will have heard of this kind: made partly with buffalo rather than cow milk, and coming from a restricted part of southern Italy (from where the very best tomatoes and pasta also come). Mozzarella di Bufala is scarce, often counterfeited (with cow milk alone) and hard to find outside Italy, or even in many parts of it. You will not be surprised to hear that it is bleedin' expensive, too.
The packaged items on the discounted counter certainly answered this description. Even discounted, they cost twice what a normal decent mozzarella package with its whey would have set me back in Tesco's, and three times the German-made version in Aldi or Lidl. I stood there for a while, making my mind up; then I decided - what the Heck, you will not have this opportunity again! - if indeed it is an opportunity and not a rip-off - and, for once, I did actually have money to spend. So I bought the lot; but I was prepared to be disappointed.
I was not. My God, was I not. When I finally tasted one, I could not believe what was in my mouth. I have not eaten anything like that for decades. It was not only the real thing, but excellent even by the standards of Mozzarella di Bufala: so soft and moist they almost literally melted in the mouth, and as for the flavour... there are things that language, at least mine, simply cannot render. A taste both forceful and delicate, stronger than that of any normal cow-milk mozzarella however good, yet neither overpowering nor distorted; quite simply the best thing that can be made with milk.
Now my main problem is to hope they do not go off. I have frozen some - less than I would have liked, because my freezer was already half full - and placed the rest in the fridge, hoping that their condition remains as it is; but really top-quality Mozzarella di Bufala is a very fresh kind of food, and apt to go acidic and unpleasant in a few days - in which case I will have blown some money. Even so, I really and truly thanked the Lord, after that first bite, from the bottom of my heart. Experiences such as this are among the kind of things that make you grateful to be alive.
I was also a bit worried. To have so many expensive Mozzarelle di Bufala discounted for quick sale suggests that they have not succeeded as Tesco's was hoping, at least in this particular store. And I was thinking: Tesco's must have employed a really brilliant buyer, who seems to have gone for the very best product that could be found. If this line bombs, it is a slap in the face for quality, and possibly a loss for the producer. And the producer deserves to succeed; however pleasant it may have been to me, to find product of such quality discounted is not fit reward for work done to such high standards. I hope I am wrong, and frankly I cannot believe that such fine product could not find a market.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-13 11:28 pm (UTC)Anyway, I've always thought that mozzarella was the most boring of cheeses, but you've got me interested. I'll have to check it out in an Italian food store.
Enjoy your cheese!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 12:11 am (UTC)Enjoy the cheese, the real stuff! Lately Mozarella - or rather Mozarella-type cheese (although sold properly in whey) - is relatively popular here, mainly I suppose because its extreme blandness fits well Polish palates :)
Typicale exchange at the restaurant:
Is this dish hot?
Yes, it's a bit more salty.
And don't worry about the Dans - what;'s truly scary t's the thought the Chinese may learn to ciopy mozarella - they have plenty of water-buffalos...
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 03:09 pm (UTC)As for the Chinese - you know best, but if they are anything like their Japanese neighbours, I doubt whether we have much to worry about yet. I know from a reliable source that the Japanese do not make cheese, and that most of them, having never tried it in their lives, actually get stomach upsets if they do.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 03:38 pm (UTC)I was jsut afraid they'll market it here :)
And fire away a recipeor two - we don't need anything very adventurous, sometimes a hint on a very common dish mayve very useful.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 11:24 am (UTC)Thanks for the brand new craving, FPB!
Date: 2006-01-14 01:57 pm (UTC)Anyway, your post has made me hungry for fresh mozzarella, but I like it with fresh tomatos, which are out of season now. (This may be some Americanization of Italian food, but it is really tasty!)
Re: Thanks for the brand new craving, FPB!
Date: 2006-01-14 02:38 pm (UTC)That said, yeah... it's outta season.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 05:40 pm (UTC)