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A really wonderful surprise
Jan. 13th, 2006 05:34 pmYesterday 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.
