A rather poncy mozzarella !
nicensleazy
Posts: 2,310
We were invited around to our good friends last night for dinner. My freinds wife Maria is Italian and takes great pride in her cooking. In fact, I always look forward to an invite around as its usually a gastronomic delight. Anyhow, she brings out this starter which is accompanied by a Mozzeralla chesse. But, this wasn't just any old Mozzarella. It was organic and made by nuns in this extremely old monastery in the foothills of Northern Italy. further more, it was a limited edition chesse as they only make so many per year. This was the grand build up before tasting it. Was I worthy of tasting such a cheese? Well, after tasting it, I personally couldn't tell the difference between this or the regular Mozzarella from Sainsburys. Lets face it, what does Mozzarella actually taste of? I did make a little quip about it, however, this didn't go down too well!
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nicensleazy wrote:We were invited around to our good friends last night for dinner. My freinds wife Maria is Italian and takes great pride in her cooking. In fact, I always look forward to an invite around as its usually a gastronomic delight. Anyhow, she brings out this starter which is accompanied by a Mozzeralla chesse. But, this wasn't just any old Mozzarella. It was organic and made by nuns in this extremely old monastery in the foothills of Northern Italy. further more, it was a limited edition chesse as they only make so many per year. This was the grand build up before tasting it. Was I worthy of tasting such a cheese? Well, after tasting it, I personally couldn't tell the difference between this or the regular Mozzarella from Sainsburys. Lets face it, what does Mozzarella actually taste of? I did make a little quip about it, however, this didn't go down too well!
Philistine.
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Hehe.
I love food and I used to be a professional chef before I decided to go into industrial design (well, only a commis chef, but technically I was a professional), and I do really adore food, but sometimes it really winds me up so much when people just talk a load of cack and show off about how much of a 'gourmet' they are. It puts me into such a rage :shock:
Olive oil is another example. Making a fry up about six months ago when visiting my parents - big slug of vegetable oil. Mother's friend pipes up 'aren't you going to use olive oil' her face contorted with disgust. No, not for a fried egg my dear. 'I love extra virgin olive oil, first pressing'. Right. For frying eggs? 'Oh yes it's delicious'. I mean really, who on earth fries eggs in extra virgin olive oil? And WHY on earth would you do it? It certainly wouldn't taste any better. 'But it's how they do things in Italy'. My mother and I stare at her - she (and consequently I) are Italian. No, in Italy they would use the cheapest oil they can find, too. Extra virgin is for drizzling on salads and mozzarella on special occasions. And in the North, it's butter. Butter, butter butter butter and more butter and not a drop of olive oil in sight.
And what's wrong with peanut oil, or vegetable oil, or butter or lard or dripping? Roast potatoes are best with beef dripping, as are chips. Peanut oil for asian dishes. Vegetable oil for mayonnaise/emulsion sauces. Butter for risottos, cakes, pancakes. Lard and suet for english pastry. Olive oil very rarely on salads and nowhere else thankyou.
Did she serve a delicious pasta dish made with the delicatessen's finest dried pasta costing £10 a kilo? I knew someone who did that once. Here's a tip - pasta is made from flour and water. It tastes exactly the same no matter how much money you pay for it.
I suppose thes people are just terminally bewildered about food. If you aren't into food, and you don't like cooking - fair enough, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But then you get these obnoxious people just talking complete rubbish, spouting the names of expensive ingredients without a clue how to use them and having the cheek to tell me that I'm 'not a foodie' because I think (for example) beef dripping or chicken pie or a bowl of chips is delicious! I'd like to give them a greasy old chunk of lamb breast or a bowl of kidneys and see what these so-called 'foodies' can actually make out of it. :evil:
Incidentally have you tried proper buffalo mozzarella? It's delicious! 0 -
Well, I never knew Rapha made cheese!...0
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The Assos cheese tastes a bit too minty for my taste. :?
Cycling weakly0 -
NapoleonD wrote:Well, I never knew Rapha made cheese!...
When they do it will probably need Assos with it.0 -
frinkmakesyouthink wrote:
Here's a tip - pasta is made from flour and water. It tastes exactly the same no matter how much money you pay for it.
I agreed with virtually everything you said Frink, but do you really not think a decent dried pasta for about £1-1.50 for 500g tastes better than e.g. Tesco value pasta?
The De Ceccho or Lloyd Grossman spaghettis, for instance, are extruded through a bronze die which gives a texture to the strands that holds sauce better than cheap stuff that has been extruded through plastic and is completely smooth. It also just seems to taste better, but maybe I'm imagining it......0 -
The pasta thing gets my goat....
my pet hate is those bags of fresh egg spaghetti...at a hideous price...and people think it is better pasta than the dried stuff!
Hmmmm...funny how italians all use the dried stuff then eh....(again...even restaurants don't really make their own spaghetti....bigger pastas yes, but spaghetti...not much)
and as for oil.....
these 'foodies' that fry eggs in extra virgin olive oil....yes...i agree that a little cookery and or science will tell you that olive oil for frying is a bad idea, as its smoke point is low in comparison to vegetable oil....I don't want no acreolein smelling food thanks!Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.
H.G. Wells.0 -
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How can his wife produce so much he can put it on a restaurant menu?0
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frinkmakesyouthink wrote:Hehe.
I love food and I used to be a professional chef before I decided to go into industrial design (well, only a commis chef, but technically I was a professional), and I do really adore food, but sometimes it really winds me up so much when people just talk a load of cack and show off about how much of a 'gourmet' they are. It puts me into such a rage :shock:
Olive oil is another example. Making a fry up about six months ago when visiting my parents - big slug of vegetable oil. Mother's friend pipes up 'aren't you going to use olive oil' her face contorted with disgust. No, not for a fried egg my dear. 'I love extra virgin olive oil, first pressing'. Right. For frying eggs? 'Oh yes it's delicious'. I mean really, who on earth fries eggs in extra virgin olive oil? And WHY on earth would you do it? It certainly wouldn't taste any better. 'But it's how they do things in Italy'. My mother and I stare at her - she (and consequently I) are Italian. No, in Italy they would use the cheapest oil they can find, too. Extra virgin is for drizzling on salads and mozzarella on special occasions. And in the North, it's butter. Butter, butter butter butter and more butter and not a drop of olive oil in sight.
And what's wrong with peanut oil, or vegetable oil, or butter or lard or dripping? Roast potatoes are best with beef dripping, as are chips. Peanut oil for asian dishes. Vegetable oil for mayonnaise/emulsion sauces. Butter for risottos, cakes, pancakes. Lard and suet for english pastry. Olive oil very rarely on salads and nowhere else thankyou.
Did she serve a delicious pasta dish made with the delicatessen's finest dried pasta costing £10 a kilo? I knew someone who did that once. Here's a tip - pasta is made from flour and water. It tastes exactly the same no matter how much money you pay for it.
I suppose thes people are just terminally bewildered about food. If you aren't into food, and you don't like cooking - fair enough, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But then you get these obnoxious people just talking complete rubbish, spouting the names of expensive ingredients without a clue how to use them and having the cheek to tell me that I'm 'not a foodie' because I think (for example) beef dripping or chicken pie or a bowl of chips is delicious! I'd like to give them a greasy old chunk of lamb breast or a bowl of kidneys and see what these so-called 'foodies' can actually make out of it. :evil:
Incidentally have you tried proper buffalo mozzarella? It's delicious!
Brilliant post, I agree with everything you said
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Now, some lovely parmesan cheese, now you are talking!0
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chriskempton wrote:
I agreed with virtually everything you said Frink, but do you really not think a decent dried pasta for about £1-1.50 for 500g tastes better than e.g. Tesco value pasta?
I don't know, I've never had Tesco value pasta. I get mine from a wholesaler in a massive bag. It's Italian and made with '00' flour, and is just as cheap as supermarket stuff.
I'll concede that they might use different flour, but I think 'holding the sauce' is a myth. I've never curled some spaghetti on my fork to see the sauce sliding off with the pasta sparking clean underneath. It's not laminated.0 -
Beetroot fans - can I recommend Tesco's Sweetfire Baby beetroot?Heaven.0
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Tesco's Sweetfire Baby beetroot?
Haven't tried it but it makes me wonder where they are growing it. I get beetroot in the summer from a friend of my wife who grows it in her allotment. I simply bung it in the oven in foil, let it cool and then make Cheddar cheese, beetroot and Branston pickle sandwiches. Now that's heaven
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