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Searing Cheese


acevedo81

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So yesterday I wanted to sear a cheese and thought Feta would be a good option since it doesnt melt (so i thought). I left the cheese in cloth for about an hour to drain as much water as possible and made a green sauce with blended cilantro, lemon, garlic and olive oil. However, once I seared the cheese it started to melt at the bottom instead of browning on the outside (the result I actually wanted). So to sum up my question - What did I do wrong? but also, what cheeses (without adding flour) work for this type of dish?

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Straight from Wikipedia:

Halloumi (Greek: χαλλούμι,) (Turkish: Hellim,) is a cheese indigenous to Cyprus. It is traditionally made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, although some halloumi can be bought that also contains cows' milk. Industrial halloumi contains more cows milk than goat and sheep milk. This reduces the cost but changes the taste and the grilling properties....It is used in cooking, as it can be fried until brown without melting due to its higher-than-normal melting point, making it an excellent cheese for frying or grilling (such as in saganaki), as an ingredient in salads, or simply fried and served with vegetables

CLICK

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Cheesetique carries it too, as does the Mediterranean Bakery (S. Pickett in Alexandria) which I think has several varieties. As synaesthesia said, it is GOOD in addition to being quick and easy (and squeaky :blink: ). One of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks has a recipe that pairs it with a chili sauce - very tasty. Being lazy, I just use some of that sweet Thai chili sauce and it works well too.

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The thing is I'm not trying to fry the cheese, just searing it or grilling it. So I dont want to add oil to the cooking method or flour to the cheese. It obviously has to be a hard cheese and I believe hard aged goat cheese works well, but I'm not quite sure

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The thing is I'm not trying to fry the cheese, just searing it or grilling it. So I dont want to add oil to the cooking method or flour to the cheese. It obviously has to be a hard cheese and I believe hard aged goat cheese works well, but I'm not quite sure
Just slice some halloumi up, throw it in a nonstick pan for a few minutes on each side and Voila - squeaky goodness. (See the link in my above post for slightly more (not much) detailed instructions.

Same technique should work for the fricos mentioned - only grate the cheese and make little piles of it in the pan to create crispy 'wafers'.

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I have successfully cooked provolone cheese on a griddle before. It gets crisp and brown. If you use a smokier provolone it, too, has bacon-y flavor aspects. You can use it as a sub for bacon in a BLT for vegetarians, which I used to offer when I was a sorority chef to my vegetarian girls. It's a lot cheaper than halloumi or kasseri cheeses, but it's not nearly as tasty as those other cheeses either.

There's a place in Connecticut--I think it's called Shady Glen--where they fry cheese for all their sandwiches. I ate ice cream there once in college and was amazed to see these wings of cheese surrounding every sandwich--I guess they let the cheese droop onto the griddle on all sides of the burger or whatever and then served the sandwiches surrounded by crispy cheese. It's where I got the idea to try the provolone.

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There's also paneer, an Indian cheese which is made precisely the same way that I've made queso blanco/fresco, except using a lime for curdling. If you're interested, here's instructions.

While looking for supporting evidence, I found this link to a Spanish cheese, Queso Iberico.

Whole Foods sells the Greek cheese that Brett Ashley brought to your attention. I think I saw a domestic cheese next to it that markets itself as something you can prepare the same way. Farmer's cheese, perhaps?

I've written posts here at DR.com about frico and Montasio since I was trying to find a local source and went through a lot before finally managing to get some at the Whole Foods store in Georgetown/Glover Park at least 2-3 times. I don't think they have it currently, but it's the only location that has bothered carrying it. When it did, the sign didn't even mention frico. I am sure the reason it didn't sell was because when it is served at room temperature, uncooked, it is the Bob Newhart of cheeses were the guy stripped of his sense of humor. As frico, it calls to you like Barry White with the lights out--or Julie Newmar if you prefer.

Malawry, judging from your recommendation, you really ought to track it down since provolone has nothing on what Montasio does. (Click. I'd go w onions, bacon & potatoes. Very fattening.)

Zora, you're right about Parmesan being used to make frico wafers in this country. The Reichl-edited cookbook for Gourmet has a recipe. I bet a very aged gouda would do the same thing.

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