Cheeses
Asiago: Two Cheeses Under One DOP, and Neither Is the American One
Asiago Pressato is soft, mild and young. Asiago d Allevo is hard, sharp and aged. American asiago is usually a third thing. How to tell which you need.
Cheeses
Fresh, stretched, washed and aged, and what a paste tells you about how a cheese was made.
Cheeses
Bra: The DOP Named After a Town That Never Made It
A Piedmontese cow milk DOP in tenero and duro grades, named for the market town that traded it rather than the valleys that produced it. How to buy each grade.
Cheeses
Burrata: A Bag of Mozzarella With Cream Inside, and the Clock It Runs On
Fresh mozzarella wrapped around stracciatella and cream. Why it was invented to use up scraps, why the date matters more than for any other cheese, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Caciocavallo: The Southern Cheese Hung in Pairs
A stretched-curd cheese from southern Italy, aged in a teardrop shape and tied over a pole. What the shape means, how age changes it, and how it differs from provolone.
Cheeses
Caciotta: A Shape and a Size, Not a Recipe
Small round semi-soft Italian cheeses sold under one word covering any milk and any region. What caciotta actually specifies, and how to buy one when the name tells you nothing.
Cheeses
Canestrato: The Cheese Named After the Basket It Was Pressed In
A southern Italian sheep cheese whose woven rind marks record the basket mould. Which canestrati hold designations, and how to read the rind.
Cheeses
Castelmagno: The Crumbly Piedmontese DOP That Sometimes Goes Blue
A rare mountain DOP from three Cuneo villages, crumbly and sharp, occasionally veined. Why the blue is optional, what alpeggio means on the label, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Crescenza: The Same Cheese as Stracchino, Under a Name Worth Explaining
A soft rindless Lombard cheese, usually indistinguishable from stracchino. Where the two names came from, when a producer means something specific by crescenza, and how to buy it.
Cheeses
Fiore Sardo: The Smoked Sardinian DOP, and the Sheep Cheese That Is Not Romano
A raw sheep milk DOP from Sardinia, smoked over open fires and aged for months. Why it tastes nothing like Pecorino Romano despite sharing an island and a milk.
Cheeses
Fontina: The DOP From One Alpine Valley, and the Word Everyone Else Uses
Fontina Val d Aosta is a raw milk cave-aged DOP. Fontina sold with a red wax rind is usually something else entirely. How to tell them apart and why it matters for fonduta.
Cheeses
Gorgonzola Dolce: The Blue You Eat With a Spoon
The young, soft, sparsely veined half of the gorgonzola DOP. Why it is barely a blue cheese in texture, what cremificato means, and why it is the one for sauces.
Cheeses
Gorgonzola Piccante: The Older Half, and the One the Cheese Was Originally
Firm, densely veined and genuinely sharp. Why piccante is closer to historical gorgonzola than dolce is, what the labels mean, and when it is the right choice.
Cheeses
Gorgonzola: One DOP, Two Cheeses, and the Word That Hides the Choice
A DOP blue from Lombardy and Piedmont sold in two very different forms. Why dolce and piccante are barely the same cheese, and which one a recipe means.
Cheeses
Grana Padano: The Cheaper Wheel, and Exactly Where It Differs From Parmigiano
A DOP hard cow cheese from the Po valley, and the closest thing Parmigiano Reggiano has to a rival. The four real differences, and when the cheaper wheel is the right buy.
Cheeses
Mascarpone: Not a Cheese in the Ordinary Sense, and Why That Matters
Cream acidified and drained, with no rennet and no culture. Why it is technically barely a cheese, why it splits so easily, and how to tell a good tub from a stabilised one.
Cheeses
Montasio: The Friulian DOP That Becomes Three Cheeses With Age
A cow milk DOP from Friuli and the Veneto sold fresh, semi-stagionato and stagionato. What each grade is for, and the fried cheese dish that made it famous.
Cheeses
Mozzarella di Bufala: The DOP That Names an Animal, Not a Place Alone
Water buffalo milk mozzarella from Campania and Lazio, protected by DOP. Why buffalo milk changes the cheese, how to spot the fake, and why the liquid matters.
Cheeses
Parmigiano Reggiano: How to Judge One by Age and by Eye
The pin-dot rind, what 12, 24 and 36 months actually taste like, why the crystals are a good sign, and how to tell it from Parmesan and Grana Padano.
Cheeses
Pecorino di Pienza: A Town Name Inside a DOP, and What It Actually Buys You
The sheep cheese of the Val d Orcia, sold under a town name that is not itself protected. What relationship it has to Pecorino Toscano DOP, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Pecorino Romano: The Sheep Cheese That Is Mostly Made in Sardinia
A hard salted DOP sheep cheese from Lazio, Sardinia and Grosseto. Why most of it is Sardinian, why it is so salty, and when it is the wrong cheese for the dish.
Cheeses
Pecorino Sardo: The Sardinian DOP That Is Not the Romano Made in Sardinia
A DOP sheep cheese from Sardinia in two grades, dolce and maturo. Why it is a different cheese from Pecorino Romano despite sharing an island, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Pecorino Toscano: The Mild Sheep Cheese, and the Rind That Is Not Wax
A DOP Tuscan sheep cheese in fresh and aged grades, far gentler than Romano. What the coloured rinds actually are, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Piave: The Young DOP That Tastes Like an Old One
A hard cow milk DOP from Belluno sold in five named age grades. Why it develops sweetness and crystals faster than most, and which grade to buy for what.
Cheeses
Provola: The Word Between Mozzarella and Provolone, and What It Actually Names
A stretched-curd cheese sitting between fresh mozzarella and aged provolone, usually smoked. How it differs from scamorza, and what provola means in Naples.
Cheeses
Provolone: The Rennet Decides the Sharpness, Not the Age
A stretched-curd DOP cheese sold as dolce and piccante. Why the animal the rennet came from is what makes it sharp, and how Italian provolone differs from the American deli cheese.
Cheeses
Quartirolo Lombardo: The DOP Named After the Fourth Cut of Grass
A square soft-to-semi-soft DOP from Lombardy, tangy when young and mellow when aged. What the name records about autumn pasture, and how it differs from stracchino.
Cheeses
Ricotta Salata: Not the Soft Ricotta Salted, and Why the Name Misleads
A firm, salted, pressed and aged sheep whey cheese for grating and crumbling. How it differs from fresh ricotta, what it does in pasta alla Norma, and how to judge one.
Cheeses
Robiola: A Family Name, Not a Cheese, and How to Buy One Anyway
Soft Piedmontese and Lombard cheeses sold under one word covering several very different products. What the milks and formats are, and which Robiola you actually want.
Cheeses
Scamorza: Mozzarella Dried Out on Purpose, and the Smoked One
A stretched-curd cheese hung to dry until firm, sold white or smoked. Why it melts without flooding a dish, and how to tell real smoking from added flavouring.
Cheeses
Stracchino: The Soft Fresh Cheese Named After Tired Cows
A young, spreadable, tangy Lombard cheese with no rind. What the name actually means, how it relates to crescenza and Taleggio, and why it does not keep.
Cheeses
Stracciatella (the Cheese): Torn Curd in Cream, and the Two Other Things Called That
The Pugliese cheese that fills a burrata, made of shredded mozzarella curd steeped in cream. How it differs from the gelato and the Roman soup, and how to buy it.
Cheeses
Taleggio: The Cheese That Smells Far Stronger Than It Tastes
A square washed-rind DOP from Lombardy with a pungent nose and a mild, buttery paste. Why the rind does the smelling, how to judge one, and why it melts so well.