MetaChat - Just curious to hear what cheese fiends might think

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11 January 2008

Just curious to hear what cheese fiends might think Today, at my local deli/bakery, I spotted some smoked mozzarella in the cheese case area. I almost bought some to add to the regular mozzarella that I use for homemade pizza. Would that have been nuts? Whattaya think?

post by: richat at: 20:59 | 21 comments

Oh and I'm gonna go flake out and watch One Eyed Jacks, so please don't be offended if I'm not, you know, "in thread"...I would like to hear opinions from you lot all the same.

posted by richat 11 January | 21:01

No, not crazy at all. Smoked mozzarella (and gouda, and cheddar, and &c) are excellent. They act just like their unsmoked cousins, but add a wonderfully rich and savory flavor. It would have been an excellent addition -- but you DO want to mix it. Say, 70/30 unsmoked/smoked.

Make sure, though, that the cheese is actually *smoked*, and not injected with smoke flavoring. "Smoked" provolone is especially bad about this, IIRC.

posted by mudpuppie 11 January | 21:08

One Eyed Jacks? That's a great movie! Enjoy.

As far as the cheese goes, mudpuppie said exactly what I would have.

posted by elizard 11 January | 21:35

I think if you made a BBQ Chix pizza it could be super delicious.

(Smoked string cheese is one of the great delicacies of the North, if you ask me.)

posted by pokermonk 11 January | 21:55

It would have been fine. I regularly used smoked provolone on pizza. It gets pretty good reviews.

posted by danf 11 January | 22:24

It's all about a balance of flavors.
Too many and it's a waste, lost in tie with a clash, monetarily speaking.
Another thing better duked out in live debate via irc!
Enjoy the movie, recommend at will.
Personally, i find a smoked provolone to work well with sundried tomatoes.

posted by ethylene 11 January | 22:32

I like using smoked mozzarella on pizza, and especially in my Saffron Noodle Cake. Adds a nice hunk of flavor. Smoking is like frying, it makes a lot of things taste better.

posted by eekacat 11 January | 22:32

Sure! Smoky cheese are yummy (though see pup's caveats). They are especially good paired with woodsy flavors in the other toppings, rich earthy flavors that can ground that acrid smoke thing well - mushrooms, eggplant, minced parsley, maybe caramelized onions.

posted by Miko 11 January | 22:34

It would have been amazing.

posted by brujita 12 January | 01:07

Smoked mozzarella, also sometimes called scamorza is excellent on pizza: when I lived in Rome, the pizza rustica joint down the street did a scamorza & mushroom pizza that was outstanding.

posted by misteraitch 12 January | 02:41

I will be the lone dissenter. I really hate scamorza.

But everyone I know really likes it, so I suspect I'm just weird.

posted by occhiblu 12 January | 04:30

^^^^i h8 it too. i'm wit u girl. frikkin nasty. the whole appeal of mozzarella is that it's bella fresca, totally fresh and oozing milk with that yummy milky taste and light texture. smoking it erases everything. o, and scamorza isn't mozzarella, close, but not the same.

posted by scala di seta 12 January | 08:40

Wow, interesting smattering of opinions! I think I will try it, maybe with a woodland mushroom and prosciutto type thing. It's funny, the pizza I do make, which is usually just genoa salami, red peppers, thinly sliced sweet onions and mozzarella is so popular in house that any attempts to change it are often met with less agreeable results!

Perhaps with a completely different sauce, and toppings, I might be able to sneak one past the crowd!

Thanks you guys, and I must admit, I dozed off during One Eyed Jacks. I love a western, and I've really not seen too many Brando films, but it was a long week!

posted by richat 12 January | 09:44

Yeah, I think it would depend on the other toppings. If you had fresh veggie toppings I think the smoky flavor would overwhelm them. If you're doing stronger, more savory flavors a little smoky taste would be good. I think people overdo it, though. I'd say 80% non-smoky/20% smoky, depending on how strong the flavor in the cheese is.

posted by small_ruminant 12 January | 12:23

o, and scamorza isn't mozzarella, close, but not the same.

Is scamorza what they call "smoked mozzarella," or is that something different? I've only ever had scamorza, and I actually had it by itself as part of a cheese plate, I think, at a really good restaurant in Florence that I assume knew what it was doing, and that single experience was enough to make me avoid it forever.

I'm not usually a big fan of smoked anything, though.

posted by occhiblu 12 January | 12:37

Mushrooms, carmelized onions and whol kernels of sweet corn over Smoked mozz with a lightly garlicky whitesauce pizza is teh yum.

posted by Triode 12 January | 13:31

i like a fresh mozz meself, but i generally like things clean if they are of good quality. If not, why not tweak it.
If i have good ingredients, i usually just eat them; if they aren't that great or has past their ultimate peak, that's when i feel free to experiment wildly. That's why i like having surprise elements show up:
"Have this blue cheese we didn't like!"
"You want this salad dressing?"
"I bought the wrong thing!"
etc.
Impulse shoppers and new adopters good for me.

posted by ethylene 12 January | 14:07

Is scamorza what they call "smoked mozzarella"...

I thought so, but now I find I've been labouring under a cheese misapprehension for years! Scamorza, I have since gathered, is a mozzarella-like cow's-milk cheese that can be had 'fresh' as well as smoked.

I'm pretty sure it was the smoked kind, together with some kind of wild mushroom, that topped the pizza I liked so much: a slice of that with a glass of Guinness & I was a very happy man indeed.

posted by misteraitch 12 January | 15:28

If i had one of those fresh mozzarella balls right now, i'd be so happy, taking alternate bites of grape tomato and whatever else i can just grab and eat.

i don't think i've ever had scamorza. i really have had a very limited tour of the wide wide worlds of cheese. And i do so love it.
Someday, i'm busting out that big tasting in a real cheese shop with anything that need be smuggled in smuggled in, or dare i dream of the lands of legal cheese...

posted by ethylene 12 January | 15:49

a slice of that with a glass of Guinness & I was a very happy man indeed.

Hee. I have learned to avoid any cheese that's described as being good with beer. I like beer, but beer and cheese just seems wrong to me*, and I'm starting to think it's because I just don't like the cheeses that would make that combo work.

*Does not apply to cheeseburgers and beer. Mmmmm, cheeseburgers and beer...

posted by occhiblu 12 January | 16:54

Just today, remembering this discussion, I bought some smoked mozzarella to see what I thought.

Verdict: I don't like it at room temperature, but it's good melted with onions under a grill.

posted by tangerine 13 January | 18:25

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