Who uses Mozzarella di Bufala?

[Jackie Tran]

I was wondering how many folks on the forum use bufala mozz and if they feel it's worth the price difference.   I've been wanting to try it for a long time now but made a promise to myself to wait. 

I wanted to wait until I got my crust down and I'm just about there (i think).  I've been waiting about 8 months to try this stuff so I hope it's worth it.   I was at Trader Joe's tonight and decided to picked some up.   It's the Mandara brand (Mozzarella di Bufala Campana - DOP) going for $7 for 7oz, about 2x the price of the normal stuff. 

I'll post a picture later.

[Bill/SFNM]

Chau,

For the real stuff, it's all about freshness. Even if it is not beyond the "use by" date, it can quickly lose it's sweet creaminess. I've tried the TJ stuff and never been impressed. I prefer a super fresh cow's milk mozzarella to an older bufala.

[widespreadpizza]

Bill,  maybe its because I have a hard time finding great cows milk mozz in southern NH,  but the couple times I have spotted the mandara bufula at tj's with at leat 10-14 days left in date for me it rose to the occasion.  It just melts so differently than all the other suff I  end up with here,  and has that twang that cows milk just doesn't maybe I got lucky,  but I felt it was worth it the couple times I picked it up.  Luckily,  my costco just started carring the sp? garafolo again.  I have yet to try it,  but scott r feels it is one of the best.  Price is good too...10-11 a lb.  BTW Chau,  just make sure you drain it appropriately,  or you will end up with a soggy pie.
-marc

[Jackie Tran]

Well I used it tonight, without draining it of course.   That and a bit of OO on the pie did give me a bit of a soggy center.  My first impressions is that it's decent cheese.  I wasn't blown away though.  I did notice the twang to it that you mentioned.  Not sure what it was but thought it might have been a preservative.  The color is ULTRA white and it's really soft, almost like a whipped cream cheese.  It also had a nice saltiness to it unlike the other soft Mozzs I've tried.  I tried a bit of it "fresh" but wet.  It wasn't bad but again not blown away. 

The date on this one is July 16, 10 so I have just shy of 2 weeks to use it. 

Usually with the cow's milk mozz, I end up adding a bit of sea salt to the water to add that saltiness to the cheese.  I find it helps alot.  I also find that if I slice it just right and soak it in OO, it melts just like the bufala mozz. 

I will use it up and update my impressions of the bufala mozz. 

[PizzaVera]

anyone know which brands they using at KESTE, MOTORINO or UNA PIZZA NAPOLITANA?

or any of the other pizzerias which are well know..

ohh and of course PAULIE GEES...

[Matthew]

In Toronto we have a huge Italian community & with that there is no shortage of cheese stores selling both freshly made & imported cheese.  I use a fresh bufalina made daily by a local cheese maker using milk from a local farm.  It's not from Campania, but one thing is for sure, it's extremely fresh (made with milk brought in fresh daily) & it's made from 100% buffalo milk.  It's also extremely reasonably priced & not much more than their fresh fior di latte.  Imported bufalina seems to be hit & miss.  He also make fresh burrata that I've been wanting to try on pizza.

Matt

[Jackie Tran]

Matthew you lucky b@st@rd!    You get FRESH mozz made daily!  That's it I'm moving there! 

I'm glad you brought up the burrata as I also saw that at my local Trader Joes and was so tempted to pick that up as well.  Being that I am starting to collect a ton of cheese, I decided to save that for next time.  Has anyone tried the burrata?  TJs also had a "creamed" mozz that looks a lot like ricotta cheese sitting next to the burrata.

JT

[Matthew]

Matthew you lucky b@st@rd!    You get FRESH mozz made daily!  That's it I'm moving there! 

I'm glad you brought up the burrata as I also saw that at my local Trader Joes and was so tempted to pick that up as well.  Being that I am starting to collect a ton of cheese, I decided to save that for next time.  Has anyone tried the burrata?  TJs also had a "creamed" mozz that looks a lot like ricotta cheese sitting next to the burrata.

JT

If I remember correctly Bill tried the one from Trader Joes & didn't like it.

Matt

[Bill/SFNM]

If I remember correctly Bill tried the one from Trader Joes & didn't like it.

Matt

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9968.msg88308.html#msg88308

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks for the link Bill.  Too bad it wasn't that good, but it DOES look great on your pizza though.  I suspect you can make mediocre cheese look good on anything.  That pie is beautiful.

Now that I know you love burrata so much, I'll see if any of the other local whole food stores carries any. 

[jeff v]

Re: burrata- If you can make good mozzarella yourself, burrata is easy to do as well, and tastes much better than the widely available stuff.

Re: bufala-As others have said it's all about freshness. I hope my Coscto is carrying the Garafolo again as it was pretty darn good. Also, I have seen La Mozzarella ( http://lamozzarellachicago.com/index.html ) making deliveries to Spacca Napoli in Chicago if that helps anyone.

Jeff

[dellavecchia]

According to what I have seen in Anthony Mangieri videos, he said that getting the bufala from Italy is a hard affair at best. He would get them overnight from Campania by the case (not it whey, interestingly), and they still might not be the freshest. The problem with mozz is that it is really meant to be used the day it is made, maybe the next. It is not a stable cheese by any means even submerged in whey. I even prefer mozz that has been frozen the day it was made and slowly thawed to 3 day old. So the bufala you are getting in the supermarkets may be really, really past it's prime - which is why most people say supermarket bufala is soft to the point of falling apart. Fresh bufala has a much better texture to say the least.

I have not tried it yet, but the company below ships bufala fresh the day it was made, overnight, from Campania:

http://www.flyingmozzarella.com/

John

[Jackie Tran]

Nice...some really good info.  thanks guys.

[sear]

id like to try using it, havent seen it around here.
did try the fresh mozz once and wasnt too impressed.
i just think in the long run of making pies every week the sorrento/pollyo @ 2-3 per pound when on sale its hard to justify spending 7 times that amount on the buffalo

[kross]

I have not tried it yet, but the company below ships bufala fresh the day it was made, overnight, from Campania:

http://www.flyingmozzarella.com/

John

I tried to get a price for shipping, but it appears they only ship throughout Europe, not to the United States. 

[dellavecchia]

I tried to get a price for shipping, but it appears they only ship throughout Europe, not to the United States. 

I made an account about 2-3 months ago, and I was able to create a shipping address for the US - but I cannot now. It appears they have either changed their policy or changed the website. Too bad, as I really wanted to try the product.

John

[Jackie Tran]

I used the mozz di bufala again this afternoon and liked it better.  I tore out some bigger chunks and sat them on a papertowel to drain them for about 20min before using.  I didn't bake the pie as long this time and the cheese melted very nicely.  It had a good stringy effect and I could definitely taste the creaminess to it this time.   

[Jackie Tran]

Finally got a chance to try the TJs burrata, which is a type of creamy mozz.  This is my first burrata so I don't have anything to compare it to other than the buffala mozz that TJs carries (Mandara).

Burrata Mozz vs Mandara buffala mozz

The Good
-price is cheaper than the buffala at $4.50/7 oz vs $6.50/7 oz (buffala)
-melts great
-nice creamy taste without the tang

The Bad
-not much cheaper since you get 2 balls and you can easily use up 1 ball per 11" pie whereas the Buffala di mozz
 seems to be enough for 3 pies. 
-strange texture when fresh.  Mushy inside solid outside like cutting into a hardboiled egg. 
-Have to definitely soak on papertowels as the center is too mushy.

Overall: comparable taste and price to the Mandara Buffala di mozz. I think I actually prefer it over the Mandara buffala di mozz.

[Matthew]

Finally got a chance to try the TJs burrata, which is a type of creamy mozz.  This is my first burrata so I don't have anything to compare it to other than the buffala mozz that TJs carries (Mandara).

Burrata Mozz vs Mandara buffala mozz

The Good
-price is cheaper than the buffala at $4.50/7 oz vs $6.50/7 oz (buffala)
-melts great
-nice creamy taste without the tang

The Bad

-not much cheaper since you get 2 balls and you can easily use up 1 ball per 11" pie whereas the Buffala di mozz
 seems to be enough for 3 pies. 
-strange texture when fresh.  Mushy inside solid outside like cutting into a hardboiled egg. 
-Have to definitely soak on papertowels as the center is too mushy.

Overall: comparable taste and price to the Mandara Buffala di mozz. I think I actually prefer it over the Mandara buffala di mozz.

JT,
See reply #7.  You might find this of interest.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=11517.msg105286;topicseen#msg105286

It looks like mozarella filled with ricotta.
I'll post a pic of what real burrata looks like once I cut mine open.

Matt

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks for the info Matt.  I have read in other places on the net the very same thing about the rarity of "real" SMs and the closest thing we have to a real SM is the Stanilaus Alta Cucina.  I'm not surprise to hear the same about Buffalo Mozz and the Burrata.

I was pleasantly surprised about this one as I was expecting it to be a mess on the pizza but it turned out pretty good, or as good as the Mandara Mozz despite the odd double texture.  It melted well and had a nice creaminess to it.

I'm sure once I starter hunting around for other Burratas that the TJs would pale in comparison.   For my uninformed taste, it wasn't too bad though.  Looking forward to your post on the local cheeses.