Author Topic: Sargento's Cheese (Read 8228 times)

Crusty · « **on:** February 08, 2005, 08:58:57 PM »

I use the Sargento Mozz/Provelone shredded blend and have found that it is excellent. I take is out of the packaging during the day of use and place in a bowl to allow some drying. I am now making NY Style Street Pizza that is excellent.

Any comments on Sargento's ?

Thanks

Giovanni · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2005, 09:08:01 PM »

I used to by that stuff all the time for my pizza's. I would say it probably the best cheese you can get that is available in most stores. I can gaurantee that if you try Grande you will never go back to sargento. Another rarely talked about brand is Boar's Head which a local grocery store in my town carries. It's pretty good as well. I would say kraft makes the worst mozzarella.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #2 on:** February 08, 2005, 09:20:01 PM »

Crusty,

It sounds like you are using the Sargento pre-shredded mozzarella/provolone cheese in a bag. Is that right? I have used the Sargento mozzarella that is in a ball in a shrink-wrapped package and found it to be fine. Unfortunately, in the Dallas area where I live it is hard to get the best cheeses, like the Grande, or even another good packaged whole-milk mozzarella cheese. I was able to find the Dragone brand of whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella cheese while I was in Massachusetts and bought several balls of it. I froze it in my friend's freezer and packed it in an insulated bag and took it back to Dallas with me on the plane. It was still frozen when I got back home. While I was in Massachusetts I also found the Boar's Head brand of mozzarella cheese and provolone cheese. I used some of those on pizzas I made for friends, with good results.

Maybe I have missed something along the way, Crusty, but what recipe are you using to make your NY Street pizza dough? Have you posted your recipe?

Peter

Crusty · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2005, 10:59:20 PM »

Peter, I use the recipe you posted 9/27/04 but only use 1/4t yeast. I use KASL with Stanislaus pizza sauce, sargento cheese and oregano. I proof the dough for 24 and get to room temp for 2 hours.

Thanks for the recipe.

Crusty

Pete-zza · « **Reply #4 on:** February 09, 2005, 08:45:20 AM »

Crusty,

I'm glad the recipe has worked out for you. What I am always interested in is getting feedback on possible improvements to the recipe based on the experience of others. So, if you have any thoughts along those lines, feel free to pass them on.

Peter

Pete-zza · « **Reply #5 on:** February 09, 2005, 08:48:37 AM »

Giovanni,

Is there any particular brand of Kraft mozzarella cheese that you have found to be unacceptable? I know that Kraft sells blocks of mozzarella cheese, but it also sells the Polly-O mozzarella balls in shrink wrap, which I have found to be a pretty decent cheese.

Peter

Giovanni · « **Reply #6 on:** February 09, 2005, 09:18:05 AM »

Peter:

I've tried just about every kind of mozz you can get at Kroger, Wal-mart, etc. I found that Kraft part-skim was horrible on pizza, worse that even the off-brands. No flavor at all. I do however like kraft's chedder varieties. I've also tried numberous brands of imported italian fresh mozz (too many brand to remember), all of which were too watery when cooked. The sargento 50/50 mix preshreed in a bag is pretty darn good but still no where near the taste and quality of Grande. I've seen the Polly-O at Sam's Club but since i can get Grande shipped to me for fairly cheap I'm not even going to try it.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2005, 11:17:07 AM »

Giovanni,

Where are you getting your Grande from now, and what type (e.g., whole-milk, part-skim, low-moisture, etc.) are you using? Also, are you close enough to the source to keep shipping costs reasonable?

Peter

Giovanni · « **Reply #8 on:** February 09, 2005, 01:59:57 PM »

I'm partial to the part-skim version, although both are good in their own way. For the part-skim i order from verns cheese in wisconsin. I'm in Indiana so shipping is not that much. I think i paid about $30 for a 5 pound bag of diced shipped. It arrived at my house 2 days after i ordered it. The only source for whole milk i could find was DiBruno (sp?) Brothers. I paid $80 for a 5 pound log shipped. Like i said, the whole milk isnt worth it for me since the part-skim works equally as good on pizza.

Aaron · « **Reply #9 on:** February 09, 2005, 02:49:30 PM »

Cooks Illustrated has a recommendation for pizza cheese from the pizza section of their baking illustrated cookbook.In the book they did blind taste tests and these are their reccomendations,best block mozzarella cheese is Dragone low moisture mozz(whole milk) and for best shredded they chose Kraft low moisture part skim mozz.
They also have two dough recipes,one for regular pie and one for deep dish that uses riced potatoes as an ingredient,seems the potato increases the gluten for the deep dish dough.
Aaron

canadave · « **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2005, 03:01:45 PM »

Quote

The only source for whole milk i could find was DiBruno (sp?) Brothers. I paid $80 for a 5 pound log shipped.

Yikes....Giovanni, how much pizza do you eat??

I'd think 5 pounds of cheese would be hard to go through without it going bad before you've gone through the whole log, even if you froze some of it. Do you find that not to be the case?

Dave

Arthur · « **Reply #11 on:** February 09, 2005, 03:23:51 PM »

once you've had good cheese on your pizza it's hard to go back to supermarket kind. Grande or fresh mozz is the only way to go.

friz78 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2005, 04:28:14 PM »

I buy the 5 lb cheese (I'm lucky, I live in Wisconsin and it's easy to get Grande mozzarella cheese here) and it stays for a long, long time in the refrigerator as long as it is wrapped well. I keep it in the factory sealed plastic and just cut off a portion of the end and leave the rest of the block in the plastic seal. It'll stay for over a month like that.

canadave · « **Reply #13 on:** February 09, 2005, 05:18:36 PM »

Hmmmm....interesting.....but still....5 pounds?? How long do you find it takes to go through 5 pounds of cheese? I'd think it'd take 2 months at least, unless you made pizza every day or so....

Pete-zza · « **Reply #14 on:** February 09, 2005, 07:11:30 PM »

Dave,

One of the interesting things I learned about mozzarella cheese that is sold to pizza operators, such as the Grande mozzarella cheese, is that it gets better with age (up to a point, of course). In fact, pizza operators will complain to their distributors if the cheese is too "green"--because it performs poorly--and they don't particularly want to wait until the cheese "ripens" to use it. What Friz says about his use of his Grande cheese is consistent with the notion of mozzarella cheese ripening and getting better with age.

I recall Big Dave discussing this point in response to a pizza operator having received "green" mozzarella cheese from a distributor. I found Big Dave's commentary and have exerpted it (with some minor editing), as follows (in quotes):

"What your received was 'green cheese'. Mozzarella cheese ages in the polyethylene wrapper in the box. It never stops aging. It is usually shipped from the plant within seven days of production and, so, receives little or no curing in the cheese plant. Instead, aging occurs in the distribution channel and pizzeria. Aging time is often listed as 1-4 weeks, meaning that the cheese should not be used before seven days or after 28 days from date of manufacture. I suggest that the optimum usage window is 14 – 28 days. This assumes that the cheese has been maintained at 36-40 degrees F. Typically, the distributor receives the cheese that is 6-13 days old. So most pizzerias receive it at 13-20 days.

Green, young or underaged cheese will not perform at all. Notify your distributor that you will not accept delivery on nor will pay for any mozzarella that is younger than 12 days or is older than 28 days. No hard feelings. Just business. What happened is they underestimated their weekly useage and shipped out green cheese because they had to or because someone didn't rotate the older stuff to the front of the walk-in."

Of course, if one decides to freeze some of the mozzarella cheese, then its life span can be extended. But the stuff doesn't go bad in a hurry while it is in the refrigerator/cooler.

Peter

Giovanni · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2005, 08:37:34 AM »

I purchased 5 pounds of diced part-skim and a 5 pound log of whole milk at the same time. That was 4 months ago and i have about 1 pound of the whole milk left. I think we used up the part-skim in about 6 weeks. I didnt just use it on pizza though. I put it in burritoes, tacos, on sandwiches, on chicken dishes, spagetti, etc, etc. I kept it frozen and then took out what i needed for the week. It tasted perfect throught the entire 6 weeks. The whole milk is starting to get a but of freezer burn even thought it's double wrapped. I used some last week on a pie and it tasted fine. I've said this before, one you go grande you'll never go back!

captain-insano · « **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2005, 05:48:30 PM »

I used to work for Marley cooling tower a few years back. I traveled aroung North America starting up cooling towers. I went to Sargento in 1997 to start one up. It was located in Plymouth Wisconsin. Man it was cool. The people that worked there were very nice. They gave me a tour of the place and told me not to forget to ask about some cheese for when I leave. Well when I was getting ready to leave the mainenance guy takes me to this cooler and gets this box about three feet long and starts dumping romano, parmesan and all kinds of stuff. You should have seen the look on the security guards faces when I brought all that cheese to the airport! I had parmesan and romano for two years after that trip. When I go to the store and see their packages and buy it i kinda get the feeling that I has a part in making it. The people there were really nice. I buy their cheese everytime.

bortz · « **Reply #17 on:** March 04, 2005, 09:07:05 PM »

I tried Grande the past two Saturdays. I'm never going back to any of the common supermarket brands. Grand has a way of melting into the sauce rather than just lying on top of it. It's tough to describe, you just have to experience it. It has more of a pizzeria taste rather than a home made pizza taste to bring your pizza making efforts up a notch.

friz78 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 04, 2005, 11:41:55 PM »

Bortz,
As a native of Wisconsin I tend to take Grande cheese for granted. Recently, I experimented with several brands of mozzarella cheese. Tonight, I went back to the Grande cheese and, I must say, it is indeed the finest of its kind anywhere. The flavor, the way it doesn't burn, the way it works into the sauce and crust. Nothing beats it.

snowdy · « **Reply #19 on:** March 06, 2005, 04:32:18 AM »

hey guys... ive been using boar's head brand for the last few weeks and it is excellent..

but i just got my big bag of grande 50/50 mozzarella/provalone blend and DUDE

let me tell you........

NIGHT and DAY quality difference.

if you have been thinking of trying grande, do it... call vern's cheese
http://www.vernscheese.com/

very cool people to deal with and i guarantee you will be happy. ive been making pizza every friday for family and the very first time i used my grande cheese everybody was commenting on the cheese. the stuff is awesome.

its worth giving a try.