When the bechamel sauce is smooth and velvety, reduce the heat to low and stir in the garlic and remaining 3/4 cup of each of the shredded cheeses. Reserve 1/4 cup of each of the cheeses and set aside. Season with the nutmeg and 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally so there are no lumps and nothing sticks to the bottom and edges of the pan, for 10 minutes. Pour in the milk 1 cup at a time and stir until smooth. Whisk in the flour so that it's smooth and pasty, then cook for 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally, so the roux does not stick to the pan. Drizzle a 13-by-9-inch casserole dish with the olive oil.įor the cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water, and set aside. Cook the pasta in boiling super salty water (like the sea) until just tender, or al dente. (Here's looking at you, American!) Still others need a bit of assistance from a recipe to remain stable.For the noodles: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Others have emulsifiers added to them to ensure that they melt smoothly at low temperatures without breaking. Some cheeses, like feta or halloumi, have a protein structure so tight that no amount of heating will cause them to break or melt. Once the protein structure breaks down too much, individual micro-droplets of fat and water coalesce, breaking out of the protein matrix and causing the cheese to completely break. Depending on the type of cheese, this takes place at anywhere from around 120☏, for super-melty high-moisture process cheeses like Velveeta, all the way up to 180☏ and higher, for super-dry cheeses like well-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. Continue to heat the cheese, and eventually enough of its protein bonds will break that it'll flow and spread like a liquid. Ever notice how a piece of cheese left out in the heat for too long forms tiny beads on its surface? Those are beads of milk fat. Other flavorful compounds present in cheese are mostly intentional by-products of bacteria and aging.Īs cheese is heated, the first part to go is the fat, which begins melting at around 90☏. Salt can have a profound effect on the texture-saltier cheeses have had more moisture drawn out of the curd before being pressed, so they tend to be drier and firmer. Salt and other flavorings make up the rest of the cheese.These micelles link together into long chains, forming a matrix that gives the cheese its structure. These proteins come together headfirst in bundles of several thousand, protecting their hydrophobic heads and exposing their hydrophillic tails to their watery surroundings. Individual milk proteins (the main ones are four similar molecules called caseins) resemble little tadpoles with hydrophobic (water-avoiding) heads, and hydrophillic (water-seeking) tails. Protein micelles are spherical bundles of milk proteins.Because of this, and because of their suspension, these tiny globules don't come into contact with each other to form larger globules: cheeses stay creamy or crumbly, instead of greasy. Milk fat in solid cheese is dispersed in the form of microscopic globules kept suspended in a tight matrix of protein micelles (more on those in a second).Famous hard cheeses, like Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, may contain as little as 30 percent water after several years of aging. The longer a cheese is aged, the more moisture it loses, and the harder it becomes. Young cheeses like jack, young cheddars, and mozzarella have a relatively high water content-up to 80 percent.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |