by: Hanna Raskin / The Post & Courier
Burrata is “omnipresent,” in the estimation of New York Magazine, which late last year declared the Italian cheese was having a “bacon moment.” So restaurant servers these days are less likely to be called upon to explain the delicacy, but when they do, they often resort to a description that isn’t entirely accurate.Despite being made from the curds of fresh milk, burrata isn’t mozzarella. Rather than being formed into a ball, in mozzarella fashion, it’s styled into a little dairy pouch. It’s then filled with fresh cream, ricotta or mascarpone, and mozzarella scraps. The resulting thin-skinned cheese dumpling looks like mozzarella, but it disgorges a liquefied richness when cut. Burrata means “buttery” in Italian.
Traditionally, burrata is wrapped in asphodel leaves and served almost immediately; it starts to get chewy two days after production. To get around the freshness quandary, many restaurants have begun making burrata.
It’s also traditional to serve burrata by itself as a dessert course, or spread on bread earlier in the meal. But all that omnipresence has bred experimentation, and chefs now pair burrata with pickles; roasted vegetables; salsas; shellfish and yuzu cream.
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