Burrata- A unique, truly extraordinary cheese, if I had to decide, this is hands down the best cheese, period!
Burro translates to butter in Italian. Think butter filled fresh mozzarella! Yummy!
Burrata is a cheese masterpiece that clearly stands out from the rest. It’s center is soft, buttery, supple, creamy; an absolutely delectable interior could be explained as a savory version of the cream filling in a Cannoli, and just like with Cannoli it is this creamy center is the best part of the food; the exterior of the cheese is also delicious although decidedly different with a more rigid yet still soft outside and a similar look, feel and taste to fresh mozzarella, and this is appropriate because it is fresh mozzarella, made with buffalo milk and or cows milk.
People often refer to Burrata as the “Cadillac of buffalo mozzarella,” however I see is more as the “Lamborghini of all cheese”, period.
The domestic variety called “Burrata” often with slight variance in the spelling made in America is adequate, made with cow’s milk instead or Buffalo milk, you could say is a nice introduction to the concept. To us it is akin to going to a flying lesson on and taking your first “flight” on a computer simulator; so the general idea is understood however the experience is severely lacking in practical in integral substance. Frankly this is no substitute, not even close to the real deal. Real imported Burrata from Italy is an artisanal, hand crafted, long lasting tradition, made from prime, naturally fed water buffalo raised near the town of Andrea, in Murgia located in the Puglia region of Italy.
The origination of this magnificent cheese is credited to the Bianchini family, which came up with the concept around 1920. As the story is told the family became creative out of the desire and possibly need to salvage every bit of their mozzarella in cheese making process. So in an effort to use every useable morsel they ingeniously took the scraps from the mozzarella and folded them together with fresh buffalo cream; later they came up with the method of encapsulating the creamy center with the mozzarella and thus sealing it into a type of self packaged cream and mozzarella “ball”. Thus Burrata was born. Mozzarella is apart of a group of cheese Italians call “Pastafillata” meaning stretch curd
cheeses.
Making Burrata starts off like any other cheese with cultures and
rennet added to fresh warm buffalo milk, shortly after, and under delicate supervision as well as strict attention to specific temperatures the milk curdles and turns into cheese. After it thickens, the whey separates and is then drained off. Just like mozzarella, the curd is then submerged in water that is exactly 180 degrees and kept at that temperature; at this point the stretching process begins. It is then formed into hollow balls and placed into a steel basin with and filled with the excess curd (left over from the mozzarella making process and fresh yellow heavy cream made from buffalo milk. Then they hollow out a pouch, fill it with the cream mix, seal it and tie it off with a palm leaf.
It is a very young cheese and is best eaten right away. Burrata goes very well with heirloom tomatoes, and fresh baked Italian bread, fresh vegetables (try sautéing them), antipasto, roasted peppers, herbs, cured meats, grapes, melon, olive oil, basil
and last but not least, prosciutto (a classic Italian favorite with Burrata). A Favorite “chef suggestion” is to use it in a caprese salad loaded with fresh garden tomatoes, imported Italian olives, fresh basil, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and of course imported authentic Burrata cheese drizzled with thick, green, first press extra virgin olive oil and perhaps a high end, aged, thick, sweet, almost molasses in thickness, balsamic vinegar drizzled over top, yummy!