The Hunt for Burrata

Mozzarella gets such a bad rap.

For many people, their only encounter with mozzarella is to wade through a slightly yellowish, gummy dairy mass, designed to glue selected toppings onto a delivery pizza. Mozzarella is often seen in the high street shops, grated and bagged, or cut into bricks and vacuum packed, destined again as a go-between for cardboard-like pre-packed pizza bases, and chosen toppings.

Discerning restaurant diners may come across water buffalo mozzarella from the Campania region of Italy: pungent, with an edgy, tangy finish. Italian water buffalo look so exotic, and baleful. Their origins, and their existence in Italy, could spark heated discussions throughout the duration of a long Italian meal.

But burrata? Ohh, burrata.

Burrata is the unsung hero of the cheese world, made from either cow, or buffalo, milk. I ferreted out a fabulous, special source of fine Italian cheesemakers, deep in the Wiltshire countryside, when I went on a hunt for a local supplier.

The Basics: Burrata means ‘buttery’ in Italian. It is a by-product of mozzarella preparation. Thrifty Italian cheese producers use every scrap of their product, and burrata is produced when the end scraps of mozzarella production are filled with double cream,  and tied neatly into a small parcel. A typical portion would be about 125 grams.

I use burrata in many ways, in sweet, as well as savoury recipes. Imagine cutting into a perfectly poached egg, allowing the sunshine yolk to trickle gently down your plate, and you will begin to see the delights of burrata. Burrata has the same texture and consistency of a poached egg, so when you use it in a dish you have the combined delights of a firm outer casing, and a rich, runny interior, to accompany other elements in your dish.

DE LUCA MOZZARELLA COMPANY

An organic, family-owned mozzarella producer, is busy making traditional method cows’ milk mozzarella, burrata, butter, ricotta, and provolone products, from their dairy farm, tucked away in a peaceful corner of Bishopstone, Wiltshire. We went to see mozzarella and burrata being made, proudly guided through the process by CLAUDIO SARFATI, artisan cheesemaker.

It was so peaceful when we arrived, more than you’d expect from a rural farm. Claudio explained why. The calves are allowed to stay with their mothers. There was a level of contentedness in the animals that permeated the farmyard. I promise you, the little calves were smiling at me! It was utterly entrancing. (My youngest has just gone off to university for the first time and I’m suffering from ‘empty nest syndrome’, so it was lovely seeing these little animals, so relaxed, with their mother by their sides).

Claudio then led us towards the cheese-making facility: a most delightful little thatched converted outbuilding, and positively Turneresque. He opened the door and suddenly it was like the Tardis inside: thick clouds of steam hung from the ceiling, half-concealing enormous steel vats of milk, being tended by the artisan cheese makers. An extremely petite, and extremely polite, lady came forward, asking Claudio some questions in quickfire Italian. I stared, speechless, at the giant cauldrons of cheese product, and this unexpected mix of new and old methods.

DE LUCA MOZZARELLA is an organic farm, and uses ‘Bio-dynamic’ methods of making cheese. On their website, they describe the method as “…a combination of science and artisanal recipes, integrating the traditional values of Italian cheesemaking with the local best organic cow milk, from the English countryside….”

The tiny lady disappeared into the steamy room and quickly re-appeared with tubs of freshly-made cheeses, still warm from the vats in which they were made. This included an enormous mozzarella ball floating in a brine bath, a tub of thick, rich, creamy ricotta, and my beloved burrata, fat and shiny, tied smartly with a blue tie.

I carried them carefully over to the car, my head filled with all sorts of plans for my new acquisitions. We thanked Claudio for the tour and left, completely charmed by this integration of old methods and new ideas. In this photo I have prepared a fruit, burrata, and chocolate board. Try dipping fresh cherries into dark chocolate fondue, then add creamy burrata and salted cashews. Claudio recommends using walnuts, as they are more Mediterranean and lower in calories. Tell us what you think in the box below.

For more information:
Website: delucamozzarella.com
Email: info@DLM.com