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This being the weekend, something in a lighter vein:
Pizza is essentially the perfect food. Well, so long as you aren't lactose intolerant or have problems with gluten. NPR spotted a study of why different cheeses diverge in looks and taste when baked. Seriously. In a paper called "Quantification of Pizza Baking Properties of Different Cheeses, and Their Correlation with Cheese Functionality," researchers found that, among other things, the reason why mozzarella is so unique of a topping has to do with the way it's prepared. The cheese bubbles and browns because of its inherent elasticity due to stretching. In contrast, cheddar isn't as ideal because it isn't very elastic, thus it doesn't bubble as well. The same apparently goes for Edam and Gruyere, too.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/30/mozzarella-pizza-cheese/
[Abstract]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.12540/abstract
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday August 31 2014, @05:53PM
From the second link,
The unique browning patterns on mozzarella come from the way it bubbles, James says. Since it's made by repeatedly stretching and molding fresh curds, "mozzarella has a lot of elasticity," she explains. "If you look at it under a microscope, you see it has these channels of fat surrounded by protein."
It seems to me that you have some leeway here to modify the taste of the cheese while keeping that technique more or less intact. For example, could a soft cheddar be treated in a similar manner to get a stretchier cheddar cheese?
(Score: 1) by iWantToKeepAnon on Sunday August 31 2014, @07:32PM
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SlimmPickens on Monday September 01 2014, @09:16AM
or example, could a soft cheddar be treated in a similar manner to get a stretchier cheddar cheese?
Unfortunately not, mozz is is made at a higher temperature with thermophilic bacteria, soft cheeses are made with Mesophilic culture at a lower temperature.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Monday September 01 2014, @01:57PM
Well, the article mentions special treatment of the mozzarella cheese with mechanical stretching as well. That appears like it could be applied to other soft cheeses as well. For example, heating the above cheddar cheese a bit and then subjecting it to the same mechanical processes?
(Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Monday September 01 2014, @08:20PM
Yeh I said that wrong. It doesn't develop that elasticity without the high temperature.
Cheddaring [youtube.com] is whole other thing.