Pizza Cheese Combos and Choices [View all]

[bucolic_frolic]

I've been trying to replicate pizza cheese I had as a kid in NY area. Pizzerias nowadays, to my taste, only manage a hint of that flavor now and again, and because they use inferior oils, never achieve it.

I've tried many cheeses. Mozzarella was a standard, but it's too chewy/stringy, salty, and lacks that nutty sub-flavor. But for a long time I used mozzarella and monterey jack, and the combination was very good, but not authentic. I'll never use Colby on a pizza again, it just doesn't belong there.

I avoid provolone which is not a pizza cheese in my book. There are many blends of shredded pizza cheese, usually with combinations of asiago, romano, parmesan, provolone, fontina, the last of which I can't identify. To add to these combinations, romano is often pecorino romano, and parmesan is parmesan only in the US and the flavor varies widely. In Europe it's Parmigiana Reggiano - specific for region of northern Italy, copper vat process, and aging of 1-2 years. It's also a bit pricey here in the US, I've seen it for $14.99 a pound and that was 10 years ago. Is this the missing ingredient?

Kraft pizza blend is a bit closer than the rest of the pizza pre-mix crowd, bit it's still not there.

Oh, and the oil flavor? Extra virgin olive oil is the only choice. Sprinkle black pepper on the top.

Pecorino Romano didn't fit the bill. It was too salty, and too white, lumpy, it just didn't match the texture of pizzeria cheese.

So I'm probably onto my next ensemble of asiago, parmesan, and mozzarella, which is a new combination. If that proves a closer approximation, I'll probably spring for parmagiana reggiano in the next rendition.

Unless of course someone here has the slightest idea of what I'm talking about.