Welcome ladies and gentleman to the main event of the week! In the category of Culinary Boxing here at Chef’s Mandala, we have weighing in at 8 ounces from Apulia, Italy, please welcome burrata! His opponent, weighing in at 7.5 ounces from Naples, Italy please welcome buffalo mozzarella!
LET’S GET READY TO RRRRR…….HAVE A SPIRITED DEBATE ON FOOD!!!
In the Red Corner – BURRATA
Our challenger today is a recent newcomer to the imported food scene. Worshiped back home, burrata at long last will have his day in the sun at today’s championship bout! Unlike the more sedate champ buffalo mozzarella, our challenger is just oozing to get into a creamy dairy fight! If the champ is a semi-soft cheese, then burrata is even softer and more luscious to the taste. His very name means “buttery”. Supposedly the inside of burrata is just filled with the scraps leftover from mozzarella production. And yes, the skin of burrata’s outer pouch is identical in texture to mozzarella. But regardless of the champ’s smack talk, our challenger is all heart (and buttery cream)! Back home, burrata used to be made from buffalo milk. But today cow’s milk is the only choice for a true formaggio connoisseur. Yet does our challenger have what it takes to win?????
In the Blue Corner – BUFFALO MOZZARELLA
The champion of short-shelf life cheese, buffalo mozzarella hasn’t forgotten its’ poor start in the swamps of southern Italy. That’s right, struggling Italian farmers domesticated water buffaloes that wandered about in nearby marshes. Unlike India’s disturbing dairy black market (city + homeless people + stray lactating cows = really cheap cheese), southern Italy turned making buffalo mozzarella into a formidable industry. But can this aging champ go toe to toe against burrata, whose cow’s milk is always cheaper and whose creamy center captivates children and adults alike?
FIGHT!!!
- The Play-By-Play
It isn’t even a contest ladies and gentlemen, buffalo mozzarella lands blow after crushing blow. The size advantage of the mozzarella market is literally an order of magnitude bigger then poor burrata’s. While chefs watching this fight at restaurant bars all over the world are rooting for the challenger, it is just a bloodbath here ringside.
AND THE WINNER IS….
Buffalo mozzarella wins with a knockout in the second round. It is a miracle that burrata even lasted that long against such a large foe. But restaurant chefs, tired of the same old fare that you can buy at your local supermarket, have recently embraced burrata. It is a more fun and less mainstream alternative. Much like with bucatini vs. spaghetti, restaurants are always on the lookout for something new that they can get with minimal effort or risk.
