It occurs to me this may be a highly regional food item. Cheese curds are really just chunks of (typically) mozzarella or cheddar cheese. Usually about the size of a regular or large marble. They can be bought fresh, or at restaurants you'll generally get them deep fried. That's what White Castle had a few months ago, and they were not quite MN State Fair quality (which are divine), but pretty damned good for the price.

If you want the best possible unfried cheese curds though, look to Wisconsin. In rural areas you can get them ridiculously fresh, and you'll know if you have - they squeak when you bite into them. That stops happening in less than a day, regardless of how they're kept.

Edit: Cheese curds are also a vital component of poutine, a Quebecois dish. French fries, cheese curds, crumbled bacon, and brown gravy. So goddamn bad for you / delicious.

Looks really good. Congrats! Whenever i see flat bread my mind thinks "Chop up some tomatoes, onions, basil and smother it in smoked mozzarella and romano cheeses".

There are a few clues that she's trolling. First of all, the fact that she's titled her video "The Italian Way". Secondly she puts bell peppers in her pizza sauce. Thirdly, she called her dried, processed Mozzarella "fresh".

Her entire attitude just screams troll in every way. She's definitely successfully trolled me, I'm so upset I'm having trouble not launching into a huge diatribe, which I don't have time for at the moment.

If I'm still mad when I get home from work, I'll maybe drop some pizza science on this shit. Hopefully though I'll just move on with my life and accept that someone is wrong on the Internet.

For the passed week, I have been making my own personal pizzas using flatbread, a homemade apricot infused bbq sauce mixed with a roasted garlic marinara, mozzarella, mushrooms, and goat cheese.

...I just told you that to brag, but there's a point too.

I found when I just used "chunks" of mozzarella, the water content in the cheese was so much so that I'd have little puddles of liquid after taking it out of the oven. Somehow, by shaving the cheese, that problem stopped. I wonder if shaving it dries it out a bit (because of more surface area exposed) as well.

Totally psyched. I've got some great ideas working. I can't 100% commit that this will be exactly as you guys see it tomorrow night, but this is the plan so far:
VideoSift Tasting Menu 2008

Thai Coconut Soup
With Sunflower Sprout Tempura

Smoked Duck Salad Roll
Spicy Mango-Soy Dip

Pan Roasted Halibut
Stir fry of Wild Chanterelles

Seared Quebec Foie Gras
Tomato “Brioche”, Salad of Green Olive, Almond, Mandarin Orange, Cherry Tomato and Frozen Grape

Salad of Heirloom Tomatoes
Balsamic Reduction, Fresh Mozzarella “Crouton”, Thai Basil, Black Volcanic Salt

“Scallop Wrapped Bacon”
Grilled BC Matsutake mushroom, oven cured Butternut Squash Chip

Grilled Baby Romaine
Spicy Eggplant and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Sorbet
Grapefruit and Sambuca

Seared Lamb
Maple-Tamarind Jus, Fiddlehead Tart

Grilled Beef Tenderloin
Potato basket, roasted Baby Beets

Chocolate Sour Cherry Bread Pudding
Macerated Okanogan Strawberries

Lavender Chocolate Truffles


I got a bunch of prep ready for it today, so it'll be awesome whatever happens. Bring yer appetites, folks!

I can't believe plastiquemonkey is the only person so far to point out how far removed this kind of "food" is from actual Italian cuisine. That shit is garbage. It doesn't help that their portion sizes are absolutely outrageous. But the truth is, olive oil is good for you. Eating cheese after a meal is good for digestion and for your teeth.

Honestly, I am completely in agreement with most of this video, with the exception of calling this kind of food "Italian". Where's choggie, he knows what I'm talking about. Some roasted red peppers marinated in olive oil and raw garlic. A nice Pasta di Aglio e Olio con Pepperoncino. Some pickled eggplant. Some fresh buffalo mozzarella with anchovies and bread.

That stuff is totally american bullshit. When you make your lasagna with bechamel (originally known as Salsa Colla), fresh tomatos, eggplant and ricotta, I want you to portion that sucker up reasonably, then count the calories and get back to me.

Ragh