I do not have a cow or myrtle branches but I do have sheep with lambs and rosemary. I have no idea if sheep’s milk is conducive for a mozzarella-type cheese yet this is inspiring.
Hi Emelia, it can be tricky to get sheep’s milk to stretch properly. I’ve seen it done in Sicily, but have never got it to work in a way that satisfied me. It would be fun to wrap a mozz or other cheese in rosemary, get that sharp flavor in there, and obviously rosemary and lamb/mutton is classic!
The other option is to preserve feta or fresh lactic sheep cheese in olive oil with rosemary or other herbs. Yum.
Wonderful piece. Reminds me how I love the simplicity of food culture in so much of Italy--yeah, people can over do it, over-romanticize, etc, but it seems like over there the baseline is an appreciation of the simple things and a knowledge of how to do them well, or where to find those who do. On my last trip, a longish walk in rural Lazio/Umbria, the thing that stood out was the variety of amaro on offer. Every host had a homemade rendition made with gentian or citrus peel or (my favorite) myrtle leaf. Incredible emerald stuff that took the ache from our tired feet. // Also, I have to ask: have you been to Sardegna?
I can’t stop thinking about mozzarella wrapped in myrtle - just want to taste that so much!!! And your tasting…….zap me there right now….Love your writing Trevor, long live paradox and hypocrisy!
love love love this! i milk one or two cows myself, so i know a little bit about fresh cheeses. i find these musing very insightful and inspiring - i have a refreshed curiosity about what i can make here, with what i have around me, once my cow freshens, in a week or so.
Your bit about preferring the fire-kissed roast to the 'perfect' sous vide steak articulated something that's been knocking around in my head for a long time that I've never given enough sunlight to germinate, but you hit the nail on the head. So much of the 'modern' way is in trying to achieve an expectation of perfection, which does away with the perfect honesty of true food, true art, true architecture, and just about everything else that is made with heart. Flawed flourishing seems so much more preferable to flawless falsity.
I am falling in love with fresh cheese myself, making string cheese, cottage cheese and cream cheese lately to deal with spring flush of milk. Thanks for sharing, I have some wonderful now experiments to try.
Real doesn’t justify inclusion in written word that lacks explanation. “Especially in Italy” is a precisely targeted criticism. I have no idea what reality it’s based on, but absent a more detailed justification it comes off as a gratuitous ethnic slur. Perhaps give the people you malign, or are so ready to disdain and confer inferior, an opportunity to explain their actions or thoughts? Sometimes people do create magical and mythical things to make visitors feel welcome and special, so they feel they have experienced a special thing they can call their own. Although perhaps abhorrent to the more skeptical and cynical, sometimes such acts are what people have to share. If you had never travelled anywhere, or this was the first time interacting with someone not of your tribe, or you had worked for twenty years to experience something perhaps such magic making of the mundane would be very touching and meaningful and important. It might give you the impression you had experienced something quite real and unique.
Easy Ken, I’m just writing how I feel. And you are writing how you feel, which I choose to be ok with, whether or not I agree or I am offended. I knew it was an impudent statement that may offend a few, but that’s a risk I choose to take.
I do not have a cow or myrtle branches but I do have sheep with lambs and rosemary. I have no idea if sheep’s milk is conducive for a mozzarella-type cheese yet this is inspiring.
Hi Emelia, it can be tricky to get sheep’s milk to stretch properly. I’ve seen it done in Sicily, but have never got it to work in a way that satisfied me. It would be fun to wrap a mozz or other cheese in rosemary, get that sharp flavor in there, and obviously rosemary and lamb/mutton is classic!
The other option is to preserve feta or fresh lactic sheep cheese in olive oil with rosemary or other herbs. Yum.
Sheep feta is one of my favorites. And using that brine to boil fresh pasta if heavenly salty and simple.
I never thought to do that! The endless possibilities of dairy foods keeps me inspired.
Wonderful piece. Reminds me how I love the simplicity of food culture in so much of Italy--yeah, people can over do it, over-romanticize, etc, but it seems like over there the baseline is an appreciation of the simple things and a knowledge of how to do them well, or where to find those who do. On my last trip, a longish walk in rural Lazio/Umbria, the thing that stood out was the variety of amaro on offer. Every host had a homemade rendition made with gentian or citrus peel or (my favorite) myrtle leaf. Incredible emerald stuff that took the ache from our tired feet. // Also, I have to ask: have you been to Sardegna?
Don’t get me started on Amari. I have been to Sardinia twice, and will likely go back this November, to drink more of that Mirto!
I can’t stop thinking about mozzarella wrapped in myrtle - just want to taste that so much!!! And your tasting…….zap me there right now….Love your writing Trevor, long live paradox and hypocrisy!
love love love this! i milk one or two cows myself, so i know a little bit about fresh cheeses. i find these musing very insightful and inspiring - i have a refreshed curiosity about what i can make here, with what i have around me, once my cow freshens, in a week or so.
Adored this, Trevor! Very, very happy to have stumbled upon your writing.
Your bit about preferring the fire-kissed roast to the 'perfect' sous vide steak articulated something that's been knocking around in my head for a long time that I've never given enough sunlight to germinate, but you hit the nail on the head. So much of the 'modern' way is in trying to achieve an expectation of perfection, which does away with the perfect honesty of true food, true art, true architecture, and just about everything else that is made with heart. Flawed flourishing seems so much more preferable to flawless falsity.
I am falling in love with fresh cheese myself, making string cheese, cottage cheese and cream cheese lately to deal with spring flush of milk. Thanks for sharing, I have some wonderful now experiments to try.
Spring is the ideal season for so many of these freshies!
So so beautiful. I cannot wait for plants to leaf out to try wrapping some cheese. Yes to your final question, please.
Spectacular. Even despite the phrase “especially in Italy”.
You know it’s real.
Real doesn’t justify inclusion in written word that lacks explanation. “Especially in Italy” is a precisely targeted criticism. I have no idea what reality it’s based on, but absent a more detailed justification it comes off as a gratuitous ethnic slur. Perhaps give the people you malign, or are so ready to disdain and confer inferior, an opportunity to explain their actions or thoughts? Sometimes people do create magical and mythical things to make visitors feel welcome and special, so they feel they have experienced a special thing they can call their own. Although perhaps abhorrent to the more skeptical and cynical, sometimes such acts are what people have to share. If you had never travelled anywhere, or this was the first time interacting with someone not of your tribe, or you had worked for twenty years to experience something perhaps such magic making of the mundane would be very touching and meaningful and important. It might give you the impression you had experienced something quite real and unique.
Sounds kind of ugly American to me.
Easy Ken, I’m just writing how I feel. And you are writing how you feel, which I choose to be ok with, whether or not I agree or I am offended. I knew it was an impudent statement that may offend a few, but that’s a risk I choose to take.