FSR August 2022

CHEFS & INGREDIENTS NOW SERVING

Old World Cheese, New Tricks BY TREVOR GRINER Lesser-known cheeses from Italy and Mexico are spicing up menus stateside.

HALLOUMI’S HIGH MELTING TEMPERATURE MEANS IT CAN BE GRILLED OR FRIED.

“Ten to 20 years ago ... you just couldn’t get halloumi or legit Greek feta unless you were in Greece.”

ADOBE STOCK

CHEESE IS A WAY OF LIFE. That’s how Tony Priolo, chef and co-owner of Chicago’s Piccolo Sogno, describes his love of cheese. “It has the ability to enhance just about any dish,” he says. In addition to Piccolo Sogno, Priolo co-owns Nonnina with his business partner and longtime friend, Ciro Lon gobardo. He’s also appeared on numer ous television shows including The Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay.” Cheeses pop up in a number of menu

items at Piccolo Sogno, which focuses on traditional Italian dishes. He says one of the only rules in Italian cooking is to never use cheese in seafood dishes. The rest of the menu is fair game. “Everything else can get cheese,” he says. A fava bean appetizer is bright ened by pecorino, a salty, hard cheese not unlike parmesan but made with sheep’s milk instead of cow’s milk. The majority of Piccolo Sogno’s pizzas feature fior di latte (fresh mozzarella), while bustine pasta shells are stuffed with artichoke

and buffalo ricotta. Priolo says burrata (fresh shreds of mozzarella soaked in cream and sur rounded by an outer layer of mozzarella) could become more popular since it pairs so well with seasonal produce. Dishes like a grilled peach salad topped with burrata or olive tapenade and burrata spread on crunchy French bread show off the cheese’s versatility. Drunken cheese (soaked in wine) is another Italian classic that’s working its way onto U.S. menus. “Black truffle cheese, cheeses with

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

AUGUST 2022