What

cheese to Melting — and mixing

Also known as performance-enhanced or processed cheeses, melt-fortified cheeses are often assumed to have been developed to freeze without showing signs. Yet this is only one of the lesser qualities of this type

With flavors combined

The greatest feature a performance cheese possesses is its ability to hold its melt. That is to say that in a hot holding scenario, the cheese will maintain its stretch, chew and creaminess over a longer time duration. It is a powerful ability on its own, but one that can also be applied as a supplement to

For instance, if you are preparing a dish that will hold chilled, such as a prepared or composed macaroni and cheese, we suggest a small addition of performance-enhanced cheeses. Their properties will “make up” for anything that might occur from using allnatural cheese: oil purging, grittiness, heat/ cold breakdown or even mild curdling.

Stacking and stuffing

Even in sandwich applications, cheese application matters, and should be layered with thought. It’s best not to stack cheese against vegetal ingredients such as tomato and lettuce as they can soak up moisture and colors and look and feel off on the palette.

Using cheese in stuffing of vegetables, or even rolled and baked animal proteins, is a great way to affordably add value and mass to an entree. Just keep formed cheese in use here to reduce blowout or melt out of the filling. Prioritize dryer and lean cheeses in these applications, such as feta, cotija or Grana Padano.

When creating a spread, team up the flavor and function of cheeses. John Csukor shares a patron favorite from his past, a bleu spread: leftover chunks of broken crumbled blue cheese, whipped into a base of lemon cream cheese, seasoned with coarse salt, cracked black and flaked Aleppo pepper. Regardless of the application, consider all these cheese factors. Singularly and together, they will have a profound effect on your final dish.

Noteworthy cheese characteristics