Recipe Junction

Our Favorite Recipes'

Dream cheese - Crème de la crème

Creamy mascarpone is in a class by itself

Heaven in your mouth. Sin on a plate. The most mispronounced and misspelled cheese in all of cheesedom.

It must be mascarpone.

One story has it that mascarpone's moniker came from a visiting Spaniard who proclaimed it “mas que bueno,” or “better than good.” More likely, it's derived from the Italian verb mascherare, to “dress up.”

You can impress friends and co-workers by pronouncing this Italian-style cream cheese correctly (mas-kahr-POH-nay), but you would dazzle them even more if you whipped up a little tiramisu.

That would be easy enough to do nowadays, since mascarpone has gone mainstream. Once an expensive and elusive delicacy sold only in high-end groceries and Italian delis, the creamy cheese has been cropping up in supermarkets all over town.

Mascarpone's availability also raises a few questions: What is this? What do I do with it? Is it only good for tiramisu?

Hailing from Italy's Lombardy region, mascarpone is an ultra-rich triple-cream cheese (think 75 percent milk fat) made from cow's milk. It is ivory-colored with a creamy texture somewhere between sour cream and room-temperature butter. Its mild, delicate flavor makes it ideal in fruit desserts, but it has many other uses.

“It is so versatile,” said Elaine Wong, the specialty team leader who keeps the cheese, wine and beer department humming along at Foods Market.

Crème de la crème The differences in taste and texture are subtle, but the best ways to use these creamy products vary widely. Mascarpone: This Italian triple-cream cheese is known for the velvety texture and mild taste it lends to rich desserts such as tiramisu. Its delicate profile can be lost in cooked dishes. American cream cheese: Developed in 1872, this popular cheesecake ingredient must contain at least 33 percent milk fat and no more than 55 percent moisture. Gum arabic is added to increase firmness and shelf life. Clotted cream: This specialty of Devonshire, England, is made by heating rich unpasteurized milk until a semisolid layer of cream forms. The cooled, thickened cream can be spread on scones and spooned on fruit. Crème frache: A French specialty, this unpasteurized, thickened cream has a slightly tangy, nutty flavor and velvety texture. It can be boiled in sauces or soups without curdling, an impossibility with delicate mascarpone.

“You can take a dollop of it and put it on fig jam for a little appetizer dessert. You can layer it with fruit or blue cheese to make a torte.”

American cream cheese is also a creamy-textured cow's-milk cheese, but there the similarity to mascarpone ends. Gum arabic is added to some cream cheese to increase firmness and shelf life, and the cheese has a spreadability and unmistakable tang that mascarpone doesn't share.

Mascarpone is “not as heavy as (American) cream cheese,” said Wong. “It has a little bit more moisture and sweetness.”

Antonino Mastellone, owner of Arrivederci in Hillcrest and Buon Appetito in Little Italy, uses mascarpone in his restaurant the traditional way – as a key player in tiramisu. At Arrivederci, the tiramisu is made in big pans to accommodate the 50-plus portions served each day.

“Our tiramisu is one of the best because we only use mascarpone cheese,” Mastellone said.

“Because mascarpone is expensive, some restaurants mix a little mascarpone with cream cheese for their desserts, but you can notice the difference.”

Mastellone does not often incorporate mascarpone into cooked dishes because “mascarpone is very fragile. If you cook with it, it melts and disappears.”

Occasionally, though, he will spoon a bit of the creamy cheese on top of his rich Rigatoni Bolognese. “When people eat it, they can see the cheese mixed with the pasta and taste the creaminess. It is like an accent,” he said.

Specialty food stores have long sold Mascarpone . The cost for an 8-ounce tub ranges from $6.99 for the Italian brand Cademartori to about $4.50 for domestic cheeses from BelGioioso and Mozzarella Fresca.

Supermarkets now are carrying a variety of domestic mascarpones, including the Wisconsin-made BelGioioso and the Mozzarella Fresca brand from Concord. An 8-ounce tub is about $4.50.

Wong of Foods said either imported or domestic mascarpone is excellent. Domestic mascarpone sold in tubs will have an expiration date, while the product from Italy may not. Buy from a store with good turnover to ensure freshness, she advised, then keep the cheese refrigerated and clean.

“A good mascarpone has a shelf life of a month to two months,” she said.

You can tell if mascarpone has taken a turn for the worse just by looking at it. If an air pocket pushes up the lid (and you push it down and the lid springs back), it's time to toss. Your nose knows, too. If the cheese smells sour, pitch it.

Although Wong prefers her mascarpone simply with fruit and a drizzle of honey, she encourages experimentation.

“You need to taste it in other ways besides tiramisu,” she said. “You can experiment with so many other things.

“It has more life than just as a dessert, just for tiramisu. People need to give it a try. It is a beautiful product.”

Leek and Mascarpone Bread Pudding

French Toast With Berry Mascarpone Cheese Filling

Ristorante Arrivedercis Tiramisu

Chilled Pea Soup Minted Mascarpone

Mascarpone-Swirled Brownies

Prior | Submit your recipe | Next

Add to Your Social Bookmarks: Del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Simpy Spurl Y! MyWeb - StumbleUpon