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Fried cheese is a dish of
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
that is
fried in oil.
Fried cheese can be dipped in a batter before frying, and can be pan-fried or
deep fried
Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Normal ...
.
It can be served as an
appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the ...
or a
snack
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
Traditionally, snacks are p ...
.
Fried cheese is a common food in Brazil and the Dominican Republic,
and is typically served as a breakfast dish in Costa Rica, Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.
Fried cheese is served as a
tapas
A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In some ...
dish in Spain;
fried cheese balls are ''delicias de queso'' 'cheese delights'.
Fried cheese is also found in Italian cuisine.
Fried cheese is typically served hot, right after being cooked.
It may be accompanied with a
dipping sauce
A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chi ...
or coated with a dressing.
History
Fried cheese was a popular dish in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, and remained a part of the cuisine under
Ottoman rule
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
.
Since then, its popularity has decreased.
Dishes
Fried cheese curds are made from cheese
curd
Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as lemon ...
s and often served with a dipping sauce.
Queso frito
Queso frito (English: fried cheese) is a fried cheese dish. It consists of a white, salty cheese with a high melting point called ''queso de freír'' (Spanish: frying cheese), '' queso paisa'', or '' queso fresco'' (fresh cheese) or ''queso blanc ...
'fried cheese' has many variations.
Spanish versions sometimes use paprika.
It is also found in
Central American cuisine
Latin American cuisine is the typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a highly diverse area of land whose nations have varying cuisines. Some items typical o ...
.
Malakoff
Malakoff () is a suburban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department southwest of Paris, France. Located from the centre of the city, it had a population of 30,286 in 2016. The European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) is base ...
is a Swiss fried cheese dish.
Mozzarella sticks
Mozzarella sticks are elongated pieces of battered or breaded mozzarella, usually served as hors d'oeuvre.
Origins
The history of frying cheese in a batter dates back to at least 1393 in Medieval France, when a recipe for fried cheese stic ...
are slices of
mozzarella
Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method.
Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...
cheese that are battered or coated in bread crumbs and then deep-fried or pan-fried.
The dish can also be baked,
rather than fried.
Saganaki
In Greek cuisine, saganaki (Greek σαγανάκι) is any one of a variety of dishes prepared in a small frying pan, the best-known being an appetizer of fried cheese. It is commonly flambéed in North America.
Etymology
The dishes are named ...
is a Greek fried cheese dish prepared in a small copper pan.
In
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, جبنة مقلية ''gibnah maqlyah'' 'fried cheese' is usually battered and served as an appetizer; it is considered a specialty of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
.
Smažený sýr
Smažený sýr () or vyprážaný syr () – both meaning "fried cheese" – is a Czech and Slovak cheese-based dish that is widely consumed in both countries of the former state of Czechoslovakia. It is a common street food in both countries and ...
(Czech) or Vyprážaný syr (Slovak) is a cheese that is prepared by being dredged in flour, placed in an
egg wash
An egg wash is beaten eggs, sometimes mixed with another liquid such as water or milk, which is sometimes brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking. Egg washes are also used as a step in the process of breading foods, providing a substra ...
and then coated with bread crumbs, after which it is deep fried.
It is a common
street food
Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption ...
in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Kaassoufflé
A kaassoufflé is a Dutch snack of melted cheese inside a thin dough-based wrap which has been breaded and then deep-fried.
Overview
A ''kaassoufflé'' is thought to be influenced by Indonesian street food called ''gorengan'' (fritter). It is eit ...
is a deep-fried Dutch fast food snack of cheese in a bread wrap.
In
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, fried cheese is a common cheap dish, served in restaurants or at home, usually made from the locally popular
trappista cheese which accounts for 70% of the country's cheese consumption. It is a "poor man's" item of vegetarian food in restaurants which don't offer more usual
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetarianism m ...
dishes and so prepare fried cheese and deep fried vegetables as a
main course
A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course.
Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...
option for any customer who doesn't want meat. The common name, "rántott sajt", simply means "fried cheese" or "deep fried cheese". It is generally served in a square or in a triangular shape.
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
have a similar dish to the Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians, called
Caşcaval pane.
Caşcaval is a general term for yellow cheeses in the two countries with the ones most commonly used being
Edam or
Gouda. Therefore, the name could literally be translated as "breaded yellow cheese".
File:FriedCheeseCurds.jpg, A close-up view of deep-fried cheese curd
Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as lemon ...
s
File:Fried Mozzarella Sticks at Millers Pub (301456962).jpg, Fried mozzarella sticks
Mozzarella sticks are elongated pieces of battered or breaded mozzarella, usually served as hors d'oeuvre.
Origins
The history of frying cheese in a batter dates back to at least 1393 in Medieval France, when a recipe for fried cheese stic ...
served with a marinara dipping sauce
File:Grekiska koket 02.jpg, Saganaki
In Greek cuisine, saganaki (Greek σαγανάκι) is any one of a variety of dishes prepared in a small frying pan, the best-known being an appetizer of fried cheese. It is commonly flambéed in North America.
Etymology
The dishes are named ...
File:Smažák.JPG, Prepared smažený sýr
Smažený sýr () or vyprážaný syr () – both meaning "fried cheese" – is a Czech and Slovak cheese-based dish that is widely consumed in both countries of the former state of Czechoslovakia. It is a common street food in both countries and ...
Commercial production
Mozzarella cheese is often used by fried cheese food manufacturers in the United States, because it has a desirable consistency and because it has a neutral flavor that is "widely acceptable".
Health concerns
A significant amount of oil is absorbed into cheese when it is fried, and the frying of cheeses adds
advanced lipid end products and
dicarbonyl
In organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...
s to
advanced glycation end-product
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are proteins or lipids that become glycated as a result of exposure to sugars. They are a bio-marker implicated in aging and the development, or worsening, of many degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, at ...
s that are already present in cheeses.
The advanced lipid end products are generated in a chemical reaction that occurs when the oil is intermingled with the proteins in cheeses.
Furthermore, most cheeses are salty.
As such, fried cheese has been described as an unhealthy dish.
In Brazil, the chronic consumption of fried cheese has been demonstrated to be one of the
dietary risk factors associated with
oral cancer
Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...
incident rates.
See also
*
List of cheese dishes
This is a list of notable cheese dishes in which cheese is used as a primary ingredient or as a significant component of a dish or a food. Cheese is a food derived from milk that is produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms by coa ...
*
List of breakfast dishes
*
List of deep fried foods
This is a list of deep fried foods and dishes. Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, such as cooking oil. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan, and industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum frye ...
*
List of tapas
This is a list of common tapas dishes. Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid).
In select rest ...
*
Syrniki
Syrniki ( be, сырнікі; russian: сырники) or syrnyky (Ukrainian: сирники) are fried Eastern Slavic Tvorog pancakes. In Russia, they are also known as tvorozhniki (творо́жники). They are a part of Belarusian, Russ ...
– a fried
quark
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...
pancake
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{Cheese dishes
Cheese dishes
Deep fried foods
Brazilian cuisine
Costa Rican cuisine
Cypriot cuisine
Dominican Republic cuisine
Egyptian cuisine
Greek cuisine
Hungarian cuisine
Italian cuisine
Lebanese cuisine
Mediterranean cuisine
Spanish cuisine
Syrian cuisine
Turkish cuisine
Tapas