Burrata Fans Should Know This Easy Stracciatella Hack
Unlike your basic cheddar or mozzarella, where you have the option between the gourmet or generic quality, there's really no "cheap" version of burrata. Instead, you'll always find burrata alongside the aged Parmesans, bries, and other artisan cheeses you might put on a charcuterie board. It's also served at upscale Italian restaurants, but it's still on the pricier side, just as it is at the grocery store, per Suvie. Regardless, with burrata, you get what you pay for. The rich and creamy filling within the fresh mozzarella casing adds a unique decadence to any pasta dish, and it's equally delicious on its own or with a bit of salt and olive oil.
The creamy center, aka stracciatella, is what sets burrata apart from any other cheese. While you might assume that it requires the skill of a professional cheesemaker to achieve this luscious interior, you can easily make a simplified version of it at home that only requires three ingredients, per this Instagram hack.
This shortcut will satisfy your burrata cravings
Whereas mozzarella made from scratch requires citric acid, rennet, and cheese salt in addition to milk (via New England Cheese Making Supply Co.), stracciatella is made of ingredients you can easily find at the store. As the Washington Post explains, the creamy burrata filling is a combination of mozzarella curds and cream. To create the signature texture, the curds are first soaked in a bath of hot salt water to make them pliable before being stretched by hand until stringy. The cheese strings are then combined with cream, resulting in stracciatella, which can be used to make burrata.
If you don't have mozzarella curds, however, you can substitute them for fresh mozzarella instead, according to Food Network regular MacKenzie Smith. In an Instagram post, Smith explains that you can skip all the soaking and stretching and simply crumble up fresh mozzarella, let it soak in heavy cream for 30 minutes, and the result is a cheesy cream that is nearly identical to stracciatella. It may not be made according to tradition, but the results are sure to satisfy any burrata craving.