Transform Shredded Mozzarella Into Burrata With A Clever Hack

Burrata is a dumpling-shaped creation made entirely of cheese, created in the 1920s by cheesemakers in Italy to reduce waste from making mozzarella. It's essentially scraps in a satchel — cream and curds stuffed into a stretched cheese mantle that makes for an impressive centerpiece for appetizers. Swap it for feta for a unique on twist on a chorizo chickpea salad or add it to arrabbiata sauce for a ridiculously easy 3-ingredient meal. Burrata is even unexpectedly delightful with ice cream. While it is delicious and unique, burrata is a recycled product put together from mozzarella leftovers, and you don't have to be an Italian cheesemaker to make it. You don't even need a special type of mozzarella cheese to get started.

Instead of seeking out the finest cheesemaker for burrata, use bagged mozzarella shreds from the grocery store aisle to make your own homemade burrata for your next event. You'll melt the mozzarella shreds in boiling water until it forms a ball. Half of the melted cheese is mixed with cream to create the center of your homemade burrata, while the other half is stretched into a pouch to create the outside of the burrata bubble.

Traditional burrata is made up of fresh strands of mozzarella –- made from shredding mozzarella curds. These mozzarella strands, known as stracciatella, are soaked in cream and then wrapped in a outer shell of stretched mozzarella, making a dumpling-shaped ball of cheese. Instead of using freshly shaved stracciatella, you're using bagged mozzarella shreds. The only difference is bagged mozzarella is more processed and older than fresh stracciatella; it's a matter of fresh mozzarella curd shreds versus at least slightly aged shredded mozzarella.

Mozzarella is known for having a high moisture content that wanes as it ages, creating a harder cheese that is more difficult to mold and shape. If the bagged mozzarella shreds from the store shelves are older than fresh stracciatella, you may see a slight difference in workability. The shredded mozzarella hack also strays slightly from the traditional definition of burrata, because the cheese isn't freshly shaved from cheese curds, making it not quite an authentic burrata -– though only a particular connoisseur would be able to tell the difference.