by Austin Coe Butler
For most grillmasters, cheese on the grill is limited to a slice of American wilting on a sizzling patty. And there are, of course, the ooey, gooey melters like raclette, mozzarella, and Alpine cheeses such as Gruyère, Pleasant Ridge, and Fontina, all of which are excellent on your burgers. The idea of slapping a block of cheese directly on the grill is downright ludicrous—dangerous, even. But! there are cheeses that can truly be grilled, that don’t have to be safely cradled atop a slice of bread or burger to keep from dripping into the coals or turning crisp and lacy a ripping hot pan. The two we are featuring this weekend, Cypriot Halloumi and Blakesville Creamery’s Croatian inspired Grilling Cheese, neither melt nor stretch, but absolutely deserve a place on your grill this season.
Halloumi is a sheep and sometimes goat’s milk cheese whose origins are obscure, but it is enjoyed all over the Middle East and Levant. The most celebrated Halloumi comes from the island of Cyprus. Halloumi is salty and tangy with an craveable texture that is springy and squeaky, browning and blistering beautifully in an oven, pan, or on the grill, while never melting. How does it do this?
Like all cheeses, Halloumi starts as milk. That milk is warmed and coagulated with rennet into curd before being pressed and drained of its liquid byproduct: whey. This cooking happens quickly though, and the heat at which it is cooked kills the bacteria and cultures present in the milk that acidify milk, resulting in a low acidity cheese. (More on this is a moment!) Many cheeses stop here, but Halloumi is cooked a second time in that clarified whey at 195° F, well past the melting point of most cheeses. Instead of melting, the proteins in the cheese (casein) cling together forming a rigid structure that holds up under the scorching heat of a grill or a screaming hot pan.
Blakesville Grilling Cheese sits opposite of Halloumi on the pH spectrum, having a high acidity. Joe Flamm, chef and restauranteur of Top Chef fame, commissioned the cheese for his Croatian inspired, Chicago based restaurant Rose Mary. This soft goat cheese is wrapped in grape leaves soaked in Maraska, a Croatian plum brandy. The milk is warmed gently and allowed to coagulate or “set” naturally by acids produced by lactic bacteria consuming the lactose sugars in milk and converting them into lactic acid. This highly acidic environment also forces these the proteins together, but without the addition of rennet and a second cooking like Halloumi, this Grilling Cheese has a soft, spreadable texture. Goat cheese will soften under heat, but it will never melt the same way cow’s milk cheeses like Mozzarella or Fontina.
The bright acidity of the goat’s milk with the sweetness of the Maraska and smokiness of the grill make this a star at any cookout. Its soft, spreadable texture is perfect on grilled bread and drizzled with honey, or topped with grilled stone fruit like plums. (For an excellent halloumi recipe, check out our Cook like a Monger this week!)
These two grilling cheeses are versatile canvases for whatever flavors and treatments you can imagine this grilling season.