I Just Realized Something...

Mozzarella isn’t traditionally used in pastas in Italy. The cheese pull over short saucy noodles is a very…hedonistic bastardized thing that reminds me of the suburbs and Hong Kong cafes.

On the whole in Italy, mozzarella is more used alone as the star ingredient in things like caprese salad, or on top of bready things like pizza.

I felt very validated when Quora confirmed my suspicions.

How I came about this journey:

1. I’ve been wanting to make tteokbokki for about a year and a half now but haven’t mustered the focus to gather all needed ingredients. Reading and watching multiple tutorials from home chefs based in the US, they always tell you to use mozzarella. But in my mind, when mozzarella melts, it has minimal flavor. It’s special milky freshness is trampled. The texture, it can be like chewing gum (Ever had a bad mozzarella stick? Also I love mozzarella stick, but let’s be honest, it’s definitely more of a texture feast than a flavor one). In my mind, the cheese in tteokbokki is a mild Asian-y white cheddar flavor. It’s melty cheesy of a mac & cheese. It’s a cheese they use in Japanese potato croquettes. It does exist. But I don’t know where to find it.

2. I’ve been looking at recipes of lasagna and was floored when I came across the fact that traditional ones didn’t have ricotta or mozzarella. It made sense to me, you already have a rich ragu, why smother it with excess creaminess. It was bechamel with a tangy parmesan crust.