Trader Joes

[christo]

I bought some dough and cheese from Trader Joes.

Also some 3 buck chuck....

Dough did not work for me - was really resistant to keeping shape - like pulling on a rubber band.

The cheese, however, was quite good.


Perlini mozzarella are little tiny balls of cheese and very fun on the pie.

Buffalo mozzrealla has a very different taste than I expected. Very good as well.

And the chuck - was very good for the price!

Christo

[asudavew]

Re: Trader Joes

So the buffalo mozzarella did taste different?

Did you like it more or less than "normal" mozzarella?
I will have to try and find some around here, and give it a go.

I usually mix about 2 parts mozzarella with one part muenster for my pizza cheese. The mozzarella melts nicely, but the muenster adds flavor. A seriously sharp white cheddar also works well for me. Although the local store quit carrying it........ can't find it anywhere. Oh, and provolone does a good job too.

My mom used to use the muenster/mozzarella combination in her lasagna, and I have been doing the same for my pizzas. Don't you just love mom's who take the time to teach their children to cook.

[dmun]

Re: Trader Joes

Our little trader joe's drives me crazy. There's never any place to park, They never have the thing you are looking for, they always tempt you with some bizarre thing that sits in the cupboard for two years. The three buck chuck is way better than Goya cooking wine for the kitchen, though.

[asudavew]

Re: Trader Joes

The three buck chuck is way better than Goya cooking wine for the kitchen, though.

What the heck is three buck chuck?

[Les]

Re: Trader Joes

Dave,

Three buck chuck is a wine that started in California as two buck chuck. It got pretty good reviews for an inexpensive red table wine. It was compared to some Napa $10 - $20 + wines and did fairly well. As soon as you go over the hill (the Sierras), it turns into three buck chuck.

Les...

[james]

Re: Trader Joes

Now that's regional. Two Buck Chuck was invented at the height of the California wine glut a few years ago, and it's still two bucks in California. The market for wine grapes was so bad for a while that they were even tearing out vineyards in the south central valley, as it cost more to harvest the grapes than they were worth on the market. Napa and Sonoma grapes are still limited, and cost about 10x per ton more than bulk central valley grapes. No risk there.

It isn't consistent, but Trader Joe's gets real Mozzarella di Bufala (Mandara brand) imported from Naples. It's a little pricey (but not too bad), but it's the real deal. The same logo you see in the Coop in Florence. If you get the chance, you should give it a try. The flavor is more tangy and texture is very soft, compared with domestic mozzarella. If you haven't had it before, go for it.

Our local store carries King Arthur flour, which is good for bread. We get white and whole wheat locally. Good meats, bad produce, and terrible parking. The gruyere is good, the parmesan is so-so (too much rind). Greek yogurt, Irish butter, organic eggs. And Spanish Cava. The Spanish beat the Italians in the global market for sparkling wine, but that's another story. There seems to be a near miss accident in the parking lot a couple of times a week at our store.'

Has anyone else tried the "pizza dough?" I think it's pretty terrible, and it is so much better to make your own.

David, I read once that Trader Joe's has the highest per square foot sales of any retailer in the U.S. Lots of people buying lots of things in a tight space.

James

[dalucca2003]

Re: Trader Joes

The Trader Joes near my home is in a older shopping center with plenty of parking. The only issues are the store is so small even after two remodels have enlarged the original size of the store and all the shopping cart accidents trying to manuever down the tight aisles.

James, I have tried their dough and I agree it is not very good. I am going to try their cheese as I have good things about it. We also like their President Reserve olive oil which is a decent oil for the price.

[asudavew]

Re: Trader Joes

David, I read once that Trader Joe's has the highest per square foot sales of any retailer in the U.S. Lots of people buying lots of things in a tight space.
James

Sounds like a great store! Too bad we don't have one here.

I will give the buffalo mozzarella a go...I will have to see if there is any available locally.

Thanks for the info guys!

I guess 2 buck chuck around here would be Boone's Farm.


interesting article here -- Look out, Boone's Farm - Focus


I Googled Boone's farm, and came up with that website.... Funny~

Anyways

chug-u-lug
&
bottoms up!

[RTflorida]

Re: Trader Joes

James, your thoughts on the pasturized US available Mozzarella di bufala vs. the truely fresh (non pasturized) that is only hrs old available in Italy.
It has been a couple of years, but my memory tells me the product that is pasturized and sent to the US market more closely resembles fresh cows milk mozzarella in taste and texture...with maybe just a bit more tang, like you mentioned. In any case, I've yet to experience mozzarella here that was as soft and creamy as that in Italy.

[james]

Re: Trader Joes

Hey RT,

Your party sounded great. German beer meets Italian pizza.:-) Lot's of fun, and I'm glad the FB EVO got there in time. Ins't it nice?

There are a number of things at play with mozzarella. At a basic level, the quality of the milk and the technique of the processing has a huge amount to do with flavor and texture. There are many good Italian cow's milk mozzarellas, including Fior di Latte -- which is a DOP controlled cheese. It's very nice, and there are even pizzerias where you specifically ask for the type of mozzarella you want: standard, Fior di Latte and Mozzarella di Bufala.

Pasteurization is really a relatively minor component of flavor and quality. For example, outside of Naples, all of the supermarkets carry pasteurized Mozzarella di Bufala, and I think it's excellent. They have to do that to ship the cheese around the country and have some shelf life.

Having said that, there is something pretty special about eating handmade, unpasteurized mozzarella the day it was made. It's more of an event than a food. :-)

So if you can find a real imported Italian buffalo mozzarella, you should give it a try one time, just to see if you like it.

Here's another thought. I like to poke fun at Engish supermarkets, where there are 20+ different types of cheddar. It's remarkable, and to the British palate, they are all a little different. An Italian supermarket has that many different types of mozzarella. From mass-market cheese that is better than most U.S.-made mozzarella, all the way through the handmade masterpieces.

James

[RTflorida]

Re: Trader Joes

I don't recall, has anyone tried the Bubalus Bubalis Mozzarella di bufala from California?
They supposedly have one of the few (maybe the only) water buffalo heards in the US. The price does not scare me...its the next day air shipping charges from CA to FL. I would hate to drop $100 on an lb or 2 of cheese and have it be no better than what my local Italian market sells.

[jwnorris]

Re: Trader Joes

Three buck chuck is a wine that started in California as two buck chuck. It got pretty good reviews for an inexpensive red table wine. It was compared to some Napa $10 - $20 + wines and did fairly well. As soon as you go over the hill (the Sierras), it turns into three buck chuck.

Two thoughts about 2-buck Chuck.

Open it on Thursday ... drink it on Saturday.

It makes a decent Sangria.

J W

[RTflorida]

Re: Trader Joes

Where I come from any $2 wine is called rock gut. I guess in keeping with the catch phrase theme it could be 2 - buck upchuck (referring to what will happen to your last meal).
Sorry, never been a wine guy, but I'm having flashbacks to my teenage years and a couple of friends who would drink Ripple and Boones Farm (both under$2) for a cheap buzz...then be sick for days.

[james]

Re: Trader Joes

Two thoughts about 2-buck Chuck.

Open it on Thursday ... drink it on Saturday.

It makes a decent Sangria.

Ahhhh. It isn't that bad. :-)
James

[BrianShaw]

Re: Trader Joes

Ahhhh. It isn't that bad. :-)

I feel the same way about their pizza dough. Not as good as home-made, but having pizza is always better than not having pizza. Tonight I am going to be a double-barreled heretic - TJ's pizza dough and TJs pizza sauce. Not enough time to make my own. Me culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!