There are many dishes tailored for gooey, melty cheese: stretched and pulled in grilled cheese sandwiches, effervescent and blistering in a cozy baked ziti, or oozing out of a bean-and-cheese pupusa. However with regards to Halloumi, the massive attraction is that the cheese doesn’t soften. As an alternative, it holds its form and dramatically browns when cooked, making it nice for grilling, roasting, and searing in a pan.
Past its heat-resistant qualities, Halloumi cheese is price conserving round for loads of causes, from its semi-hard texture to its wealthy, salty taste. It will possibly stage up salads, flip heads on the barbecue, and add a punch of protein to fast dinners.
Learn on for the best way to get essentially the most out of this versatile cheese.
What’s Halloumi cheese?
Halloumi is a white-beige cheese that’s virtually rubbery when chilly. In contrast to semi-soft cheeses like queso Oaxaca or mozzarella, Halloumi is usually uniform in texture all through. Biting into the cheese, it’s bouncy and squeaky, akin to cheddar cheese curds however barely denser. It’s a younger cheese (i.e., not aged like Parmesan) with a creamy taste and a briny saltiness.
Halloumi cheese originated in Cyprus and seems in different Mediterranean cuisines as properly. It’s usually made with sheep’s milk or goat’s milk, although cow’s milk can be frequent. Like most cheese produced in Western cultures, Halloumi is made by curdling milk with rennet, straining out the curds, and urgent them into clumps. Halloumi is then cooked in almost boiling whey, the place it kinds into dense blocks. That is the stage that units Halloumi aside and provides the cheese its most spectacular high quality: As a result of it kinds at excessive warmth, Halloumi doesn’t soften at excessive temperatures after it’s cooled. Meaning you’ll be able to cook dinner Halloumi in a pan and it gained’t soften like Muenster or American cheese. Even fried Halloumi is feasible—a good looking factor.
Are there substitutes for Halloumi cheese?
Halloumi is extensively accessible in supermarkets—search for it subsequent to the brined cheeses like feta. It’s a reasonably distinctive ingredient, but it surely’s actually not the one grilling cheese on the market. Juustoleipä, a Scandinavian cheese cheekily generally known as “bread cheese,” can even maintain as much as grilling and browns equally to Halloumi. Indian paneer additionally doesn’t soften at excessive temperatures, which permits it to keep intact in sauces, in addition to crisp up when grilled, like on this recipe for Ajwaini Paneer Tikka Skewers.
How can I cook dinner Halloumi cheese?
Whereas it may be eaten uncooked, Halloumi’s major draw for a lot of is that it may be seared, roasted, or in any other case browned whereas sustaining its construction. You’ll frequently see the cheese served by itself on Mediterranean and Center Jap menus, cubed up and nestled in mezze spreads, or wrapped up in pita sandwiches.
In the summertime, it makes an awesome vegetarian protein for grilling. Working example: this Halloumi burger recipe, the place a slab of the cheese stands in for a beef or bean patty alongside a hunk of grilled summer time squash. It additionally pairs properly with fruit—which will help neutralize its excessive salinity—like on this Halloumi Saganaki recipe from chef Yasmin Khan. Hunks of the cheese are topped off with honey, thyme, figs, and pomegranate seeds for a pop of acidity. Its squeaky texture additionally holds up properly in opposition to different bouncy meals, like in these blistered rice truffles with gochujang-spiked brown butter.
For a extra hands-off path to crisped-up Halloumi, do that sheet-pan salad from senior cooking editor Emma Laperruque. The recipe has you roast torn chunks of Halloumi, so the ripped, craggy edges flip crispy and golden whereas the interiors stay bouncy and agency. Toss these tacky nuggets with herbs, citrus, jalapeños, and shallots, and you’ve got a shiny and hearty meal.
Tips on how to retailer Halloumi cheese
You need to retailer Halloumi cheese within the fridge, the place it will possibly final for months when left unopened (simply examine the expiration date on the package deal). When you’ve eliminated the cheese from its wrapper, you’ll be able to both wrap the leftover Halloumi tightly in plastic or place in a saltwater bathtub inside an hermetic container. Both of those strategies ought to preserve the cheese contemporary for a pair weeks, providing you with loads of time to fireplace up the grill or activate the oven for crispy, golden-brown, tacky bliss.
