Why Cheese Doesn't Melt In The Oven And Microwave When Making Pizza And Soup

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Gooey secrets, or Why cheese doesn't melt when cooking

There are a lot of dishes that, when added with cheese, only become tastier, and some are generally impossible to imagine without such an ingredient. For example, a flavored pizza, behind a slice of which yummy cheese strands are drawn, or lasagna with a brown cheese crust. However, it happens that holding such pictures in his head, a person prepares a dish, but magic does not happen - the cheese does not melt. There can be several reasons for this phenomenon.

Why cheese doesn't melt

At a temperature of 30–35 degrees, milk fats begin to melt, so the cheese is softer when warm than in the refrigerator. With a further increase in temperature, it is logical to expect the product to melt, but this is far from being possible with every cheese. There may be several reasons why cheese does not melt.

Cheese preparation method

When making cheese from milk and natural animal rennet (an organic compound responsible for curdling protein components), a temperature of 100-180 degrees is sufficient for its further melting. But there is another way - not an enzyme is added to milk, but a bacterial leaven. The cheese obtained in this way does not actually melt, since when heated, the protein curls up and does not straighten, and, accordingly, does not spread. You should not use acidic sourdough cheese in order to make an appetizing crust on a dish, such types are often fried, since they do not spread. The following varieties are among those who do not exist at temperature: Adyghe, ricotta, paneer, hallumi, etc. (mainly products based on goat milk).

Cheeses made with the addition of rennet melt well

Humidity and fat content

The more water the cheese has, the faster and easier it will melt as the temperature rises. If you imagine a fragrant piece of cheese in the form of a sponge, then its structure will be formed by casein - milk protein. The entire space inside the mesh is filled with water and fat, and in the process of heating, when the protein structure is destroyed, these components are released. Thus, the fatter and wetter the cheese, the easier and faster it will turn into a fluid form, because there will be something to be released after the mesh breaks.

That is, for effective melting, the cheese must have at least 50% fat and high humidity. A striking example is mozzarella cheese (with the exception of fat-free) and parmesan cheese. The balls of the first, which are even stored in brine, turn into a stretching mass on pizza, and dense pieces of the second require baking in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees to get a melted crust on a dish.

Mozzarella balls melt well due to their fat content and high moisture content

Cheese product

Cheese products, unlike natural cheeses, are made on the basis of vegetable and not milk fats. It is extremely difficult to guess exactly how such a “fake” piece will behave; in practice, the product may not melt at all, retaining its original shape, or simply dry out, turning into a solid lump. No matter how hard the chef puts in, cheese made from herbal ingredients and with lots of additives to keep it in shape will never behave like real cheese.

The cheese product is prepared on the basis of vegetable fats, therefore it does not melt well

Type of dish

How effectively the cheese will melt depends largely on the dish itself to which it is added. The selected product may simply not have enough temperature to turn into a fluid state, as, for example, when preparing cordon blue cutlets with a filling inside or when adding cheese to soup, the boiling point of which is only 100 degrees. But on the surface of the pizza, which is in the oven at 180-200 degrees, any natural rennet cheese will melt.

Inside the cordon blue cutlet, hard cheese may simply not have time to melt

How to choose a cheese that melts well

If for a dish you need the cheese to melt during cooking, then when choosing it you should follow these rules:

• do not chase after cheapness, because cheese products are usually the most affordable at a price;
• carefully study the packaging - the composition should contain milk, the use of rennet is indicated;
• the percentage of fat content of the cheese for melting must be at least 50%;
• the cheese should be made with cow's milk, not goat's milk.

The cheese will not melt if it is unnatural, made by adding sourdough or lacking in fat. Temperature is also of great importance: if a quality product does not change its state, maybe you just need to raise the degrees, and the picture will change.