Burrata

Let me tell you about burrata, and why you must never treat it like an ordinary cheese sitting in your fridge.

Burrata is two cheeses in one. The outer shell is mozzarella, gathered into a little pouch. Press it gently and it should give under your finger — smooth, elastic, almost shiny, never dry or cracked. Inside, you'll find a soft, loose filling, nothing firm about it. That's the whole idea: a tight skin holding a soft heart. Cut it open and the inside should flow slowly, not run like soup and not sit like butter. Lean in and smell it: fresh, sweet milk, nothing sour, nothing sharp. The surface should be clean, milky white — not grey, not dull, not slimy to the touch.

Some people say burrata keeps as well as regular mozzarella, so a week in the fridge is fine. No! Burrata is a fresh cheese, and fresh cheese doesn't wait. Any hint of sourness in the smell, or a sharp bite where there should be sweetness, means it's already past its best. That belief leads to the worst mistake: tasting a tired, sour burrata and deciding you simply don't like it. You do like it — you just met it too late. Buy it close to the day you plan to eat it, and let it come to room temperature before it reaches the table. Cold mutes everything that makes burrata worth eating.