Al and I have gone through a lot of cheese here at the Steinfeld Estate.  Neither of us could be vegans.  I was a vegetarian for a few years, but never a vegan.  I love cheese far too much.  And so does Al.  And let’s not even talk about PugPei and cheese.  And no, soy cheese doesn’t cut it.  Ha.  I made a funny.  Cut the cheese.  I feel so Beavis & Butthead right now. 

Where was I?

Oh yeah.  Cheese. 

Anyway, we’ve broken our share of crappy-ass cheese graters in our time.  We’ve broken one of those four-sided ones that has different sized blades on each side and we’ve gone through a couple of the crank handle with the cylinder inside kind, too.  And there’s another one I remember we had that didn’t work for shit, but I can’t remember what it looked like.

But now our cheese shredding problem may be a thing of the past. 

Introducing… Microplane

It’s got a nice beefy handle and a plastic cover to protect it (and your fingers) when it’s rattling around in the utensil drawer with spatulas, serving spoons, ladles, etc. 

Like most graters, it doesn’t work too well with soft cheeses, like mozzarella (especially the ultra-fresh mozzarella we get at Arnone’s), but I made pizza last night and it grated the parmesan and provolone like nobody’s business.  Unfortunately, I still had to use the knife on the mozzarella.  A friend told me to freeze my fresh mozzarella and then grate it, but I never remember to do that far enough in advance of putting the pizza together. 

I know my mother still has the same cheese grater she’s had since I was a kid.  It’s the four-sided kind like the one Al and I broke.  I think they made them sturdier way back when. 

But if you need a grater… one that grates your cheese pretty finely (and I’m assuming it will work just as well with ginger root, but I haven’t had an opportunity to test that), I recommend this one. 

Not only does it work really well, but it also looks kind of cool. 

June 11th, 2009 | Category: Consumerism, Gastronomy | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL