mandyspizza:
I DISAGREE…after 30 years in the business and using nearly every cheese offered here…NONE can compare. <<>> Oh well, we have our opinions…
I am only 5+ years in the business of pizza. 20+ in overall food. I have an opinion on Grande Cheese that is worth about .02/lb (the opinion, that is). Use the best cheese your market can afford to pay you for. I have tried Grande cheeses in my old oven, and found it not at all superior to the blend I was using. It overwhelmed the flavor profile, killed the delicate sauce spicing, and was not as flavorful as what I had in hand. Sure, I could re-engineer the recipes and portions of all my pizzas to accomodate the “premium” cheese and its pricing. I went with the status quo cheese and saved the $$ and hassle.
Now, something else to consider in my world is that there is/was only ONE distributor to restaurants of Grande cheese in GA at the time a year and a half ago. I did not order from them, and they are 2+ hour drive from me. They require Sunday order for Thursday delivery. Period. If I get a surge on Wednesday night, then I am outta luck getting more product unless my rep happens to be coming my way. One order per week. That would mean I would also have to purchase additional refrigeration to stockpile a week’s worth of cheese and other products. They do not carry several branded products that I rely on, and pricing was a bit higher, in aggregate than USFoods, my main suplier.
My realities, and baking experiences showed that Grande was a poor choice for me at that time. My current Baker’s Pride ovens will very likely bake the Grande differently . . . but I am happy with the Wisconsin cheese manufacturer that makes what I use.
I build a pizza flavor profile and fit the pieces together. I won’t build a pie around the cheese, as it is to easy to fnid great product out there that will fit into the pie I build. The dough, the tomato, and the spices are where I do my handy work . . . then find the cheese that makes it all sing. Others think that the cheese is the flavor diva of the pizza. Some will spend out on high dollar cheese, then use warehoused, economy line spices in the sauce, and/or Hunt’s retail tomato products. If it all doesn’t fit together, then it makes no difference what compressed curdled dairy product I slather on the pizza.