So as part of this blog I will be testing and evaluating my perceived quality of mozzarella sticks, but if you are interested, I'll walk you through how I judge them. If you feel that I'm wrong or I'm missing something feel free to comment.
The most important part of a mozzarella stick is the quality of the cheese. There is no way to sugar coat this, if a mozzarella stick is made with sub-par cheese there is nothing you can do to make it excellent. A high quality cheese will be flavorful, a bit salty and when cooked correctly it will be stringy and have a slightly chewy consistency. For example a lot of chain restaurants tend to provide a mozzarella stick that "looks" like good cheese. By that I mean they will be stringy, but they will lack the flavor and texture.
The second thing I look at is the breading. Good mozzarella stick breading will provide substantial flavor to the appetizer (unlike cheese curds which shouldn't get too much flavor from the breading) however the flavor needs to compliment the cheese, and not mask it nor try to hide flaws in the cheese. The breading needs to add to the texture of the mozzarella stick again it needs to compliment the cheese by providing a slightly crunch counterpoint to the stretchy chewiness of the cheese. Breading also should not be too thick there isn't much worse than eating a doughy mozzarella stick it pretty much guarantees a bad result.
The third thing I look for is the quality of the cooking. While often appetizers are overlooked for quality, it is something I take a lot of notice of. If you nail the cheese and the breading you can still ruin a mozzarella stick by over or under cooking. A well cooked mozzarella stick should be cooked to a golden brown (color depends on the type of breading of course), but it should not be left undercooked and certainly shouldn't be burned. The breading should be crunchy and not soggy after cooking. Finally the cheese should be thoroughly and evenly melted.
Finally I want a good marinara sauce for dipping. This is really a whole separate conversation as to what makes a good sauce, and I will let somebody else discuss that. All that I look for is that the sauce compliment the stick and not fight it, hide it or ruin it. This comes in last, because I feel that a good mozzarella stick should be able to stand on its own and can only be enhanced by marinara. Also, you can find pre-made marinara that doesn't suck, so if you have bad marinara there really isn't an excuse. Great marinara is a different story, but again not my expertise.
So that's it that's what I look for in a Mozzarella Stick.
Stay Cheesy,
-Matt
