IntroductionIn 1968 my friend Pam Carter Taylor and I decided that we just had to go to Italy to study Italian. We were both twenty-five years old, and that September we went off to study at L'Università per Stranieri in the charming little Umbrian hill town of Perugia. It was a great decision -- we had a wonderful time and made many lifelong friends during the years we spent there, and we learned to speak Italian!
Among my favorite activities were shopping at the local markets, cooking, and inviting friends for dinner parties -- not to mention enjoying the delicious local wines. To make ends meet, I tutored, did translations, and worked part-time at a well-known nearby winery, Cantine Lungarotti, all while diligently attending classes at the università, learning Italian, and studying art history. During the five years I spent in Perugia, I traveled a lot. I loved Italy and everything about it, from the art and architecture to the food and wine. The experience was more than fabulous, and it has flavored my life ever since. In fact, I can't imagine what my life would be like had I not lived in Italy.
In 1973 I left Perugia to come back to the United States and marry Jim Lambert. Back then he was studying for his master's degree, so we had long school holidays to spend going back to Italy to see all our friends. When Jim finished his studies, he founded a landscape architecture firm, and I helped him in the office and did volunteer work in Dallas.
In 1981 I decided that I wanted to have a business of my own. I thought that it should involve what I loved and enjoyed most: Italy and food. My first idea was pasta, but I soon learned that a pasta shop was about to open in Dallas, so my dream was dashed. That Christmas we went to Perugia to visit our friends the Bartoluccis for the holidays, and it was there that I came up with the idea of making Fresh Mozzarella. We were having lunch on the day we arrived, and I had a bite of Fresh Mozzarella. Instantly I knew -- it was Fresh Mozzarella that I missed in Dallas, and that no one else had thought of making. I seized on the idea and turned the trip into a mozzarella-fact-finding mission. By the time I got back to Dallas in late January 1982 I had apprenticed at a local Umbrian mozzarella factory and made plans to build my own little cheese factory in Dallas.
By August 1982 I had persuaded two friends to invest in my idea, found and renovated a little building in an old warehouse district near downtown Dallas, and fully equipped my new cheese factory. In August a professor of cheese came from Italy to teach us how to make Fresh Mozzarella. Before long, we were in business, and we called our venture Mozzarella Company.
It turned out that my idea of Mozzarella Company was quite innovative. I was the only small cheesemaker in my whole part of the country. Since 1985 we have won awards every year from the American Cheese Society for our outstanding cheeses. As the years have passed, we have expanded our repertoire and now produce over 20 different cheeses. Despite our growth, all our cheeses are still completely made by hand. Some are made from cow's milk and others from goat's milk. Many are Italian in inspiration, but others reflect the southwestern influence of Texas and the culinary style of this part of the country. Others have been influenced by my travels to Mexico, Greece, and France.
In 2000 SimonandSchuster published my first cookbook, The Cheese Lover's Cookbook and Guide. I loved writing that book, and since then I have enjoyed traveling around the United States teaching cooking classes using recipes from it. Each year my cookbook even takes me to France, where I take students for culinary classes at La Combe en Périgord in the Dordogne River Valley.
Since my first book was published, students, friends, and cheese lovers have asked when I would write another book. So it seemed only proper that another should follow my first book. And here it is: Cheese, Glorious Cheese! Time changes many things. New flavors, ideas, and influences surface; and I love experimenting and creating new dishes.
I hope that you will like my new recipes. They are all completely different from those in my first book, although I think you will sense my own unique style throughout both. I like to use pure, simple ingredients. I want their flavors to shine. The cooking techniques are easy and seldom complicated. Some recipes involve various steps for their preparation, but none are difficult. I think you will be able to create many, many wonderful meals combining recipes from this book.
One point I would like to make is that this book should be only a guide to cooking. Please use my recipes as a springboard to create your own unique dishes. Try substituting various cheeses in the recipes. As long as you adhere to replicating the texture of the original cheese in the recipe, you can't go wrong.
I am sure you will come up with some great dishes and memorable meals. Make notes on what you like. Write these in this book and really use it.
One other point I would like to mention is that I always cook using a small electronic scale. There are many different cheese shredders and graters on the market, and how a cheese is grated or shredded affects its measurement in cups. So, using a scale and checking the weight will ensure that you are using the exact amount of cheese designated in my recipes.
I hope you will enjoy my new book and try all my recipes. Let me know your favorites.
Paula Lambert
Copyright © 2007 by Paula Lambert