Wicked Vegetarian Recipes

For the Love of Teese?

Probably the thing I'm having the hardest time giving up enroute to becoming a vegan is cheese. I'm a huge fan of cheese - from the sharp, salty Parmigiano Reggiano, to the somewhat aggressive taste of a veiny Gorganzola, to the deliciously creamy Mozzarella on top of a good New York style pizza. I'm originally from New York, and I know the goodness that is true New York pizza. :) Yes, I love my cheese and it is hard to give up.

I've been doing some research on vegan cheeses, and came across a couple of blogs lately (VegCooking and What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway?) on Teese vegan cheese, specifically used on pizza. It appeared to have a melting factor close to true mozzarella, which with vegan cheeses is hard to find - a lot of them don't melt at all, and reviews rated it well, with minor margarine undertones.

I ordered three types of Teese from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe - mozzarella, nacho cheese and cheddar. When they arrived, I was excited to try this on a pizza. I decided to try a mushroom, onion and fresh tomato pizza. I had a whole wheat Boboli in the house, and topped it with some Muir Glen pizza sauce. Quickly sauteed some baby portabello mushrooms and onions in a bit of olive oil, and spread these on along with some sliced fresh roma tomatoes.

Now - the Teese. I opened the red tube of Teese mozzarella, and the smell was very close to fresh mozzarella. Point to Teese. The Teese grated well, although it seemed a bit wet. I'm not sure if others have the same opinion about the moisture content of this cheese. I spread it on the pizza and put it in a 425 degree oven for ten minutes.

Opened the oven after ten minutes, and none of the Teese had melted except a few crust sections. Hmmmm. Waited another ten minutes. Still not much melting. I decided to take it out so the crust didn't burn. I let it sit for a few minutes, as the melted sections did appear to be VERY liquidy (is that a word?).

On the first taste, I was hit with a minor margarine taste (expected with a vegan cheese), but the taste overall was good. I agree with other reviewers that this may be one of the best vegan mozzarellas on the market today in terms of taste. I will certainly use it going forward on pizzas. However, I am going to try a couple of things differently:

-> Next time I will let it sit at room temperature for a while so it's not as cold going into the oven - maybe this will help with the melting, I don't know.

-> After grating, I'm going to it on paper towels while it comes to room temperature, to absorb some of the moisture. Possibly this will lessen the liquidy texture that I experienced on the parts that did melt.

-> I'll also try a 500 degree oven, with a whole wheat crust made from scratch. Hoping this will also help with the melting.

I'm also going to test the Teese in a classic caprese salad, and see how it fairs with some fresh tomato, basil and olive oil.

Overall, Teese has a very good offering with their vegan mozzarella. I would recommend it as an alternative to regular mozzarella, for the vegan who still enjoys a good New York style pizza. Of course, there's always the option to go with no cheese. :)