Burrata di Andria

Andria, Bari, Puglia

The masterwork of Pugliese cheesemaking: a thin Mozzarella shell filled with a mixture of fresh mozzarella shreds (stracciatella) and fresh cream, tied at the neck to form a small purse. Created in Andria (Bari province) in the 1950s by Lorenzo Bianchino as a way to use Mozzarella scraps. When cut or torn, the cream-and-stracciatella filling floods the plate in a cascade of pure milk fat and fresh-cheese shreds. Must be eaten within 24-48 hours of production — it is not a keeping cheese.

• Both are cheeses defined by a liquid interior contained by a firmer exterior — Camembert's liquid is created by the enzymatic breakdown of the paste over weeks, burrata's is literally fresh cream poured in at production, both consumed at the point of maximum internal liquidity → Camembert de Normandie French
• Both are preparations where a delicate exterior contains a liquid, flowing interior — burrata's shell contains cream, onsen tamago's white contains a barely-set yolk, both defined by the experience of breaking and releasing the interior onto the plate → Onsen Tamago (Hot Spring Egg) Japanese

Pure, milky, lactic, with a flooding cascade of fresh cream and mozzarella shreds — the richest, most immediate expression of fresh dairy in Italy