So Jeff and I have dabbled in homemade mozzarella sticks for some time, but they always seem to be not quite as good as the ones in the grocery store. Recently I was reading Pioneer Woman’s blog and saw that she uses string cheese mozzarella. Genius! Outrageous! So I have been considering trying it for a while, but hadn’t really found the best string cheese.
So flash forward to last week in the grocery store when I see a new kind of string cheese…
Fresh mozzarella! In a stick! I wasn’t sure if it would work, but with PW’s idea of freezing the sticks pre-frying, I figured it was worth a shot.
This was the perfect excuse to use my brand new breading pans. First time. What better way to break them in but mozzarella sticks?
So you put some flour in the first pan. Egg and a little milk in the second one. And, my friends, PANKO breadcrumbs. Ree, you are a genius, I swear.
So you take your mozz sticks, and you cut ’em in half.
Then you dip said mozz sticks into each pan: flour, egg, panko. Flour, egg, panko.
Delicious!
Then you take those mozz sticks, all breaded and beautiful, and you stick them in the freezer. We put them in for 30 minutes, because I was concerned that the mozzarella would get melted too fast in the oil.
Then you heat your oil up. Make sure it’s hot enough. Ours wasn’t at first, and the first two or so were a disaster.
Stick a few in. Let them turn a great golden color.
Then you take them out.
Then you do some more, take ’em out, etc. Until you’re out of mozz sticks.
You let them cool for a minute. Then dig in!!
Yum