Parmesan

"No matter how quietly I tried to replace the spoon and glass top of the container of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on Nonna's dining table, one or the other always clinked. If I was lucky, the animated conversations in the living room masked the clink and no adult voice called out to inquire who might be in the dining room tasting the cheese. My earliest memories of irresistible temptation invoked the pursuit of Parmesan, soft and nutty, sitting like a sacrament in its sacred vessel on the linen cloth."

"The process of elaboration of parmesan cheese begins with skimming the milk collected the previous evening; fresh milk and fermented are added. This mixture is placed in a copper vat at 32–35 °C to form the , which is finely cut. Afterward, it is heated to 50 °C while being stirred until it forms a paste. The paste is then placed in cheesecloth for draining. Subsequently, the cheese is shaped in a mold; and a marking band is applied. It is then placed in a metal mold and added to a container with a saline solution. Afterward, it is aged for 12–30 months."

"The classic Parmesan is said to come from in , or , or Sicily, although it is also found in Calabria. The first mention of something resembling an eggplant Parmesan is from Il saporetto by (1387–1440): the recipe refers to Parmigiana cheese. In his book Il cuoco gallant, published in 1786, the eighteenth-century Neapolitan chef Vincenzo Corrado mentions that eggplant can be cooked alla Parmigiana, meaning that the eggplant was seasoned with , herbs, and other s, and grated Parmigiano cheese. It was the covered with a cream sauce made with egg yolks and baked in the oven."