Queso Oaxaca (Oaxaca Cheese) Recipe

Try melting the cheese in Santiago’s choriqueso (melted cheese and chorizo dip), as well as in quesadillas and costra (crust) tacos. Set up 3 large bowls – one with iced water in it and the others empty.

Put a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the mozzarella to the dry pan and cook, moving it around with a spatula, for around 5 minutes The cheese will begin expelling its whey.

Keep moving it around until the cheese is very soft and pliable Pour the contents of the pan into a colander set over one of the empty bowls, draining away the liquid Squeeze the cheese against the side of the colander to remove excess whey

Return the cheese to the pan with the olive oil and continue to cook once again, prodding and poking the cheese to encourage more liquid to be expelled Lift out the cheese, leaving the oil and any whey behind, and transfer to the other empty bowl to cool slightly. Once it is cool enough to handle, start stretching the cheese into a long ribbon

Let the cheese ribbon drop into the iced water to set it Continue stretching and pulling the cheese until you’re left with an even, long ribbon

Sprinkle the work surface with salt, then lay the ribbon of cheese along it. Start rolling it up into a ball – begin by folding over one end diagonally over itself, then make the same movement but in the opposite direction (if you’ve ever folded pastry for a samosa, it’s the same technique)

Continue doing this until the ribbon has become a plaited ball