So out of 6 cheeses, 3 (parmesan, romano and asiago) are strongly flavored and very similar to one another, one is virtually tasteless (mozzarella, fresh or low moisture, part-skim), and the other two are only a tad more flavorful and melt well.
I suspect that your average 3 cheese pizza is probably mozzarella, parmesan and one of asiago, romano or provolone, all of which add more flavor than straight mozzarella.
It’s for flavor; like others have said, they don’t up the total cheese on a multi-cheese pizza, only change the ratio.
I personally like it; low moisture, part-skim mozzarella like you get from your average pizza place doesn’t taste like much, and the texture is kind of rubbery and uninteresting as well. Adding other cheeses changes the taste and texture to be richer and more interesting.
Little Caesars adds muenster to their cheese, which is nice. I know there’s not much love for LCs around here, but I say it’s a delicious cheap pie. And I credit the muenster.
I do like a strong tasting cheese used as a topping separate from the cheese “matrix.” Like sprinkling some crumbled Bleu or diced smoked Gouda on there right before it hits the oven.
I for one prefer the Tre Formaggi, if you’re talking Trader Giotto’s.
And I for one prefer a hint of cheddar to 100% mozzarella - the problem is, it’s a very fine line between “the right amount” and “it might as well say ‘cheddar cheesy bread’ on the box because that’s how it tasted.”
Real mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk. The part-skim cow’s crap we get shoved at us is a joke in comparison.
I suspect the other varieties of cheese being added were a desperate attempt to forestall an attack by legions of Italian ghosts, furious at the mockery we’ve made of their foodstuffs (remember, pizza used to be the food of poor people; that works out to LOT of angry ghosts).
It’s true. For more, I would recommend the book “Salt, Sugar, and Fat.” Basically if you milk a cow and no one wants your Milk, the government will buy it. They eventually figured out it is easier to store cheese vs. milk so they turn all that milk into cheese. Rather then just store that cheese they encourage us to eat it by putting cheese in everything.
Speaking of single cheese pizza,
Once(and I will neither confirm or deny any specific formulation or quantity of beverages that may or may not have influenced the operation) I started to make a pizza. When I began, I assumed I had Mozzarella. Upon reaching the cheesing stage I realized what I had was a fairly nasty store-brand swiss that tasted like battery acid and old socks that I had meant to throw away.
The only other cheese I possessed was a brand new block of Parmigiano-Regiano. Doing the only honorable thing, I grated the whole 14 dollar block on my Pizza like it was Mozz.
Damn it was good for the first slice. But by the second it had re-hardened, entrapping the sausage and peppers, and completely separated from the bread and sauce. It still tasted good, but was like eating tomato bread with a cheese hat, rather than pizza.
Good lord, that’s a lot of parm! (I’m assuming around a pound, maybe a bit less). My general use is to use a mild cheese as a base for American style pizzas (low-mositure mozzarella or similar for the foundation–a cheese that nicely blisters/browns without separating out and forming giant browning-less pools of oil) and then something a bit sharper for flavor (like a parmesan).
I worked for Little Caesars many years ago, so that may render this moot, but I was the prep person; my many duties included grating the cheese (cutting the cheese!) Wow, what a great workout; but I digress. Anyway, the cheese came in these huge blocks, that I had to put in a grinder and, um, grind. Since there was only one kind of block to grind, does that mean that they’ve since changed their “recipe”, or was the cheese blended before it was shipped to the store? In any event, I think Little Caesars is okay. Not great, but way better than Papa John 's or Pizza Hut.
Not sure of their specific mix, but I’ve found that Papa Gino’s (a local New England chain) has the best overall balance of any chain pizza place, the sauce is spiced just right, cheese is flavorful, and the dough is just the right consistency once cooked, rigid enough to pick up and not flop or collapse, but still foldable
The main problem is cheddar, which is in everything, and just doesn’t taste good on pizza.
People talk about mozzarella being flavorless, but the low key flavor is part of the point. That keeps it from overwhelming any toppings. If you think you can go without it, order a pizza without cheese and taste how different it is.
(I finally got a cheese pizza for my birthday, as we found a pizza place that would let us bring in Daiya cheese as long as it was unopened.)
One of the local places around here uses provolone. It’s pretty good.
I think too many cheeses at one time kind of just makes all of them get lost in the shuffle.
Provolone is good, and I use it on homemade pizza if I have it. I actually don’t like it on anything else but pizza or Indiana stromboli, but my husband does. So sometimes we have lots of it lying around.
But no Provel, for the love of all which is holy. It’s…like “Italian” Velveeta.
I actually like the combo of fresh (well, brined) Mozzarella and green-can parmesan/romano, though. If I make deep dish, wet cheese under the sauce, dry cheese on top.
As to the OP, though, yeah, 6-cheese pizza is extraneous at that point. But it’s not really *worse *than just two cheeses, so, eh.
