Where to get Ricotta Salata?

Trying to find this and I figured I would ping you all on some good cheese shops in the city as I have never made any cheese-specific trips.

BTW I think it is Ricotta Salata (salted and dried Ricotta).

Thanks for any input.

I've gotten it from Fox & Obel before, but I don't know if it's a regular item. I'd call to check.

312-379-0113 (Cheese counter)

jpeac2 wrote:Trying to find this and I figured I would ping you all on some good cheese shops in the city as I have never made any cheese-specific trips.

BTW I think it is Ricotta Salata (salted and dried Ricotta).

Thanks for any input.

Ricotta salata is a form of sheeps' milk ricotta that is salted and allowed to dry out; with the loss of moisture, the saltiness becomes more pronounced. There are two kinds available, one which is softer and to be eaten as a table cheese, the other drier and used especially for grating. This latter type is more easily found in these parts these days.

F&O surely adds on its Gourmet Surcharge and so I would not purchase it there unless you don't care what you spend. Any of the good Italian specialty shops should always have it (though sometimes they're out of it)... Conte di Savoia, Bari, Riviera, Caputo's...

I just bought a nice cone of the drier, grating type ricotta salata at Graziano's on Saturday:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=25595#25595
They had small cones of plain ricotta salata and also cones with red pepper. They also had large cones for commercial kitchens. Though I can't remember what I paid for it, the prices at Graziano's are always quite good.

Antonius

Which of these places would be best to get a sandwich and the cheese?

Leaning towards Bari at this point.

jpeac2 wrote:Leaning towards Bari at this point.

Bari is good, and you really can't go wrong at Riviera

Best,
Michael

Bari and Riviera are good places to get sandwiches but but so too Conte di Savoia. As I wrote recently, one can now also get a very well-made sandwich -- nice meats and cheeses on D'Amato's bread at Graziano's:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=115687#115687
So then, until one develops one's own preference with regard to sandwiches, the answer to the question would logically depend on convenience of location (Bari and Graziano's being fairly near one another, CdS a little bit off to the south and Riviera being a far-outlyer) AND what it is you would be shopping for. Each store has its own strengths and specialties... Bari a meat counter, Conte wine and spirits, Graziano's generally the best prices and lots of bulk items, Riviera its house-cured meats and so on... Needless to say, they all have good and in various ways different sets of domestic and imported items (oils, pasta, canned goods, etc.)

Antonius

Antonius wrote:F&O surely adds on its Gourmet Surcharge and so I would not purchase it there unless you don't care what you spend.

Well, I figured that went without saying

Dmnkly wrote:

Antonius wrote:F&O surely adds on its Gourmet Surcharge and so I would not purchase it there unless you don't care what you spend.

Well, I figured that went without saying

Let me add that I do love F&O and would go more often if I lived nearer to it (and had more disposable income)... The cheese section has lots of interesting stuff but in cases where I can get the same or more or less the same product elsewhere, it makes sense to avoid the GS...

A

I've found it on occasion at Whole Paycheck, er, Foods.

How will you be using it? If you're grating it and using small quantities, I've found it has a very similar taste and saltiness as cotija or anejo cheeses.

For those in the NW suburbs, Ricotta Salata is available at Valli's on Golf Road. The prices there are generally fairly low.

Jyoti