Retailer of Chellino dry ricotta (for ravioli) in Chicago?

Hello: I'm looking for a retailer near downtown that sells ricotta for stuffing ravioli. Regular store-bought ricotta, even when drained, etc. is too wet. Chellino (of Joliet) makes a dry ricotta for stuffing pasta, anyone know where to buy it? or something similar?

Check with GNR J.P. Graziano's. They should carry it or else know where to get it.

J.P. Graziano Grocery Co., Inc.
901-905 Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
312-666-4587

check out Mancuso dry Riccotta at Caputos or Superlow if you cant find what you're looking for. its my go to for ravioli/lasagna

Bari on Grand in River West carries Chellino. I think Graziano has Mancuso & Calabro, but not Chellino. Call ahead.

you can make you own very easily, well its not "ricotta" but its very similar and works great for stuffed pastas. combine 1 gal of whole milk, and 1 qt of heavy cream. bring up just to a simmer then pour in 1 qt of buttermilk and 1 cup of lemon juice. bring back to a simmer, the cheese should be broken. let rest for 10-15 minutes and scoop out the cheese using a slotted spoon or hand strainer into a strainer lined with cheese cloth and let sit in fridge for at least four hours or completely chilled. from there i usually whip it with salt, a lot of salt, and a touch of cream if its a little dry.

Willybyeah wrote:you can make you own very easily, well its not "ricotta" but its very similar and works great for stuffed pastas. combine 1 gal of whole milk, and 1 qt of heavy cream. bring up just to a simmer then pour in 1 qt of buttermilk and 1 cup of lemon juice. bring back to a simmer, the cheese should be broken. let rest for 10-15 minutes and scoop out the cheese using a slotted spoon or hand strainer into a strainer lined with cheese cloth and let sit in fridge for at least four hours or completely chilled. from there i usually whip it with salt, a lot of salt, and a touch of cream if its a little dry.

You can also dry any regular ricotta by similarly lining a colander with cheese cloth and letting it drain through to your desired consistency.

Mariano's in Roscoe Village sells Westby Dry Curd cottage cheese from a Wisconsin co-op.
Dry cottage cheese has worked well for me in strudels and is a good substitute for ricotta in ravioli.

Respectfully I must disagree — from an Italian standpoint, cottage cheese is not an acceptable substitue for ricotta. Both the texture and the flavour are off the mark.

Bari always carried Chellino (which I don't find especially great) and I bet they still do; I believe Conte di Savoia does as well, though I'm not positive about that.

Antonius

With regard to ravioli filling, I'm not referring to the standard product; I'm referring only to dry-curd cottage cheese.
My cousin's wife, who is from Rome, uses it, and she recommended it to me.
She purees it, avoiding any textural problems. I find the flavor to be mild and lactic, not dissimilar to ricotta.

I do agree that regular cottage cheese and ricotta are not comparable. That said, I sometimes prefer it when the cheese is baked, as the larger cottage cheese curds tend to stay soft, while ricotta can become grainy. The mouthfeel can be unpleasant, and if the cottage cheese is buttery and fatty enough (whole-milk), and is carefully produced, I prefer it, as unconventional as it may be.

For a long time, pretty much all of the ricotta available in this area was of depressingly low quality -- grainy with little flavour. That is no longer the case as for a number of years, very good quality ricotta has been on offer in some groceries and specialty shops around town, imported from the East Coast. Calabro from Connecticul, for example, is available at Whole Foods and (sometimes at least) Treasure Island. Indeed, I just made our traditional lasagna di Carnevale yesterday using Calabro and the finished product, including the layers of ricotta, came out just as it should.

My family is from a little south of Rome, in an area renowned for its latticini and I've had the chance to spend a lot of time there; for better or worse, Italian cheeses and ricotta are my number one culinary vice. Sheeps milk and buffalo milk ricotta are practically speaking not available to any considerable degree in the US but in some places, such as New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, high quality cows milk ricotta has long been a commonplace. Now that such ricotta is available here, life is a good bit better.

Antonius

Yes, when I lived out East, I liked Dragone and Salvatore Bklyn, but they're not available here.

I do prefer ricotta for lasagna, but when I make baked ziti, I prefer cottage cheese. Perhaps it's the fact that the pasta absorbs more water, making the end result drier. I have used high-quality ricotta in this dish, and it still turns out grainy. Cottage cheese retains its tender texture.

Antonius wrote:
Sheeps milk and buffalo milk ricotta are practically speaking not available...

I wish that was not the case. They have so much more flavor than the cows milk ricotta.