The Gordon Ramsay Trick That Makes Grating Mozzarella Much Easier

Cheese. It's the one thing that you can almost always find in anyone's kitchen. Even if you avoid dairy products, there are a plethora of dairy-free cheese products available. According to Statista, the average person consumed just over 40 pounds of cheese in 2020 alone.

Because of its versatility in flavor, almost any dish is better with some cheese on it. Especially if it's fresh cheese. You can usually tell the difference when taking a bite out of a pizza when the cheese was average store-bought grated cheese with preservatives or if it was coated with a layer of freshly grated cheese.

But sometimes, grating cheese can be an annoying task. Especially if you are trying to grate fresh mozzarella for a homemade pizza, it can be difficult and downright dangerous. Because of its softer and moist texture, it can be easy to slip your hand and accidentally grate or cut yourself. Thankfully, chef Gordon Ramsay saves the day (and our hands) with this trick that makes grating mozzarella much easier.

Grating mozzarella cheese can be a tricky task. Unlike most other cheese, fresh mozzarella is usually moist, making it harder to hold and work with. And if you're trying to grate it, good luck.

However, the frustrating days of trying to grate fresh mozzarella cheese are over thanks to Gordon Ramsay's easy trick. In a video posted by Wired on YouTube titled "Gordon Ramsay Answers Cooking Questions From Twitter," the globally-recognized chef addresses how to best grate fresh and "moist" mozzarella cheese without destroying it. The chef states that the easiest way to do this is to make your mozzarella firm before trying to grate it. 

Ramsay says to "stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes before your start grating." Then, use the whole side of the grater, switching off on sides of the cheese so you're not making only one side thinner and easier to break apart. With this method, he claims that you'll also get a much better "yield" of freshly grated mozzarella cheese.

Interestingly, Ramsay suggests freezing chiles for easy grating, too.

Mozzarella is just one of the many "softer" kinds of cheese that bring a plethora of frustrating attempts to get freshly grated shreds. According to Martha Stewart, the same freezing method can be applied to other softer cheeses. These include young gouda, feta, brie, ricotta, and gorgonzola, among others. These cheeses — along with mozzarella — are harder to work with if they're just simply coming out of the fridge or mistakenly left out on the counter before trying to grate.

While Ramsay advised putting mozzarella in the freezer for only 10 minutes, the time can be up for debate. According to Martha Stewart, 30 minutes will afford the cheese to get a little more hard and even easier to work with. It most likely depends on how cold and powerful your freezer is, so we recommend starting at Ramsay's recommended 10 minutes and working your way up if need be, periodically checking on it so it doesn't turn into a solid block of cheese that is impossible to grate.