"Grilled" Cheese

I was introduced to the concept of barbecued cheese by K. in Montreal two summers ago. She used to host wonderful weekly all-comers' barbecues and if you were a vegetarian who arrived early enough there might be some grilled halloumi up for grabs before the grill became dominated by meat. Halloumi is Cypriot in origin and is typically made with sheep's milk or goat's milk (or a blend). It's similar to mozzarella but chewier and usually saltier. Halloumi can be fried or grilled quite successfully due to its higher-than-normal melting point (according to Wikipedia, this from "the fresh curd being heated before being shaped and placed in brine"). When I found out that the place I was going to be housesitting for a couple weeks had a BBQ, I decided that I had to track down some halloumi of my own and invite some friends over to try it...

THE BARBECUED CHEESE EXPERIMENT

Hypothesis: That halloomi grilled on the barbecue will be delicious

Procedure:

1. Ride your bike to several high-end food stores looking for the Ontario halloumi you read about recently, which its makers tout as being "the only 100% sheep’s milk Halloumi made in Canada."

2. Strike out at Pusateri's, All the Best Fine Foods, and Whole Foods but sample several delicious cheeses during the (re)search -- including David Wood's Salt Spring Island goat cheese that certain Toronto foodies are excited about since it hit stores recently.

3. Forty-five minutes before guests are to arrive, fly into your last-chance grocery store. Luck out: not only does Loblaws have President's Choice "Halloom" in stock but it's on sale for $4.99. Grab two packages.

4. Back at home, set up barbecue and wait for B. to arrive because she has previous cheese-barbecuing experience (and also the matches needed to light the barbecue). Distract guests with sweet-potato hummous and potato salad while awaiting B's arrival.

5. On advice of B, have W. cut cheese into slices and soak in olive oil. Appoint another friend to quarter lemons (so that they can be squeezed over hot cheese).

6. Try grilling cheese directly on the BBQ, which is only moderately successful (let's just say, it sticks) but friends still say it's delicious when they try it.

7. Decide that B. was right: it might be better to just pan fry the cheese so scavenge around until you find a cast-iron frying pan (it's still barbecuing even if you use a pan).

8. Figure out that the pan works pretty well (but still some sticking) and that putting lots of oil in the pan makes it even better.

9. Serve cheese to everyone present and conclude that hypothesis was correct: the halloumi is delicious...

YUM!

10. Plan to repeat experiment to doublecheck findings.

For another story of barbecuing halloumi (with prettier pictures), check out 101 Cookbooks.

Note: Halloumi is Cypriot but the Greeks also do a version of fried cheese: it's called Saganaki and typically uses Kefalograviera, Kasseri, or sheep's milk feta.