About Milwaukee's ubiquitous fried cheese curds
In Milwaukee, seemingly every component of the gooey globules known as cheese curds — pieces of young cheese that during the cheesemaking process become separated from the whey — is as malleable as the cheddar itself.
A simple scan of the city’s pubs, bars and even fine-dining restaurants is evidence of an oft-repeated Wisconsin stereotype: It’s the cheese curd capital of the world. And per usual, Milwaukee isn’t going to skimp on the party.
Restaurants generally buy fresh curds of white or yellow cheddar — in rarer cases, mozzarella or pepper jack — before adding their own personality via batters, sauces and names. Milwaukeeans take pride in experimenting with curd coatings: they might be buttermilk-battered, pancake-battered, beer-battered, honey lager-battered, Lakefront Riverwest Stein-battered, or slathered in an ambiguous “house-made batter.”
Those curds are then “fried up squeaky clean” (at the Wicked Hop), turned into “mini explosives” disguised as curds (at Safehouse Milwaukee), or transfigured into “little pillows of cheesy heaven” (at Joe Mama’s Bar). Many restaurants serve up half-pound portions; some, like Steny’s, offer a full pound of cheese.
Notably, the Journal Sentinel didn’t come across any menus advertising curds served with ketchup. But various varieties of tomato, like marinara sauce and tomato jam, made appearances. Many menus experiment with ranch varieties like buttermilk, garlic, chipotle or jalapeño, or specialty sauces like buffalo blue cheese aioli, maple syrup, Bloody Mary buffalo, or sweet and spicy pineapple.
As Brothers Bar and Grill puts it, the final step is up to you: transporting the morsels “from the cheese curd capital of the world to your mouth!”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: About Milwaukee's ubiquitous fried cheese curds
