Now,now, now....there are those who say that about other subjects and it is ouchy and touchy and hurts peoples feelers.

I make a great taste tester.:bigbow:

Not hurting anyone, or didn't mean to. I used to make a cassata alla Siciliana every year for my husband's birthday. No way would cottage cheese have worked in the filling between the layers.


This is a simplified version: Italian Ricotta Cassata Cake Recipe



The one I made was sponge cake with raspberry jelly filling, ricotta filling, drizzled in a liqueur. I think it was six layers, several fillings. Had some dried fruit in there somewhere. Anyway, no place for cottage cheese in there, or in a sweet Italian dessert.


My favorite way to eat cottage cheese is with steamed broccoli, cut-up tomatoes, salt & pepper and Catalina dressing. I also like it with fruit.

I couldn't imagine filling a cannoli shell with creamed, sweetened cottage cheese. That'd be pretty disgusting.

Your opinion is noted.

We all have culinary tastes based on the way we were raised. You feel confident and familiar with East Coast Cuisine and I feel confident and familiar with mid-American cuisine. I never, nor did anyone I knew and went to school with taste Ricotta, Bagels, Smoked Salmon, Herring, or homemade Italian "gravy" or sauce until we were in our twenties. We are all different and we are all valuable and if everyone liked the same thing they would only sell vanilla ice cream.

But what I think might have been grating (sorry) on people was someone who in the past has professed not knowing about Italian cuisine stating that someone else probably would not know the difference between cottage cheese and ricotta in an Italian dish. You're coming up against a noted cuisine, from a place of not very much experience, in response to a person who wants to find the real thing. That's all. I wouldn't comment on, say, how to make a curry from scratch if I hadn't done it or researched it.


I know you are an excellent cook. I apologize. I've over-reacted to your comment.

OUCH I come from an Italian neighborhood in the North East people would cry ( I would too ) if you substituted cottage cheese for ricotta.

Plus one!

Holy Cannoli, Batman. My father-in-law could tell from which store his wife bought the fresh ricotta.

Best Cannoli Recipe - How to Make Homemade Cannoli

I see that I have not been sensitive and as understanding as I should have been. This comes from many of us having completely different experiences than others in childhood and so the inclination comes sometimes unbidden to think...well, that's silly. I apologize to those I have been unkind and annoying to.

The very first time I had Italian cooking from an Italian person in their home was here in The Villages a dozen years ago....and that person's name is Diane Tucker, who ALSO recently gifted us with frozen sauce, pronounced soo-ahhs, at Christmas this past year. It is amazingly wonderful and she puts all kinds of meat into it including pork. Diane Tucker is in the top ten people I have loved at first sight in this world. She has many wonderful qualities besides cooking, but she talks a little funny. ;)

No ONE should ever say mean things about how anyone cooks or the ingredients they use. NEVER.

I really believed that cottage cheese and ricotta were similar. I will buy some ricotta today or in the next few days. I am very sorry if I offended y'all nice folks.

I don't think you have been either -- simply an uneducated palate with regard to this particular food product.

My mom's version of Eyetalian food was a "box of number 8's" (boiled to death) with a jar of Ragu. So of course I knew nothing when I married into an authentic Italian family.

I was amazed and astounded that my very Italian Father-in-Law could even tell the brand of pasta simply by taste.

Gratefully I learned a lot about food from my in-laws since it was not part of my family's culture.

This is from last year and shows the latest trends on cheese buying in U.S.
 

The Most Popular Cheeses In The U.S. Are No Longer American | HuffPost Life

I just looked at Publix and we will have a tub of ricotta in the Gantner household by tonight.

Yes, but do keep in mind there is a big difference between the Ricotta in tubs and the freshly made Ricotta that the Italian deli's make.

I love a dollop of ricotta on spaghetti and meatballs.

Next time try the tub:ohdear: and fresh. Better to compare deli and fresh from a recipe passed down generations. We make some of our own cheese. I always get big hugs for taking time to make fresh