Ingredient

Halloumi

Halloumi is the cheese you can put on a barbecue. It squeaks, it browns, and it holds its shape at temperatures that would turn any other cheese into a puddle — and the reason is a specific step in how it is made rather than anything mysterious about the milk.

Why it does not melt

Most cheese melts because heat loosens the bonds holding its casein proteins together, letting the network flow.

Halloumi is made differently. After the curd is formed, it is heated in hot whey before being salted and folded. That cooking step denatures the proteins and sets the structure in a way that heat cannot undo — the network has already been through what melting would do to it, and it will not go further.

The result is a cheese that softens slightly, browns readily, and keeps its shape. It also squeaks against the teeth, which is the same protein structure rubbing rather than yielding.

The same principle applies to a small family of related cheeses — Indian paneer, Greek saganaki cheeses, Cypriot anari, and grilling cheeses sold under various names. Halloumi is the best known.

Frying it properly

It is easy and there are three ways to get it wrong.

1. Slice it about a centimetre thick. Too thin and it dries out and goes rubbery before it browns; too thick and the middle stays cold and squeaky.
2. Pat the slices completely dry. Halloumi comes packed in brine and surface moisture stops it browning.
3. Heat a pan properly — medium-high — with a little oil. Halloumi is quite fatty and needs less oil than you would think.
4. Lay the slices down and leave them alone for two or three minutes, until a deep golden crust has formed. Moving them early tears the surface.
5. Turn once and brown the other side.
6. Serve it immediately. This is the rule that matters most: halloumi is very good hot and genuinely unpleasant cold, when it goes hard and rubbery. It does not wait and it does not reheat well.

Dealing with the salt

Halloumi is preserved in brine and is properly salty, which is fine in some dishes and overwhelming in others.

• Soak it in cold water for twenty minutes to an hour, changing the water once. This takes a surprising amount out.
• Season the dish assuming the halloumi is the salt. Do not salt anything else it goes with until you have tasted the combination.
• Pair it with sweetness — honey, watermelon, figs, pomegranate, roasted grapes. Sweet against salty is the classic answer and it works every time.
• Pair it with acid — lemon, sumac, a sharp dressing.
• Pair it with something bland — flatbread, couscous, potatoes — which spreads the saltiness across a plate.
• Fresh halloumi is milder than aged. Cypriot halloumi is traditionally matured in brine and gets saltier and firmer with time.

What to do with it

• Fried and served with honey and lemon, or with za'atar. Barely a recipe and one of the best things you can do with it.
• On a barbecue, in thick slices or on skewers with vegetables.
• In a salad, hot, with watermelon and mint, which is a Cypriot combination and deservedly famous.
• In a wrap or a burger, in place of a patty.
• Grated raw, which few people try, over pasta or a salad — it behaves like a mild firm cheese.
• Baked, in a tray with tomatoes and peppers.
• In fritters, grated into a batter with mint and courgette.
• With eggs, fried alongside them.

Common questions