We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.

I plan to check Super WalMart and another grocery store.

> wrote in message
...
> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>
> I plan to check Super WalMart and another grocery store.

It is hard to find as it is not too commonly used and is quite
perishable, so smaller-demand stores don't stock it. To make
a reasonable substitute get some whole-milk ricotta cheese,
put it into a blender or whip it until it is perfectly smooth, and
add a bit of sugar, just enough to get rid of the natural
sourness that ricotta has. It will make an excellent cannoli
filling, in fact some areas of Italy use only ricotta rather
than mascarpone.

pavane

Most of the recipes I have which call for Mascarpone are actually
desserts as it is a fairly 'sweet' soft cheese. Is wonderful in
cheesecakes!
Whenever I do lasagne, cannelloni type savoury dishes I use a smooth
ricotta. Works wonderfully well, and also great in a white, cheese
sauce.

wrote:
> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>
My Kroger keeps it in the gourmet/deli cheese area display case.

> wrote in message
...
> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>
> I plan to check Super WalMart and another grocery store.

It's gotten easier to find in larger towns/cities, but can still be difficult to
obtain in smaller areas. Do you have an Italian market near you at all? Here, they
sell it at Von's and Ralph's, in the specialty cheeses near the deli.
Cannoli is often made with ricotta, so if you can't find it, that should make a good
substitute.
If you were making something like tiramisu, where the mascarpone is integral, I would
recommend ordering it if you can't find it.
kimberly

Goomba38 > writes:
wrote:

>> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
>> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>>
>My Kroger keeps it in the gourmet/deli cheese area display case.

My Dillon's (almost a Kroger) does the same, puts it in the deli case
with the other non-standard cheeses and meats. It comes in a smallish
lidded container, the size of a flat cream cheese container.

Stacia

> ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>
> I plan to check Super WalMart and another grocery store.

If you want to do Cannoli siciliani, you don't need mascarpone. Yu need
ricotta cheese!
cheers
Pandora

"Nexis" > ha scritto nel messaggio
news:ZqmXf.14810$6a1.5213@fed1read04...
>
> > wrote in message
> ...
>> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
>> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
>> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
>> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.
>>
>> I plan to check Super WalMart and another grocery store.
>
> It's gotten easier to find in larger towns/cities, but can still be
> difficult to obtain in smaller areas. Do you have an Italian market near
> you at all? Here, they sell it at Von's and Ralph's, in the specialty
> cheeses near the deli.
> Cannoli is often made with ricotta, so if you can't find it, that should
> make a good substitute.
> If you were making something like tiramisu, where the mascarpone is
> integral, I would recommend ordering it if you can't find it.
> kimberly
>

Cannoli are ALWAYS made with ricotta cheese. Traditional sicilian recipe is
so!

--
Cheers
Pandora

On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:58:28 GMT,
" <> wrote:

>We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
>town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
>Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
>the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.

The stores where I shop are in a town with a population of about
4,500. There are three big grocery stores. I've only seen Mascarpone
cheese in one, and it's found next to the ricotta.

But this is Canada, and stores here stock exotic ingredients.

Jo Anne

" wrote:

> We want to make cannoli next week for a party. I live in a small
> town. Is mascarpone a hard-to-find ingredient? I went to our largest
> Kroger, and couldn't find it. I looked with the cream cheese, with
> the ricotta, and with the deli cheese.

I wouldn't call it a hard to get item, but I live in an area where there
is a significant Italian population. All the larger grocery stores carry
it.

Thanks, everyone. Here's the recipe we were planning to make:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ws/views/11512

wrote:

> Thanks, everyone. Here's the recipe we were planning to make:
> http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ws/views/11512

This has virtually nothing in common with traditional cannoli, from the
ingredients in and techniques for cooking the shells, to the over-rich
filling, to the ridiculous multi-ingredient "garnishing." It's typical
overblown, nifty-restaurant "improvement" on an already-developed
confection. All semblance of the simplicity and harmony of cannoli is
utterly destroyed. Call it something else.

Instead of "cannoli," maybe "Preparation C."

It's like making something with durian, steamed birdseed and gelatin
sheets and calling it maki sushi. It sure is an "improvement" on the
original, huh...?

Note that the web site had the good grace to put "cannoli" in quotes.
Like "honest" used car salesman.

Pastorio

>Note that the web site had the good grace to put "cannoli" in quotes.
>Like "honest" used car salesman.


Thanks...that prompted me to look up a standard traditional cannoli
recipe. We'll give that a shot.

We can't buy shells around here, so we bought the forms. Hopefully we
can pull it off from scratch.

wrote:
>> Note that the web site had the good grace to put "cannoli" in quotes.
>> Like "honest" used car salesman.
>
>
> Thanks...that prompted me to look up a standard traditional cannoli
> recipe. We'll give that a shot.
>
> We can't buy shells around here, so we bought the forms. Hopefully we
> can pull it off from scratch.

Using ricotta, right?? )
Goomba

wrote:

> Thanks...that prompted me to look up a standard traditional cannoli
> recipe. We'll give that a shot.
>
> We can't buy shells around here, so we bought the forms. Hopefully we
> can pull it off from scratch.

One minor challenge I encountered was getting the seams to
hold together in the oil. Loose seams tend to pop open. Wet
the contact area before closing and press together firmly
and evenly.

--
Reg

wrote:
>>Note that the web site had the good grace to put "cannoli" in quotes.
>>Like "honest" used car salesman.
>
> Thanks...that prompted me to look up a standard traditional cannoli
> recipe. We'll give that a shot.
>
> We can't buy shells around here, so we bought the forms. Hopefully we
> can pull it off from scratch.

Wait'll you find out the real thing is easier... The junction of the
dough for the shells can come apart if you haven't "glued" it together.
Either a few drops of water or egg white as "glue" will do it. Put it on
one surface and overlap, and gently press the other surface to it.

The texture of both the shell and filling will be very different than
the recipe posted. The shell more robust and the filling lighter and
less mouth-coating, but still rich. You can get wild and crazy and put
chopped chocolate (or mini-chips) in the filling at the end - stir it
in. And my grandmother used to chop pistachios and sprinkle/press them
into the filling showing at the ends. But she had to really like you to
do that.

Pastorio