Mıhlama: Black Sea Cheese Fondue with Cornmeal

Mıhlama is the dish Trabzon is known for — butter, cornmeal and cheese, cooked in a pan until the cheese pulls into long strands.

It has to be eaten hot, straight from the pan. The moment it cools the cheese sets and the stretch is gone, which is the entire point of the dish.

The traditional cheese is Trabzon peyniri. Failing that, use çeçil or dil peyniri — any fresh, low-moisture cheese that stretches rather than melts into oil. Outside Turkey, young mozzarella or a mild string cheese will do the job.

Serves 4

Ingredients

10 oz Trabzon cheese, or fresh mozzarella
4 tablespoons coarse cornmeal
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups water

Method

Melt the butter in a shallow pan or skillet over medium heat. Do not let it brown.

Add the cornmeal and cook, stirring constantly, until it darkens slightly and smells toasted. Keep it moving — cornmeal catches and scorches quickly, and burnt cornmeal cannot be rescued.

Add 1 cup of the water and stir hard. Work fast here: the cornmeal is much hotter than the water and will seize into lumps if you stop stirring.

Add the remaining water and keep stirring until completely smooth.

Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat.

As it cooks, the butter will rise to the surface and pool around the edges of the pan. That is the signal the base is ready.

Pull the cheese into strands with your hands and scatter it over the surface.

Stir occasionally over low heat until the cheese has melted and begins to pull in long threads when you lift the spoon.

Take the pan off the heat the moment it stretches. Overcooked cheese goes grainy and releases its fat, and then you have oil instead of a fondue.

Serve immediately, in the pan, with bread.

Chef’s note

In the Black Sea it is eaten straight from the communal pan with a piece of bread, not portioned onto plates. Set it in the middle of the table and let everyone work from the same pan while it is still hot.