Mozzarella sticks
Mozzarella sticks are elongated pieces of battered or breaded mozzarella, usually served as hors d'oeuvre.
Origins
The history of frying cheese in a batter dates back to at least 1393 in medieval France, when a recipe for fried cheese sticks appeared in Le Ménagier de Paris. However, food historians believe that medieval French fried cheeses had little in common with the preparation and development of modern mozzarella sticks.Mozzarella sticks most likely have their origins in the United States during the 1970s, through a combination of two factors, as per historian Joel Jensen: "the increasing availability of mass-produced mozzarella cheese beginning in the 1960s", and the development of new efficient frying technologies to be used in fast-paced food-serving businesses. Food writer Arthur Schwartz describes mozzarella milanese, an Italian dish of mozzarella dredged in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs and then pan-fried as the "prototype" of the American mozzarella stick. He describes these as typically made from older mozzarella as a midweek meal, and as being eaten "within seconds" of emerging from the pan.