Cheese is most often used as an ingredient to add flavor, color, and texture in a variety of ways - on pizza, as a taco topping, and in cheese souffles, sandwiches, casseroles, quiches, and sauces. Mozzarella, Parmesan, and ricotta cheeses are often found in Italian dishes
, feta in Greek dishes, Monterey Jack in Tex-Mex dishes, and cheddar in North American ones. Numerous dishes incorporate various cheeses; the most popular cheeses purchased in the United States for these purposes, in descending order, are cheddar, processed, mozarella, cream cheese ricotta, Swiss, provolone, Muenster, Parmesan, Neufchatel, and blue.
The two most important principles when preparing foods with cheese are to select the best cheese and to keep temperatures low and heating times short.
