Garlic and Cedar Wood Smoke Filled Mozzarella Balloons

Impress your guests with these garlic and cedar wood smoke filled mozzarella balloons, or even just air filled mozzarella balloons, if you don't have a whipped cream maker, which you could use for injecting the smoke.

In the easiest version you just need Mozzarella, some hot water and some pump (it can even be one of those simple balloon inflation pumps or a bicycle pump)

In the more advanced version you need a whipped cream dispenser + nitrous oxide cartridge, fresh garlic, cedar wood plank and a torch.

You burn the garlic on the cedar plank with the torch and then place it in the whipped cream dispenser. Screw in the NOx cartridge and you are ready to proceed to the next step.

Place the ball of Mozzarella in a pot of hot boiled water.

After letting it sit there for 2-3 minutes and it softens, take it out and start kneading it with your hands. If it starts hardening up, immerse it again in the hot water. Continue doing this, until the cheese gains a uniform bubble-gum type consistency with no lumps/curds.

Form a ball out of the Mozzarella with a deep opening on one side for filling. This is easiest to accomplish, by forming it on your thumb. To make sure the cheese is sufficiently pliable to inflate it, you can dip the ball part again in the hot water.

Now place it over the dispenser nozzle (our your pump outlet), seal off the sides by squeezing with your fingers and gently inflate to the desirable size.

You might not succeed at first, if blowing too quickly/too hard, you will have the balloon pop. But that is no problem, just return the mozzarella to the hot water, re-kneed, reform a ball and try inflating again.

Once inflated, squeeze the opening to seal off the ballon and then remove the excess cheese, which you can use to make the next ballon.

The mozzarella balloons look the best if glazed with a few streaks of thick balsamic sauce and freshly ground black pepper. They can be served along with some salad, asparagus, or even watermelon.

Enjoy and shine with your newly gained culinary skills at the next party!