This TikTok “Cottage Cheese Wrap” Recipe Is Actually Bad
A cottage cheese wrap is going viral online, touted as a high-protein substitute for bread for sandwiches and wraps. Well, I love cottage cheese and I love sandwiches, so how bad could it be? Well guys, this is not great.
I don’t know if I ‘m surprised that the Internet has misled me or just disappointed me. I’m one of those weirdos who actually really likes cottage cheese – with 4 percent fat, of course. This is one of my favorite warm weather snacks paired with fresh fruit, so I was excited to buy my first tub of the season and enjoy it in this new app. It’s not strange to try to increase protein and reduce carbohydrates, but this creation really fails. Changing the wrapper not only sucks in a practical sense, but I think it also ruins the flavor of the curd.
What is a viral curd wrap?
The basic idea seems to be that you can mix cottage cheese with some parts of eggs to make a sort of loose dough. Place the mixture in a flat rectangle on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. Et voilà: The perfect high-protein, gluten-free wrap that can accommodate lots of leafy greens, cold cuts, and maybe even more cottage cheese. There are many variations of this cheesecake wrap, including this one that uses just egg whites, this one that uses whole eggs, one that has the whole thing pan-fried rather than baked in the oven, and I even came across another one that flour is used. (which I can’t find now) – so what exactly do we do then?
On TikTok, this process from mix to bite takes 12 seconds. What you don’t see is how damn long it takes to bake and, frankly, how you actually have to overbake for it to even work. Throw away everything you know about cooking eggs in this “wrapper”. Egg whites start to set at 140°F, which is usually what we’re aiming for because the whites form delicate bonds that can be easily pulled apart with a fork or your teeth.
However, the bread substitution requires the egg whites to cook at high temperatures (some recipes call 400°F) and form lots of strong, elastic bonds. You know how sometimes when you fry an egg too long for a few minutes, the edges of the white get crispy and brown and you struggle to break it even with a fork? Yes, that’s what’s required here. The high moisture content of the curds in the mixture breaks some of the egg’s bonds, so the ones that do come together need to be cooked until browned, otherwise the whole thing will fall apart into a mushy and completely unappealing mess.
Uneven results
In fact, I don’t even have a problem with cooking the “bread” until browned. Eggs are an incredibly versatile ingredient, and if you can cook them until they’re chewy enough to mimic bread, well, what a great innovation! In practice, I disagree with wrapping.
I’ve seen a few TikTok videos that seem to have the same problem I’m having: the cheese and egg batter layer spread out in the oven and became uneven. (This is almost guaranteed to happen if you have baking sheets that warp at higher temperatures.) The thin side is burnt, but the thicker side is fine .
The burnt and crispy part broke off when I tried to stuff the wrapper, and the thicker part was pliable but almost soft in places. I ate half, generously offered the other half to my boyfriend (he declined), and threw the other half away.
The second time I tried using whole eggs instead of egg whites, the taste improved a little. However, I still encountered the same problems when cooking food irregularly – burnt areas and soft spots. If you decide to make this high protein “bread,” I would recommend the recipe using whole eggs and using a parchment-lined baking pan instead of a baking sheet. Then you won’t have to deal with warping. However, I won’t do it again.
Make these high-protein options instead.
Baking something for 35-45 minutes to end up with a product that you could very well throw away is not worth it in my opinion. It’s better to do it quickly, simply and, most importantly, tasty. Make a stunning fluffy omelette with a little ricotta inside or a frittata (omelet for the lazy) that only takes about 10 minutes in the oven. These options are also protein-rich and gluten-free, and you can fill them with veggies and meats, too. If you need a wrap, try frying regular egg whites in a pan, like in these dumpling wraps , but use a larger pan. It’s a lot faster (we’re talking about a minute or two per roll), is as high in protein and low in fat as possible, plus you don’t have to bake them to hell and back just to fit them in a bit. ham. Happy gaining weight everyone.