If you follow food accounts on Instagram or TikTok, watch cooking videos on YouTube, or have ever seen a pizza delivery commercial, you’ve witnessed what’s known as a cheese pull: oozing curds dramatically stretched out from a panini or a slice of pizza being tugged from the pie. But pullable cheeses aren’t the only kind that deserve the spotlight. In fact, I’d like to make the case for a cheese that doesn’t melt, puddle, or produce a single stretchy string: halloumi, the firm, squeaky cheese from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Traditionally made from sheep’s and/or goat’s milk (though sometimes augmented with cow’s milk), the snow-white, rectangular cheese tastes mild, with only the barest hint of chèvre’s farm-y aroma. Cypriots sometimes eat unheated halloumi alongside refreshing fruit such as watermelon, but it’s universally acknowledged that cooking unlocks the cheese’s true magic. Drop a slab into a hot, oil-slicked skillet and
