As far as mozzarella is concerned,wouldn't a stilton or even a peruvian beaver cheese be better?I hear their adhesion qualities are far superior to almost any fromage out there. As far as croutons go, should I make my own?<hr></blockquote>
Very good points you have brought up Bruce, let us shed some light on some facts regarding cheese additives and crouton design and fabrication.
First off let me applaud you for your forward thinking and curiosity over the possible advantages of mayo recycling and it's unique properties in the "fermented" state. To begin this discussion we must contemplate and understand the structure of the complex mayo molecule. As you are no doubt aware mayo is a mixture, here are the basic ingredients;
Basic Mayonaisse.
1 whole egg at room temp.
2 tablespoons wine vinegar at room temp.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 cup vegetable oil
pepper to taste
As you can see a very basic chemical mixture with unremarkable properties in the unfermented state. Now if you add a little heat over a period of a few days magical things will begin to occur in the mixture itself. First thing you might notice is the odor of hydrogen sulfide gas, this is important in that it marks the beginning of the fermentation stage and as it progresses the potency of the mixture makes exponential gains up until a fuzzy film forms on the top layer of the mixture.
In this fuzzy film lays the key to mayo's great lubrication qualities, if you were able to view this film under 10 000X magnification you would see small colonies of tiny people working at a microscopic level.
These self forming workers begin to roll the mayonaisse into tiny balls much like you would a snowman or the boogers out of your nose. These little balls are what give fermented mayonaisse it's exceptional lubricity and tenacity of adhesion under load. The hydrogen sulfide gas is actually caused by the nocturnal bowel emissions of the tiny workers after toiling all day to create these "microsnot balls" {patent pending}.
In time these workers die off leaving a moldy mesh of microsnot balls and dirty underwear which is what you should be watching for before "harvesting". This "snotty moldy mesh undies" is what makes mayo so slippery, Guiness lists this substance as being;
"...almost as slick as the folks that create and sell miracle oil additives."<hr></blockquote>
In closing I hope that this discussion was not overly technical and I would like to mention that crouton fabrication is best left to educated professionals familiar with dessication techniques and spice formulations, it is unlikely your own fabricated croutons would perform as well or be as durable.
Also as far as stilton or peruvian beaver cheese being superior to mozza...that is an old wives tale perpetuated by the beavers of Peru and the stilt people of Indochina.
Remember you can't always believe what you read.
[cough]