Instructions: When Louie Tedone was young, the sign above the door of the Tedone Italian deli read "Latticini Freschi." His neighbors in Brooklyns Little Italy wouldnt have needed the translation: "fresh milk products."

After his father died when he was 17, Tedone got up every morning at 5:45 to make the fresh mozzarella for the store. He continued this ritual throughout the 40s while attending New York Medical College.

"My wife and I grew up in Brooklyn just 10 blocks apart. Our parents each owned an Italian deli in Little Italy where it is commonplace to make fresh cheese daily," says Tedone.

What an American may consider mozzarella is actually a bastardized version of its Italian roots. The mozzarella melted in bubbling pools atop a pizza is not latticini freschi.

Originally made from the milk of water buffalo, today fresh mozzarella is predominantly made from cows milk. Fresh mozzarella is a moist and cake-like version of what Americans call mozzarella cheese. With a mouth-feel akin to cake and a texture on the tongue similar to a tender medallion of meat, fresh mozzarella is a packaged white ball suspended in brine.

Although fresh mozzarella can be used to cook, it is not a candidate for shredding on top of pizza. Its finest features are enjoyed sliced into a disc, lightly salted and drizzled with olive oil, crowned with a slice of tomato and chopped basil.

Dr. Louis Tedone, now a retired pediatrician, makes fresh mozzarella daily for his daughters deli in Shell Beach, Calif. "Its a labor of love," he assures me with a warm squeeze on my arm.

Dr. Tedone does not make his own curd. "Thats work! I get my curd from New York in 21-pound boxes and its the same brand I used in my parents deli in

New York: Polly-O."

Curd is the combination of milk and a bacterial culture that converts the lactose sugar into lactic acid. The mixture that solidifies is the curd. (To purchase Polly-O curd, it must be ordered through a local retailer. Polly-O is owned by Kraft, which does not sell curd direct to consumers. Or, you can buy fresh mozzarella in the refrigerated section of many grocery stores.)

I spent a Friday afternoon with Dr. Tedone receiving a private lesson on how to make fresh mozzarella. Laughing and waving his hands, he assured me:

"Its a no-brainer," in his enduring Brooklyn accent.

Sitting at a stool watching this nimble elf busily slicing curd over the large metal bowl, I am stunned at the simplicity of the procedure. A good home cook who can get the right ingredients can make fresh mozzarella.

The utensils required are: a sink, a wooden paddle, a pot of boiling water, a pot of cold water (50 F; 10 C) and about two gallons of brine water. The brine mixture is a three-pound box of kosher salt to two gallons of boiling water.

Tedone began with roughly five pounds of curd, which yields 10 half-pound balls of mozzarella. "It comes out better if you work in small batches," he confides.

There are six steps:
Cut the curd into 1-by-1 inch squares.

Add enough boiling water to cover generously.

Mix until lumps are smoothed out (within 2 minutes) and the texture becomes silky and elastic. The water will turn milky. The boiling water draws out the butterfat and this is what makes the mozzarella a low-fat cheese. (Wear rubber gloves to protect your skin from the hot water.)

This long rope of curd, which becomes strands of silky warm cheese, is formed into a ball by stretching the white rope of cheese over the paddle and back onto itself twice. Tuck your four fingers into the resulting ball of cheese as though you are pinching and tightening a balloon at its base, and then twist the ball off into your hand. Pinch the ends to seal.

Drop each cheese balloon in the bath of cold water so that the balls will retain their form.

Soak in the brine bath for five minutes to give the cheese a mild saltiness, or up to ten minutes for a stronger salt flavor.

Holding up two glistening balls of mozzarella, Tedone winked. "This is my calling card!"

As I sit on a stool nibbling a warm slice of minutes-old cheese, I can certainly understand why Europeans insist on latticini freschi.

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