CHEESE DISHES
Welsh Rarebit (Hot)
_Note._--As a general rule where Parmesan cheese is mentioned, any
well-dried and finely-grated cheese serves the purpose.
Slice down some good, rich cheese rather thinly, into a delicately
clean stewpan, with some morsels of butter, and 2 or 3 spoonsful of
porter, good ale, or new milk as you please, according to the quantity
of the cheese; flavour to taste with freshly-ground black pepper and
English mustard. Stir it all till thoroughly melted, pour it over hot
buttered toast, browning the surface if you like with a hot shovel, and
serve at once.
This requires careful watching, because if it be in the least
over-cooked it will be leathery.
Irish Rarebit (Hot)
Add a few drops of vinegar and a finely-minced pickled gherkin to
cheese treated as above, and serve very hot.
Baked Cheese Sandwiches (Hot)
Cut some slices of good, rich cheese about a third of an inch thick,
season lightly with freshly-ground black pepper, and a drop or two of
tarragon vinegar; then place them between two slices of brown bread
and butter; trim these neatly, and set them in the oven, serving them
directly the bread is toasted.
Parmesan Puffs (Hot)
Mix 4½ oz. of breadcrumbs, 4 oz. of Parmesan cheese, 2 oz. of butter, ½
a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper and salt, and 2 eggs; pound these all
thoroughly in a mortar, bind them with a well-beaten egg, shape into
balls about the size of a walnut, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry a
golden brown in plenty of boiling fat. Drain well, and serve at once
very hot, garnished with parsley.
Parmesan Eggs (Hot)
Take a flat fireproof dish and put into it the yolks of 2 eggs, a
small pat of butter, some spice, and a tablespoonful of finely-grated
Parmesan cheese. Stir over the stove. Then break into it five or six
eggs and sprinkle the whole with grated cheese. Brown and serve.
Cheese Balls (Hot)
Put 1 pint of water into a pan with 1 oz. of butter when quite hot,
dredge in 4 oz. of flour, and pepper and salt to taste, draw to one
side and when cooled a little add the yolks of 4 eggs and 4 oz. of
grated cheese. Have ready a pan of boiling fat, take the mixture up in
tablespoonsful, drop in and fry a golden brown. Serve very hot.
Cheese Butterflies (Cold)
Take 2 oz. of flour, 1½ oz. of Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. of butter and
the yolk of 1 egg. Make a pastry of the above ingredients and roll out
thin. Then with a crinkled round cutter cut out double the number of
rounds you require to use and bake a light brown. Allow them to become
cold. Mix some grated cheese with a little whipped cream to a nice
thick consistency, season with salt and cayenne pepper, pile lightly
on the rounds of pastry. (Some of the rounds must be cut into halves
_before baking_ to provide the wings for the butterflies.) Dip the
crinkled edges of the halves into carmine to colour them, and arrange
them as wings on the rounds of pastry. Put a piece of stalk of parsley
to form each antennae; also arrange or ornament the back of each
butterfly with a little of the green leaf of the parsley.
Cheese Pudding (Hot)
Place 1 pint of milk in a saucepan and let it become hot, then pour it
on to 1 tablespoonful of ground rice previously mixed with a little
cold milk, return to the pan and stir until the mixture thickens.
Remove the pan from the fire and add 4 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a
pinch of salt and cayenne, the yolks of 2 eggs, and 2 oz. of butter.
Mix all well together and then add the beaten whites of the eggs.
Butter a pie dish and pour the mixture into it, and bake in a moderate
oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top before serving.
Cheese Aigrettes (Hot)
Place 1 oz. of butter in a pan with ½ pint of water; when boiling add
3 oz. of flour. Stir over the fire until the mixture leaves the sides
of the pan quite clean. Remove the pan from the fire and when slightly
cool add the yolks of 3 eggs and the whites of 2, cayenne and salt to
taste. Stir in 2 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, and place the mixture
on a plate to cool. Take a small piece of the mixture in a spoon and
drop it in hot fat and fry a golden brown; continue this until it is
used up. Serve on a dish paper garnished with parsley and sprinkled
with grated cheese.
Cheese Patties (Hot)
Line some patty pans with puff pastry and fill them three-parts full
with the following mixture. Place 2 oz. of finely-grated breadcrumbs
in a basin and mix into them 1 raw egg and a tablespoonful of milk;
then add 2 tablespoonsful of finely-grated cheese and 2 teaspoonsful of
butter, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, ½ a teaspoonful of salt and the
same of pepper. Mix very well. Place the patties in the oven and bake
until a pale brown. The mixture will swell slightly in baking. Serve
very hot.
Cheese Mushrooms (Hot)
Take ½ lb. of rich toasting cheese, slice it, place it on a soup plate.
Cover it with flap mushrooms--on each mushroom a nut of butter and a
dust of pepper and salt. Cover with another soup plate and bake in a
moderate oven for half an hour. Dish up on buttered toast.
Cheese Custard Pudding (Hot or Cold)
Put 2 oz. of finely-grated cheese into a basin and add to it 2
well-beaten eggs and ¾ pint of milk. Trim the edge of a pie dish with
cheese pastry and pour in the mixture. Place 2 or 3 pieces of butter on
the top and bake in a quick oven (400 deg.) for 20 minutes.
Cheese Croûtons (Hot)
Take 6 rounds of bread ¾ inch thick and about the size of a five
shilling piece, fry them a golden brown colour, sprinkle over them
a dust of dry mustard, a layer of grated cheese, salt and pepper to
taste. Place them in a quick oven until the cheese is cooked, then
place a spoonful of hot rice on each, garnish with capers and serve
very hot.
Cheese Canapés (Cold)
Grate 2 oz. of cheese and mix it smoothly in a basin with a
dessertspoonful of mustard, the same of anchovy sauce, a shake of
cayenne, a pinch of salt, a dessertspoonful of anchovy vinegar, a
tablespoonful of fresh butter and the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs. Mix
this until it is a smooth paste, then spread it on rounds of buttered
white or brown bread. Chop the whites of the eggs finely or press them
through a sieve on to the paste. Serve cold.
Little Cheese Custards (Hot)
Grate finely 3½ oz. of cheese and mix it with 1 egg, add ¼ pint of
boiling milk, pour the mixture into small fireproof dishes and bake for
10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot in the dishes.
Cheese Patties (Hot)
Line the required number of patty pans with puff pastry. Boil 1 oz.
of macaroni in just as much water as it will absorb. When soft cut it
into tiny pieces, mix with it 1 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a pinch of
salt, a pinch of cayenne, and bind the mixture with a little cream or
cheese sauce. Bake for 10 minutes.
Tomato Cheese Croûtons (Hot)
Stew ½ lb. of tomatoes in butter until tender with onion cut up finely,
put them through a sieve, adding a small quantity of cream, or milk if
the former is not procurable. Replace the tomato in the pan and add
to it enough grated cheese to make it like a thick cream, season with
pepper and place a little of the mixture in croûtons of fried bread.
Serve very hot.
Cream of Cheese
Make some squares of hot buttered toast, place on a hot dish and keep
hot. Melt ½ lb. of cheese in a little saucepan with 1 oz. of butter
and 3 tablespoonsful of cream (or milk), pepper and salt. When of the
consistency of very thick custard pour it over the toast and serve.
For the following Cheese Dishes, _see 10s. a Head for House Books_:--
Cheese Balls, Biscuits (hot or cold), Creams, Croûstades, Croûtons, Egg
Toast, Pastry, Pudding, Ramekins, Straws.
_The Single-Handed Cook:--_
Cheese and Potato Fritters, Cream Croûtons, Cream Tartlets, Custard,
Fingers, Pufflets, Quenelles, Soufflé, Tartlets, Zephyrs.