There are many scenes of my childhood which I remember with pleasure, but one in particular stays with me always. I shall never forget the cellar under our big farmhouse where Grand1 mere performed her cheese-making ritual each summer. How refreshing it was to come from the fields, where the hot sun beat down on the ripening wheat, and take refuge in the cool cellar, with its clay-like soil floor and thick stone walls. And what wonderful smells! As I think back to it now. once more I inhale the fragrance of grapes and the vin du pays in wooden casks. And best of all was the soothing aroma of the cheese-making: the sweet moisture of fresh milk and the hint of faintly acid curd.
I loved to watch grandmother make cheese, though I probably got under her feet more than I helped her. Grandmother. cheese maker par excellence of our family, started the job in the cowshed, milking the cows rhythmically. Indeed. grandmother did everything in a rhythmic, orderly manner. She was tidy and petite, and her strong hands belied their size just as her quiet manner belied her efficiency. Naturally her farmhouse was the most spotless, her meals the most succulent and bountiful. Naturally. too, it was part of Grand'mère's nature to find time for everything, and yet never seem hurried. She trained each daughter in the travaux ménagers, the skills she had learned from her own mother. Twice a week, without fail, she churned the fresh sweet butter, and each day she went through the chores connected with cheese making. Nor did she ever miss her weekly trips to the village, to mass on Sunday, and to market on Wednesday with her freshly churned butter and firm rounds of good fromage du pays, her contribution to the farm income.
But Grand'mère's devotion to her cheese-making duties was not alone for the income. In our family, as in most other French families, country-style cheeses played an important role in the day to day meals. La fromage, in its many forms, was as basic and universal as bread. Each section of France has its own favorite cheeses, and nearly every Frenchman eats cheese once a day. My father expressed the sentiments of many when he said, as he often did, that he would willingly fore-go his meat, but not his cheese.
The way Grand'mère made cheese typified the country cheese-making style of her day. She used the big straight-sided earthenware jars that country people everywhere like for making pickles and sauerkraut, and putting up fruit in brandy. Each jar held ten quarts of milk. You could always see eighteen jars lined up on the cellar floor ready for their work. Grand'mère scalded six of them freshly each day and filled them with the results of the day's milking. In another six jars, the yellow cream had risen to the surface of yesterday's milkings to be skimmed off for the butter churn, It was grandmother's custom to take a little of the slightly sour milk from these jars, after skimming off the cream, and add it to the fresh milk as a “starter.” although some people used rennet for this purpose. In the final six jars the milk had been curdling long enough for the big snowy curds to become so firm that they separated from the cloudy whey. Grandmother lined with cheesecloth round wicker baskets or round metal molds pierced like a colander, and poured the curds into them to drain for a day or two.
When the curds formed themselves into a compact mass, we had frontage blanc, something like American cottage cheese. We usually took some of this upstairs for use at table or for our country cuisine. Grandmother added a little fresh cream to this cheese to make the local spécialités like cheese and potato pie or cheese fondue in the country style. In summer, we especially enjoyed mixing chopped chives and fresh tarragon in our cheese and eating it with crusty French bread.
But we took only a very small part of our cheese to use as fromage blanc. We put most of the compact rounds outdoors to cure in a shelved contraption with wire sides that looked like an enormous cage, It was built on stilts to keep it away from the dampness of the ground. In about a week each cheese was turned from its mold, unwrapped, and covered thickly with layer upon layer of fresh grape leaves. Then we returned the rounds to the cellar to ripen, or maturer, between thick layers of straw. A week or ten days later, the outside of the cheeses would be firm and fairly dry, while the inside would be soft and creamy, just right for the market. Our cheese resembled the Camembert so much admired by everyone, but it had its own distinctive flavor and we made our wheels about twice the size of the familiar Camembert cheese.
What I found out from my experiences on the farm where I grew up stood me in good stead all through my later professional years. Cheese making was no exception. When I took charge of the kitchens at the old New York Ritz, for instance, I decided to introduce coeur à la crème. I remembered well what Grand'mère had taught me: The best coeur à la crème demands the best crime. It must be very heavy unpasteurized cream with a butterfat content of 60 to 70 per cent. I found that a Vermont farm would supply this excellent cream, and from the Bazar Franca is I obtained the little heartshaped baskets I needed. But beureusuement, happily for me, the dessert rapidly became so popular that we had CO order special metal molds, pierced with holes. This is the way the French make coeur à la crime: Line a heart-shaped basket or mold with cheesecloth and fill it with heavy unpasteurized cream. Store it in the refrigerator overnight to drain—above twelve to eighteen hours are usually needed, Unmold and serve with Bar-le-Duc or wild strawberry preserve.
I named another popular cheese dessert délicieux Ritz Carlton. These délicieux combined one-fourth cup cream cheese to three-fourths cup of the same heavy Vermont cream used for the coeurs. I rolled up each serving in a special parchment wrapper just large enough to hold a few spoonfuls of the mixture. Each wrapper was imprinted with the name of the dessert and looked most attractive when it arrived at the table neatly rolled, the ends smoothed off with a warm spatula. Of course we made our délicieux freshly every day. Guests of many years' standing still remind me how much they miss these cheese desserts now that the hotel has closed its doors. One consolation is that if yon can get the necessary heavy cream you can easily make the desserts at home. I realize that it is hard to find such cream unless you live near a farm.
I could not begin to tell you how many recipes there are for using cheese in cookery. Each country has its own preferences. In America, the Cheddar cheese seems to have great popularity, but French cooks believe that Cheddar has too strong a flavor and too high a fat content to be well suited for dishes other than Welsh rabbits or grilled sandwiches. In France, we favor Swiss and Parmesan types for our cuisine and grate them to use almost interchangeably. If the Swiss cheese is too moist to be grated, it can be cut into fine dice. You will find these cheeses excellent melted in sauces or sprinkled on top of a dish to be browned. They add a wonderful nuance of flavor which blends with other ingredients rather than overpowering them. A soufflé, too, with its many egg whites, has a lighter, more delicate consistency when Swiss or Parmesan cheese goes into it.
I have selected for this article recipes which call only for cottage cheese, Parmesan, or Swiss, because these cheeses are the most dependable. They can be purchased nearly anywhere, and their flavor and fat content are always predictable. You can therefore use them with reliance where other cheeses, because of their variability, might fail you.
Soup à la Pavese
Pour 5 cups boiling broth into an oven-proof casserole. Saute 6 thick slices of French bread in butter until they are golden brown on both sides. Roll the sautéed bread in grated Parmesan cheese and float them on the broth. Break an egg on each slice and put the casserole in a hot oven (450° F.) or under the broiler flame for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the eggs are set.
Diablotins
To 1 beaten egg yolk add enough grated Parmesan cheese to make a paste the consistency of a thick sauce. Season the paste with salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Cut flâtes, small French bread sticks, into slices ¼ inch thick. Heap a little mound of the cheese mixture on each and arrange the slices on a baking tray. Brown the diablotins in a hot oven (450° F.) Or under the broiler flame. and serve them floating in a rich beef or chicken consommé.
Fondue Neuchâtel
Rub an earthenware casserole with a cut clove of garlic and put in it 1 ½ pounds of grated Swiss cheese and 1 ½ cups dry white wine. Cook the wine and cheese Over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is creamy. Stir in 1 tablespoon potato starch mixed with a little cold water, and season the fondue with salt and pepper to taste.
When ready to serve, add 2 ounces kirsch and place the casserole on a récbaud, or table heater, to keep it hot. Serve with large cubes of bread which are pierced with forks and dipped in the simmering fondue. No liquor should be served with this dish, but after it is eaten, hot coffee or tea is passed with a little kirsch.
Cheese Toast Vaudoise
In a saucepan put ½ pound of grated Swiss cheese and ¼ cup white wine and cook over gentle heat, stirring until the cheese melts and the mixture is the consistency of a thick paste. Add 1 egg, beaten, and a little salt and pepper. Spread freshly toasted bread with the cheese mixture and brown in a hot oven (450° F.) or under the broiler flame.
Fondne Chez Soi
In an earthenware casserole protected from direct contact with the fire by an asbestos pad, melt 2 tablespoons butter and add 2 cups frontage blane, or cottage cheese. Cook the cheese very slowly in the butter, stirring constantly, until the fondue is creamy. Serve with cubes of bread to be dipped into the fondue.
Cheese and Potato Pie
Beat 2 cups creamy cottage cheese until it is smooth and press it through a fine sieve. Add ¼ cup sour cream, 2 ½ cups hot mashed potatoes, and ½ teaspoon salt, and mix well. Line the bottom and sides of a 10-inch plate with pie dough and (ill the plate with the cheese and potato mixture. Brush the top with a little milk and dot with small pieces of soft butter. Bake the pie in a medium oven (350' F.) for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown, and serve warm.
Ramekin of Cheese
Butter a round earthenware casserole. Remove the crusts from 6 slices of bread and cut each slice in half. Cut Swiss cheese into 12 thin slices the Size of the bread. Arrange the bread and cheese in a ring in the bottom of the dish, overlapping each by about an inch. In a bowl beat 2 eggs, stir in 2 cups milk, a little salt, and grated nutmeg and pour the mixture over the bread and cheese. Place the casserole in a pan containing 1 inch of hot water and bake in a moderate oven (375° F.) for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and glazed.
Stuffed Potato with Cheese
Bake 6 large potatoes. When they are tender, cut an opening in the tops and remove the pulp, keeping the shells intact. Press the pulp through a sieve or food mill and beat in 2 eggs, beaten, stir in ½ cup cooked chopped mushrooms, 1 teaspoon chopped chives, 3 tablespoons sweet cream, 1 cup grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stuff the potato shells with the mixture and sprinkle with grated Parmesan mixed with a little butter. Return the potatoes to a hot oven (425° F.) and bake for about 5 minutes, or until brown.
Tomato and Cheese Casserole
In a saucepan stew 1 tablespoon onion until soft in ½ cup melted butter, stir in ½ cup flour, and add gradually 2 ½ Cups hot milk, stirring constantly until the sauce is thick and smooth. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10 to 20 minutes. Season the sauce with ½ teaspoon salt and a little pepper and paprika.
Beat 2 egg yolks with ¼ cup cream and gradually stir in the hot thick sauce. Stir over a gentle flame until the sauce almost reaches a boil and add ¾ to 1 cup grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese.
Cut the tops from 6 firm tomatoes. Squeeze them very gently to remove seeds and excess liquid. Arrange them in a shallow baking dish and pour over them the sauce. Bake the tomatoes in a hot oven (425° F.) for about 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and the sauce is browned.
Tomato Souffles
In a saucepan combine ½ cup heavy cream, 1 ½ tablespoons flour, 3 beaten egg yolks. 2 tablespoons melted butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook very gently, stirring constantly, until the sauce is the consistency of thick cream. Cool to lukewarm and stir in ¾ to 1 cup grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese and 3 egg yolks, beaten, and gently fold in 4 stiffly beaten egg whites.
Cut the tops from 6 large ripe tomatoes, hollow out the flesh, and squeeze the tomatoes gently to remove the seeds and excess liquid. Fill the tomatoes three-fourths full with the soufflé mixture. Arrange the tomatoes on a shallow baking dish and bake in a hot oven (425° F.) for 15 to 25 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and the souffles are puffed and brown. Serve immediately.
Escalope of Veal Stuffed with Cheese
Cut thin slices of veal into serving portions and flatten each piece with a wooden mallet or the side of a heavy cleaver. Season the meat with salt and pepper.
Cut thin slices of Swiss cheese about half the size of the veal slices and place a slice of cheese on each piece of veal so that it covers half of it. Fold the other half of the meat over the cheese and pinch the edges to hold them securely together. Dip the veal first in egg beaten with 1 teaspoon cold water and then in line fresh bread crumbs, and sauté in hot butter until golden brown on both sides.
Gâteau au Fromage
In a saucepan melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in 2 tablespoons flour, and add gradually 2 cups cream, stirring constantly. Add 6 egg yolks, beaten, ¾ to 1 cup grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese, and a little salt, grated nutmeg, and paprika, and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is the consistency of thick cream. Be careful not to let the mixture boil. Cool to lukewarm and pour this filling into a baked pie shell. When ready to serve, arrange slices of tomato and quarters of hard-cooked eggs around the top and decorate the edge with unsweetened whipped cream.
Gamut
Sift 1 cup flour into a bow! and make a hole in the Center. In the hole pour 1 cake or envelope of yeast dissolved in a little lukewarm water, and mix together into a firm dough, adding a little more lukewarm water if necessary. Put the dough in a deep pan filled with lukewarm water to rise.
Sift 3 cups flour into another bowl, make a hole in the center, and add 1 cup butter, 4 to 5 tablespoons cognac, 6 eggs and 6 yolks beaten together, and ½ teaspoon salt. Mix to a soft dough and work in 1 cup diced Swiss cheese.
When the ball of yeast dough rises to the surface of the water, remove and knead it gently into the egg dough. Put the dough in a large howl, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk. Punch the dough down, put it in a buttered round baking pan with sides from 1 ½ to inches high, and let rise again until double in bulk. Brush the dough with beaten egg and milk, and bake in a hot oven (425° F.) for 40 to 50 minutes, or until golden brown.