Parmesan cheese

“ Parmesan cheese 1⁄4 lb. butter 1⁄4 lb. flour 1 pinch salt 1 pinch paprika (red pepper) Preparation: The butter is beaten to foam, the cheese is grated fine and added, also salt and paprika. Then the flour is kneaded into it to make a smooth dough and rolled out to 1⁄2 inch thickness. Cut in 1⁄2 inch strips and 5 inches long. Now bake in a medium hot oven to a light yellow color. If too dark the sticks will taste bitter.
They are served fresh and warm with strong bouillon. ”

“ Remove roaster breast and vegetables to serving platter; keep warm. In small bowl, stir together milk and cornstarch until smooth; stir into liquid in Dutch oven. Over medium heat, bring to boil; boil l minute, stirring constantly. Serve sauce with roaster breast and vegetables.
PARMESAN BREASTServes 4 Parmesan cheese is a "cooking cheese" and is usually used in its grated form in the United States. When young, it's mild and nutty, but with age is acquires a sharply tangy flavor. ”

“ Cream-cheese is the richest form, but keeps less well than that of milk. Stilton, the finest English brand, is made partly of cream, partly of milk, and so with various other foreign brands, Gruyere, &c. Parmesan is delicately flavored with fine herbs, and retains this flavor almost unaltered by age. Our American cheeses now rank with the best foreign ones, and will grow more and more in favor as their value is understood, this being their strongly nitrogenous character. ”

“ FROM THE U.S.: Liederkranz, Blue, Cheddar
FROM SWEDEN: Hablé Crême Chantilly
FROM ITALY: Taleggio, Gorgonzola, Provolone, Bel Paese
FROM HUNGARY: Kascaval
FROM SWITZERLAND: Swiss Gruyère
FROM GERMANY: Kümmelkäse
FROM NORWAY: Gjetost, Bondost
FROM HOLLAND: Edam, Gouda
FROM ENGLAND: Stilton
FROM POLAND: Warshawski Syr
Chapter
Nine Au Gratin, Soups, Salads and Sauces
He who says au gratin says Parmesan. Thomas Gray, the English poet, saluted it two centuries ago with:
Parma, the happy country where huge cheeses grow. ”

“ The Gouda is a flat cheese with convex edges and is of any weight up to 20 ℔. Of the two, the Edam has the finer flavour. Limburger is the leading German cheese, whilst other varieties are the Backstein and Munster; all are strong-smelling. Parmesan cheese is an Italian product, round and flat, about 5 in. thick, weighing from 60 to 80 ℔ and possessed of fine flavour. Gorgonzola cheese, so called from the Italian town of that name near Milan, is made in the Cheddar shape and weighs from 20 to 40 ℔. ”

“ The former two show a very large decrease and the latter a large increase on the export figures for 1882. The export of agricultural products shows a large increase.
The north of Italy has long been known for its great dairy districts. Parmesan cheese, otherwise called Lodigiano (from Lodi) or grana, was presented to King Louis XII. as early as 1509. Parmesan is not confined to the province from which it derives its name; it is manufactured in all that part of Emilia in the neighbourhood of the Po, and in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, Novara and Alessandria. ”

“ Sprinkle bottom and sides evenly with Parmesan cheese. Melt 3 tablespoons butter over low heat in heavy saucepan. Add flour and stir with wire whisk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture foams and bubbles. Remove from heat, add milk, and beat until smooth. Beat in salt, mustard, cayenne and Worcestershire. Return to heat and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until mixture is quite thick. Remove from heat and add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour this mixture into a large bowl. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. ”

“ Parmesan, Romano, Pecorino, Pecorino Romano
Parmesan when young, soft and slightly crumbly is eaten on bread. But when well aged, let us say up to a century, it becomes Rock of Gibraltar of cheeses and really suited for grating. It is easy to believe that the so-called "Spanish cheese" used as a barricade by Americans in Nicaragua almost a century ago was none other than the almost indestructible Grana, as Parmesan is called in Italy. ”

“ The curd for the pine-apple cheese is prepared in the same way as the others; but, instead of being put into a vat and then into the cheese-press, it is put into a net with no other pressure than from the hand of the dairy-maid; who, however, prides herself on getting as much into the net as it can possibly hold. The net is then hung up in the cheese-room, and requires no further care.
I shall now give you only one more receipt for making keeping-cheeses, and that shall be for the far-famed Parmesan. This celebrated cheese is made with skim-milk. ”

“ The last notable mention of cheese in war was the name of the Monitor: "A cheese box on a raft."
Romano is not as expensive as Parmesan, although it is as friable, sharp and tangy for flavoring, especially for soups such as onion and minestrone. It is brittle and just off-white when well aged.
Although made of sheep's milk, Pecorino is classed with both Parmesan and Romano. All three are excellently imitated in Argentina. Romano and Pecorino Romano are interchangeable names for the strong, medium-sharp and piquant Parmesan types that sell for considerably less. ”

“ At large dinners in London, cheese is oftenest eaten in the form of ramequins, or grated Parmesan, and other preparations; but at small dinners the Stilton, the Roquefort, the Chester, the double Gloucester, or the Somersetshire cheese is invariably produced.
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For nearly a thousand years the art of mixing herbs and cheese together has been known in England and France. In France this operation is called persiller, because a good deal of parsley is mixed with the cheese, as here we mix a good deal of sage.
Cheese is always produced at the end of a repast. ”

“ Make sure oil is hot. Fry about 5 minutes on each side.
Place veal in baking dish and pour on a layer of tomato sauce. Place thin slices of Mozzarella cheese over this. Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until brown. Mushrooms or cooked peas may be added if desired.
MEAT-ZA-PIE 1 pound ground beef 2⁄3 cup evaporated milk (small can) 1⁄2 cup dry bread crumbs 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1 can tomato paste 1 two-ounce can button mushrooms 1 cup sharp cheese (grated) 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Mix meat, milk, bread crumbs, garlic salt and oregano. ”

“ The English and American Cheddar—the common American cheese—the Dutch Gouda and Edam, the Swiss Gruyere, and the Italian Parmesan are all hard cheese made with rennet. As examples of the soft varieties may be mentioned the French Camembert and Brie, Cream and Neufchatel cheese. In a class by themselves are such cheeses as the French Roquefort, the English Stilton, and the Italian Gorgonzola, their peculiar flavors being derived from molds implanted in the curd.
When cheese is made without rennet, the milk is allowed to curdle by natural acidity or it is in some other 89way made acid. ”

“ A well-smoked cheese in block form.
Smoked Mozzarella see Mozzarella Affumicata.
Smoked Szekely
Hungary
Soft; sheep; packed like sausage in skins or bladders and smoked.
Smokelet
Norway.
A small smoked cheese.
Soaked-curd cheese see Washed-curd cheese.
Sorbais
Champagne, France
Semihard; whole milk; fermented; yellow, with reddish brown rind. Full flavor, high smell. Similar to Maroilles in taste and square shape, but smaller.
Sorte Maggenga and Sorte Vermenga
Two "sorts" of Italian Parmesan.
Soumaintrain, Fromage de
France
Soft; fine; strong variety from Upper Burgundy. ”

“ At the end of that time knead them again, put the paste into wicker moulds, and leave the cheeses to drain until they are quite dry. When dry and firm, lay them on a board and leave them to acquire hardness gradually in a place of very moderate warmth; should the heat be too great, as we have said, they will burst. When, in spite of all precautions, such accidents occur, the crevices of the burst cheeses are, in Germany, filled with curds and cream mixed, some being also put over the whole surface of the cheese, which is then dried again. ”

“ With the present bettered quality of milk and the improved skill of makers in handling it, inflative cheese ought to now be foreign to the curing room. Bad taints are at present seldom met with, but slight ones creep in unawares, unless the maker is vigilant, and then it is his business to eradicate the ill-savor. Sour until acid has completely overcome the gas, grind twice, and give the curd a prolonged airing by frequent stirring. Try the prolonged stirring on common curds that are hot—too hot to go immediately to press—and notice how it will enhance the flavor of the cheese. ”

“ In France there are a variety of cheeses which vary in consistence, constitution, flavour, and ability to keep, and these differences are rather owing to the process of manufacture than to the nature of the soil or the peculiarity of climate. The various denominations applied to them, too, indicate differences in manipulation rather than any change in their matter. Nevertheless, we are far from partaking of the opinion of those who deny that both sun and soil have any influence; for as with wine and cider, so with butter and cheese, the pasture has a marked action upon aroma and quality. ”

“ The acid used in curdling milk acts upon the caseine alone, and not upon the butter particles, which are imbedded in the curd as it hardens, and thus increase its richness and flavor without adding to its consistency, which is due to the caseine.
It is evident, therefore, that cheese made entirely of cream cannot have the firmness and consistence of ordinary cheese. It is only made for immediate use, and cannot be long kept. ”

“ The moment the acid is sufficiently developed, though the curd be yet soft and raw, the whey is drawn, the curd is further cooled and soaked, and then dipped, drained, salted and put to press. A leaky cheese is the result. If the weather [Pg 75] is cool and bad for curing, a sour cheese follows. But whatever the weather may be, we doubt if a leaky cheese ever yet turned out all right in flavor and quality. It can never have that nutty, new-milk flavor which belongs to cheese properly cooked. ”

“ Named from cooking sour clabbered curd to the melting point. When cool it is allowed to stand three or four days until it is colored through. Then it is cooked again with salt, milk, and usually caraway. It is stirred until it's as thick as molasses and strings from a spoon. It is then put into pots or molds, whose shape it retains when turned out.
All cooked cheese is apt to be tasteless unless some of the milk flavor cooked out is put back in, as wheat germ is now returned to white bread. ”

“ Depending on whether or not you like the edible rind of Camembert and Liederkranz, you can leave it on, scrape any thick part off, or remove it all. Mash the soft creams together with the Roquefort, butter and flour, using a silver fork. Put the mix into an enameled pan, for anything with a metal surface will turn the cheese black in cooking.
Stir in the cream and keep stirring until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Strain through sieve or cheesecloth, and mix in the olives and pimiento thoroughly. Sprinkle well with cayenne and put into a pot to mellow for a few days, or much longer. ”

“ The process is not commendable and while it may sell to some extent, in certain markets where a soft, fresh cheese is liked, “washed” or “soaked” curd cheese can never compare favorably in quality with a well-made, firm Cheddar cheese that is mellowed down by long-time curing to a consistency so it will fairly melt in your mouth.
Composition.—The American cheese contains almost all the casein and the butter-fat of the milk, besides such portions of the milk-albumin, milk-sugar, and mineral matter as are held in the water or whey which is retained in the cheese. ”

“ A certain amount of acid is necessary to impart flavor and insure good keeping qualities, hence more of it is required in hot weather than in cold, as a defense against high temperature. Many think that as soon as the hot days are passed the need of an advanced curd maturity is passed also, and make almost sweet cheese. If there is any thing that is fraught with dire consequences in cheese making, it is extremes practiced in the modus operandi. ”

“ They whey can be drawn when but very little acid has appeared, and the curd, packed, and drained, waits for the sourness to develop there. It matures more slowly than when submerged in whey, and when the right point is reached the iron teeth of the mill attack it and tear it up and salt it when in a dry state, which is a great advantage. The make-room should be supplied with a gang press and patent hoops, because one screw will compress a dozen cheese and solidify them more firmly than old fashioned single screws. A good cheese can be spoiled after it is in the hoop by insufficient pressing. ”

“ A thorough stirring of the whole mass, therefore, will keep the cream more equally distributed, and it will also secure a greater uniformity of temperature. The cheese must be of evener texture than if made of curd of different degrees of richness mixed together.
It is a question for debate as to whether the cream which rises on milk is thoroughly incorporated with it by stirring. That butter is wasted in making cheese, is a fact that cannot be denied. Some think that nearly all the cream that rises on the vat during the night is floated off in the whey. ”

“ Flavor. —Under flavor also may be described taste, which should be of that biting, incisive character due to proper development of ripening and its attendant bacterial and enzymic products. The various foreign flavors in cheese may be due to the odor of cows or the stable or may suggest “rotten eggs,” or it may be the flavor of rancid butter due to the decomposition of butter fat in the cheese.
Body. —This is also a term which it is difficult to define. An American cheese is said to have a perfect body when it is solid, firm, and smooth in substance. ”