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RAMAKINS (served with the Cheese course)
Grate two ounces each of two kinds of cheese of different flavour, such as Parmesan and Gruyere, Cheshire, and Gloucester. Soak the crumb of a small roll in boiling milk for ten minutes, strain it, and put it in a mortar with the grated cheese, two ounces of fresh butter, the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, and a little pepper and salt. Pound these ingredients well together, and when smooth add the well-whisked whites of the eggs. Make some small paper trays, about an inch deep and three inches square, half fill them with the mixture, and bake in a moderately-heated oven. Serve quickly. A spoonful of light wine may be added to the batter if liked. Time to bake, a quarter of an hour.
A small hot cheese savoury from the era when cheese arrived at table cooked as often as raw. It is essentially a stiff cheese souffl e baked in paper cases, and it behaves like one.
- Oven"moderately-heated" corresponds to roughly 350-375F in modern terms. A quarter of an hour at that heat should give a risen, browned top; much cooler and the mixture sets without lift.
- Paper traysSquares of parchment folded up an inch at the sides, or standard foil/paper muffin cases, do the same job. Half-filling is not modesty \\\\ the whisked whites need the room.
- Serve quicklyThis is the hinge. Like a souffle, ramakins begin to sink within a few minutes of leaving the oven. Have the plates and the cheese course ready before they go in.
- The cheesesFour ounces total, two ounces each of two contrasting types. Parmesan and Gruyere is the sharp-plus-melting pairing; Cheshire and Gloucester (the recipe does not specify double) are English cheeses and will give a softer, richer result. Grate finely so it disperses in the paste.
- The roll"The crumb of a small roll" is the soft interior with crust discarded \\ roughly 1 to 1 1/2 oz, or a packed half cup of fresh crumbs. Soak in just enough boiling milk to saturate, then press out the surplus firmly; a wet base makes a heavy ramakin.
- Mortar or processorPounding to smoothness is the point, and a food processor does it in seconds. Fold the whites in by hand afterwards \\ machine mixing at that stage undoes the whisking.
- WineA spoonful of light white wine thins the paste slightly and lifts the cheese. Add it to the paste before the whites go in.
- YieldAbout eight cases three inches square, enough for four at the end of a meal. They cannot be made ahead, though the base paste can be mixed an hour before and the whites whisked in at the last.
"Ramakin" is an older English spelling of the French ramequin, which in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant a small baked cheese preparation rather than the porcelain dish now named for it; the dish appears to have taken its name from the food. Cassell's places this among savouries served with the cheese course, a fixture of the late-Victorian dinner in Britain, where something hot, small and salty came near the close of the meal. Folded paper made a cheap, disposable mould for anything baked in single portions.