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Cheese Balls
— Miss Helen L. Dunn
One-half cup of grated cheese, one tablespoon of flour, onefourth teaspoon of salt, a dash of cayenne pepper, the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth; mix well and stand in cool place; then mould, roll in fine bread crumbs, fry in deep fat and drain on brown paper.
— Miss Matilda Jackson
A simple cheese fritter of the kind that went out as a savoury or a garnish for soup. The whole thing hinges on the egg whites, which must stay stiff through the moulding.
- The hinge: fold, do not stirThe hinge: fold rather than stir -- the recipe says only "mix well," but the cheese, flour and seasoning are best folded into the whipped whites just until combined. Beating them together collapses the foam and the balls fry heavy and greasy instead of puffing.
- The cheese"Grated cheese" in a community compilation of this sort most likely meant a dry aged Cheddar or American "store cheese," though the recipe does not specify. Use a firm, well-dried Cheddar or Parmesan; fresh mozzarella or anything moist will weep and split the balls in the fat.
- Chilling matters"Stand in cool place" is the step people skip. Twenty to thirty minutes in the refrigerator firms the mixture enough to shape; warm, it will not hold a ball at all.
- Size and shapingRoughly walnut-sized, shaped with two spoons or lightly floured hands. Larger balls brown outside before the centre sets.
- Fat temperatureDeep fat for a delicate egg-white batter wants about 365F. Old books tested by browning a bread cube in forty seconds, which lands in the same range. Too cool and the crumb coating soaks; too hot and it colours before the inside cooks.
- Frying timeOne to two minutes, turning once, until an even light brown, by which point the interior should have set.
- DrainingBrown paper meant grocer's bag paper. Use paper towels or a wire rack; modern printed paper is not for food contact.
- YieldAbout 16 to 20 small balls, enough for four as a savoury or as a garnish floated on clear soup. Serve at once — they deflate as they cool.
Cheese balls of this sort belong to the late-Victorian and Edwardian savoury course, the small hot salty dish that closed an English-style dinner before or in place of sweets, and they were also dropped into consomme in place of croutons. The technique -- cheese and seasoning bound in stiff egg white, crumbed and deep fried -- is a close relation of a cheese souffle mixture made portable, and recipes of the kind turn up in American community cookbooks of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.