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Cheese Straws
Mix 2 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, 2 ounces of fresh butter, 2 ounces of flour, an ounce of Cheddar cheese, and the yolk of an egg into a stiff paste. Flavor the mixture with cayenne, salt, and a very little pounded mace. Roll this out rather thinly, cut it into fingers about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, bake them for a few minutes in a quick oven, and serve cold. They should be piled on a dish in transverse rows.
A compact, sturdy cheese pastry that behaves like a rich shortcrust: keep it cold, roll it thin, and pull it from the oven the moment the edges colour.
- Weights, not cupsTwo ounces each of Parmesan, butter and flour is roughly 1/2 to 2/3 cup grated cheese (depending on how finely it is grated), 4 tablespoons butter and a scant 1/2 cup flour. The one ounce of Cheddar is roughly 1/4 cup grated. Weighing gives a better result than volume here, since the paste has no liquid beyond the yolk.
- A quick ovenIn period conversion tables usually about 375-400F. At that heat the straws set before the butter can leak out; a cooler oven lets them spread and turn greasy.
- "A few minutes" means 6 to 10Thin strips of high-fat cheese pastry brown fast. Start checking at 6 minutes and take them out when the edges are pale gold -- Parmesan turns bitter once it scorches.
- Chill before rollingWork the paste together quickly, then rest it in the refrigerator 20-30 minutes. Warm dough tears when cut into half-inch fingers and the straws lose their shape on the sheet.
- Pounded maceGround mace from a jar is the same spice; use a pinch, no more, as the recipe stresses. Nutmeg is a passable substitute, though sweeter.
- Cheese choiceUse real aged Parmesan grated fine, and a sharp Cheddar for the ounce. Pre-shredded cheese carries anti-caking starch that makes the paste crumbly.
- Yield and keepingYield depends on how thinly the paste is rolled; expect two dozen or more straws. The recipe has them served cold, and they will keep some days in a tin.
- Transverse rows"Transverse rows" most likely means stacking the straws in alternating layers, one running one way and the next crosswise, built up on a flat dish.