Cheese Balls
1 cup grated cheese 3 egg whites 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Beat the whites until stiff; fold the grated cheese into whites; add seasonings and let stand for fifteen minutes. Make into balls the size of a walnut, fry in deep fat until golden brown.
A three-ingredient fritter that lives or dies on the frying. The mixture is loose by design, so temperature control matters more than technique.
- Fat temperatureDeep fat "until golden brown" gives no number; frying of this kind is usually done fairly hot, around 375F. Too cool and the whites soak fat and collapse; too hot and the outside colors before the center sets. Fry in small batches so the temperature does not crash.
- The grated cheeseRecipes of this kind generally call for a dry, hard grating cheese — Parmesan, aged American, or a firm dry Cheddar. A soft or high-moisture cheese will weep and burst the balls in the fat. Grate fine.
- FoldingFold the cheese in with a spatula in as few strokes as possible. This is the hinge of the recipe: the beaten whites are the only structure, and stirring them down leaves a batter that flattens in the fat.
- The fifteen-minute restThe recipe does not say why it stands; the effect is to let the mixture settle enough to shape. Do not extend it much beyond that — egg white foam weeps as it sits, and a wet mixture will not hold a ball.
- Shaping"The size of a walnut" is roughly a rounded tablespoon, about an inch across. Two spoons work better than hands, which warm the cheese.
- Yield and servingThe recipe states no yield; expect enough small balls for a light entree course, more if used as a garnish. Drain on paper and serve at once; they deflate quickly.
- Binding, if neededRelated recipes of the era add a spoonful of flour or fine dry crumbs to steady the mixture. This version omits it, which gives a lighter ball and a less forgiving one.
The Gold Medal Flour Cook Book was published by the Washburn-Crosby Company, the Minneapolis miller that later became General Mills, and it mixed promotional baking formulas with a full complement of general household recipes — hence a cheese fritter with no flour in it at all. Fried cheese balls belonged to the "entree" course in the American service of the period: a small, hot, made dish served between the fish and the roast, or used to garnish a soup or a salad. Similar cheese-and-egg fritters appear in French cookery under names such as beignets au fromage. Their appeal in a household without refrigeration is easy to see — the recipe uses up whites left from a custard or a cake, and a hard grating cheese kept well on the shelf.