Nut Cheese
1 cup peanut butter 2 cups water 1/2 cup flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Stir the nut butter smooth with the water, adding the water a little at a time. Stir in the flour and salt, put into a tin can that has a tightly fitting cover, and steam from three to five hours. Or it may be cooked by putting the filled can into a kettle which contains boiling water to one half the height of the can, covering the kettle, and cooking the required length of time, adding boiling water as may be necessary.
When cold, this is ready for use. It may be eaten like cheese, or may be broiled, or baked in tomato, or cut into dice and stewed, or stewed with peas, adding a little chopped mint; or it may be made into hash with potato, or used in salads or in making sandwich filling.
This is a steamed peanut loaf of the vegetarian sanitarium tradition -- a firm, sliceable protein block rather than anything resembling dairy cheese. Three ingredients and a long, gentle steam do all the work.
- Do not seal the containerDo not seal the container airtight -- the batter expands as it steams, and a clamped or gasketed lid gives the expansion nowhere to go. The original's "tightly fitting cover" on a tin can was snug, not sealed. Use a heatproof pudding basin, straight-sided glass jar or small loaf tin covered with foil crimped at the rim, tight enough to keep condensation out but not gas-tight.
- The water-bath methodThe second technique described is a bain-marie: the container sits in a covered kettle with boiling water reaching halfway up its side. Keep the water at a bare simmer, not a rolling boil, and top up with boiling water so it never drops below the halfway mark or scorches dry.
- Peanut butter to useThe period product was plain ground peanuts, without sweeteners or added hydrogenated fat. Use natural unsweetened peanut butter, stirred; sweetened, hydrogenated supermarket brands will give a cloying loaf with a soft, greasy set.
- Adding the water graduallyThis is the hinge. Peanut butter seizes and curdles if flooded; work the water in a spoonful at a time until you have a smooth cream, then thin with the rest. A lumpy emulsion steams into a grainy loaf that weeps oil.
- The flourPlain white wheat flour is the binder that makes the loaf sliceable. Whisk it into the thinned nut cream, as the recipe directs, rather than into the thick paste, to avoid lumps.
- Cooking timeThree to five hours is a long steam by modern standards. A shallower container in a steady simmer will set sooner; test with a skewer, which should come out clean, and the loaf should feel firm to a press.
- Cooling and storageIt must cool completely before it will slice -- overnight in the refrigerator is best. Treat it as a fresh cooked food, not a preserve: keep it chilled and use within four or five days.
- YieldAbout 3 1/2 cups of batter, giving a loaf of roughly 1 3/4 lb -- enough for six to eight servings sliced, or several days of sandwich filling.