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Some Kitchen Kinks: Switzerland
This is a skim milk cheese made in Switzerland, which is suitable for grating.
It contains, for every 4 pounds of cheese, 1 pound of a clover (Melilotus cæruleus) grown in Switzerland. It is greenish in color and has an unusual flavor. It is not high priced.
Gorgonzola and Roquefort.
These are highly flavored cheeses characterized by the presence of molds through their entire mass.
Roquefort is made from the milk of sheep; Gorgonzola, from cows' milk.
Potted or Sandwich Cheeses.
Ordinary cheese is often mixed with butter or oil in the proportion of 5 parts of cheese to 1 of butter or oil, by weight. The mixture is sometimes seasoned with mustard or with curry powder. Such cheeses, unseasoned or seasoned, are on the market in great variety. Potted cheese may be easily prepared at home if the APPENDIX housekeeper wishes to take the trouble.
The Care of Cheese in the Home.
One of the best ways of keeping Swiss Cheese (Emmentaler, Gruyère, cheese which has been cut is to wrap Etc.).
This term as used in America is somewhat vague. Different names are given to the varieties according to the districts of Switzerland in which they are made, but they are all similar and characterized by a mild, sweetish flavor and the presence of large holes or "eyes." Foreign and domestic brands are to be found in most markets. They are suitable for cooking purposes, as well as for use without being cooked, and are much used in this way in Europe and well known and liked in the United States.
Edam Cheese.
This is a cheese made in Holland.
It is molded in spherical form, and the outside is usually dyed red. It is usual in this country to cut off a section of the top, which serves as a lid, and to scoop out the inside as needed. In Holland it is frequently served in slices, particularly when it is fresh. Edam cheese is seldom used in cookery in American homes, though thrifty housewives, after the greater part of the cheese has been removed, often stuff the hollow shell with cooked and seasoned macaroni, rice, or something similar and bake.
Brie and Camembert Cheese.
These are very soft rennet cheeses of foreign origin and of somewhat smaller nutritive value than standard cheese, and of strong flavor and odor.
They are not often used in cookery, but are used as an accompaniment to other foods.
Cottage Cheese.
Cottage cheese and other sour milk and cream cheeses, junket, Devonshire cream, and a number of other cheese-like products are described in the section which deals with homemade cheese. it in a slightly damp cloth and then in paper, and to keep it in a cool place. To dampen the cloth, sprinkle it and then wring it. It should seem hardly damp to the touch. Paraffin paper may be used in place of the cloth. When cheese is put in a covered dish, the air should never be wholly excluded, for if this is done, it molds more readily.
In some markets it is possible to buy small whole cheeses. These may be satisfactorily kept by cutting a slice from the top, to serve as a cover, and removing the cheese as needed with a knife, a strong spoon, or a cheese scoop. It is possible to buy at the hardware stores knobs which inserted in the layer cut from the top make it easy to handle. The cheese below the cover should be kept wrapped in a cloth.
Cheese as a Food.
Cheese is used in general in two ways-in small quantities chiefly for its flavor and in large quantities for its nutritive value as well as for its flavor. Some varieties of cheese are used chiefly for the first purpose, others chiefly for the second. Those which are used chiefly for their flavor, many of which are high priced, contribute little to the food value of the diet, because of the small quantity used at a time. They have an important part to play, however, in making the diet attractive and palatable.
The intelligent housekeeper thinks of them not as necessities, but as lying within what has been called "the region of choice." Having first satisfied herself that her family is receiving sufficient nourishment, she then, according to her means and ideas of attractive diet, chooses among these foods and others which are to be considered luxuries. an Those cheeses, on the other hand, which are suitable to be eaten in large quantities and which are compara tively low priced are important not only from the point of view of flavor, but also from the point of view of their nutritive value. Among such cheeses the one which, as noted above, is known to the trade as standard factory cheese and to the housewife as American cheese stands out preeminently. Therefore when the word "cheese" is used without specification in the following pages it may be taken to refer to this particular variety.
The Use of Cheese in the Diet. It has been the purpose, in preparing this discussion of cheese, to consider ways in which mild flavored sorts may serve as staple articles of diet, rather than the use of highly flavored varieties as appetizers and as accompaniments of other foods. The use of highly flavored cheese as a condiment is customary and may profitably be extended, since it offers a simple way of adding to the attractiveness of the diet. The variety of the cheese selected is a matter of choice, some persons preferring such kinds as well-ripen American full cream cheese or the potted cheeses, and others such sorts as Roquefort, Camembert, and other varieties. From the physiologist's standpoint, cheese used in this way for its flavor should really form. a part of a well-balanced meal rather than be added to a meal which already supplies an abundance of nutritive material. In other words, condimental cheeses may better accompany a moderate than a very generous menu. In considering the use of cheese in quantity as an integral part of the diet there are many possibilities from simple combinations like bread and cheese to elaborate dishes in which cheese is used as a flavor and as a principal constituent.
As has been pointed out, cheese, being rich in both protein and fat, would logically replace such foods as meat, fish, and eggs, when taken in quantity, rather than cereal foods characterized by a large amount of starch, or succulent foods, such as vegetables and fruits. In planning menus of which cheese forms a large part the housekeeper should bear these facts in mind.
Bill-of-Fare Making with Cheese as the Central Food. - Since meat has so generally been the chief protein food of a meal, and the kind selected usually has determined the choice of vegetables and condiments, it is not strange that very many housekeepers should be inexperienced and consequently unskillful in planning meals in which cheese is substituted for meat when for any reason they may desire to make such a change. In seeking skill they might take a suggestion from the experiments to which reference has been made, and also from a case investigated and reported by the Office of Experiment Stations, of a man who lived for months upon a diet of bread, fruit, and cheese, and who remained in good health and active, and did not weary of the monotony of the diet.
The first two articles of the diet mentioned, namely, the bread and the cheese, could have been taken in such amounts as to constitute what is usually considered a balanced ration, i. e., in such amounts as to supply the right quantity of muscle forming foods in comparison with the energy value. The bread and cheese taken with the fruit, however, make a ration which is well balanced not only in the older and more widely accepted sense, but also in the more modern sense that it makes an attractive and palatable combination of foods, as well as a balanced ration, and thus favors digestion. The watery and refreshing fruits or succulent vegetables with their large supply of cellulose are a pleasant contrast to the concentrated and fatty cheese.
Housekeepers would probably find that if in planning menus of which a cheese dish is the chief feature they were to take pains to supply also crisp, watery vegetables, water cress, APPENDIX Potatoes, baked. boiled, or fried in deep fat.
Peas, or some other fresh vegetable. or are Coffee. celery, lettuce, served with a dressing or with salt alone, or simple fruit salads, and would give preference to refreshing fruits, either fresh cooked, rather than to what known as heavy desserts, they would in general be more successful in pleasing those who are served.
There is another point also to be considered in combining cheese with other foods. Whether it is raw or cooked it is likely to be somewhat soft, and so seems to call for the harder kinds of bread-crusty rolls or biscuit, zwieback, toast, pulled bread, rye bread, the harder brown breads, or crackers, and some of the numerous crisp ready-to-eat cereal breakfast foods. Brittle cookies, too, seem more suitable than rich soft cakes or puddings for the dessert in such meals.
A few bills of fare are given below which experience has shown to represent combinations of dishes which are palatable and which, if eaten in usual amounts, will supply protein and energy in proportions which accord with usual dietary standards. Menus such as these are more commonly served at lunch or at supper, but they might equally well be served for dinner, the selection of dishes for any meal being of course chiefly a matter of custom and convenience for those who have any range of choice.
Suggested bills of fare in which cheese dishes are the chief source of protein and fat.
MENU NO. 1.
Macaroni and cheese.
Raisin bread or date bread.
Orange and water cress salad.