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Cheese and Peanut Loaf
Cut stale bread in small pieces, toast them till browned. Moisten them with little milk, season with salt and pepper. Put a 1/2-inch layer of the bread in a greased baking pan, add a layer of grated cheese, and dot thickly with peanut butter. Add alternate layers of bread, cheese and peanut butter until all are used. Top layer should be of the bread. Dot with butter, bake in moderate oven 30 minutes. This may be cut in slices when cold, if baked in bread pan.
A layered bread, cheese and peanut butter bake from a chapter of dishes meant for people recovering from illness — soft, high in protein, no meat. It works as written, but the original leaves the liquid and the quantities entirely to the cook.
- Moderate ovenThe recipe gives no figure; in cookbooks of this period a moderate oven is usually reckoned at about 350-375F. Thirty minutes is enough to melt the cheese through and set the layers; the top browns from the dotted butter rather than from high heat.
- The unmeasured milk"Moisten with little milk" is the hinge. Toast should be damp, not soaked — sprinkle or brush it so the cubes soften but hold their shape. Too much milk and the loaf collapses into pudding; too little and it bakes dry and crumbly, since there is no egg or sauce to bind it.
- Peanut butter of the periodMuch commercial peanut butter of the period was unsweetened and unstabilized, closer to today's natural grind, though hydrogenated and sweetened brands were on the market from the late 1920s onward. Modern sweetened brands push the dish toward dessert; a plain natural peanut butter is nearer the intended flavour. Warm it slightly so it dots rather than tears the bread.
- The cheeseGrated cheese here most likely means a firm yellow cheese — Cheddar or American. A sharp Cheddar carries the peanut butter better than a mild one, and about 6 to 8 oz suits a standard loaf pan.
- Baking pan versus bread panThe recipe offers two forms. A shallow baking dish gives a gratin to be served hot with a spoon; a loaf pan gives the sliceable cold loaf mentioned at the end. For slicing, let it cool completely in the pan, ideally several hours, or the layers separate.
- Quantities and yieldNothing is specified. Roughly 8 to 10 slices of stale bread, 6 to 8 oz cheese and 1/2 cup peanut butter fill a 9x5-inch loaf pan and serve four.
- SaltCheese, butter and most modern peanut butter are all salted already. Season the moistened bread lightly and taste before committing.