Cheese Balls

A simple deep-fried cheese puff of the sort that filled the "savoury" or salad-accompaniment slot on a 1920s-30s luncheon menu. The recipe assumes you know your fat temperature and your cheese, so those are worth pinning down.

• Fat temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature, only "deep fat." By modern practice this sort of coated, quick-frying morsel is usually done at around 365-375F: cooler and the balls absorb grease and slump; hotter and the crumb coating browns before the egg-and-cheese centre sets. Frying a few at a time keeps the oil from dropping.
• Which cheese"Grated cheese" in books of this period usually pointed to a firm, dry cheese -- often a sharp Cheddar, sometimes a dry grating cheese such as Parmesan. Pre-shredded cheese carries anti-caking starch and modern moist Cheddar can weep, so grating your own from a well-aged block is the safer choice.
• Folding, not stirringThe beaten whites are the only leavening. Fold the cheese and seasonings in with a spatula in as few strokes as will combine them, or the balls will fry dense rather than puffed.
• The fifteen-minute restThe recipe does not say what the standing time is for; the likeliest purpose is to let the mixture firm and settle enough to be shaped and rolled in crumbs.
• Bread crumbsThe recipe says only "bread crumbs." Fine dry crumbs, of the sort made from stale white bread, were the usual default and give the even golden shell the recipe asks for; fresh soft crumbs colour less evenly.
• Shaping"Size of a walnut" is about 1 inch across, roughly a rounded teaspoon of mixture. Two lightly wetted spoons handle the sticky mixture better than hands.
• Yield and servingExpect 18 to 24 balls, enough for six as a garnish alongside a green or fruit salad. They deflate as they cool, so fry them at the last moment and drain briefly on paper.