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Jellied Cheese Salad
1 tablespoon gelatine 1/4 cup cold water 1/2 cup boiling water 1 cup grated cheese 1 cup cream, whipped seasonings to taste Soften gelatine in the cold water and dissolve in the boiling water, and set aside to chill. Cream the cheese with a little of the cream, and season, as desired. Worcestershire sauce, onion juice, prepared mustard or any other highly seasoned food, such as anchovies, may be added. When gelatine begins to thicken mix the cheese in well, then fold in stiffly beaten cream. Pour in sheet mold and cut in squares to serve, when thoroughly chilled. Individual molds are also attractive.
A gelatine-set cheese mousse, cut in squares and served on lettuce as a salad course. It goes together in ten minutes, but the timing of one step decides whether it sets smooth or grainy.
- The hinge: catch the gelatine at syrup stageThe cheese must go in when the gelatine has thickened to the consistency of raw egg white, not before and not after. Add it while the gelatine is still hot and thin and the mixture separates as it chills; wait until it has set and you get lumps that no amount of beating will smooth out.
- Gelatine measureOne tablespoon of granulated gelatine is roughly one standard envelope, 1/4 oz or about 7 g. As a rule of thumb that sets about two cups of liquid; here the liquid is less than that, so the set will be firm enough to cut in squares.
- "Grated cheese"In a book of this period this most likely means a firm American or store cheddar grated on a box grater rather than the dry Parmesan-type powder sold today, though the recipe does not specify. About 4 oz of a mild to medium cheddar, grated fine, fills a cup and creams more smoothly.
- Creaming the cheeseGrated cheddar will not cream easily with a spoon and a spoonful of cold cream. Work it in a food processor, or let the cheese come fully to room temperature first, or substitute a few ounces of cream cheese for part of the quantity to get a workable paste.
- Cream and foldingOne cup of cream means cream that will whip; the recipe asks for it "stiffly beaten." Fold it in with a spatula in two additions; overworking it here loses the volume that makes the finished squares light rather than rubbery.
- Seasoning is not optionalCheese, cream and gelatine on their own taste flat. Season assertively, and season the cheese paste before folding in the cream, since cold blunts flavour and you cannot correct it once set. The recipe itself suggests Worcestershire, onion juice, prepared mustard or anchovy; salt, and a little cayenne or paprika, also work.
- Sheet mold and chillingA "sheet mold" is any shallow straight-sided pan, an 8-inch square or a small loaf pan. Line it with plastic wrap for clean release. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight, before cutting; a partially set mixture will slump at the cut edges.
- YieldNine to twelve squares, or six to eight individual molds; the whipped cream makes the finished mixture bulkier than the ingredient measures suggest. The recipe gives no serving direction beyond cutting in squares.
Jellied salads of this kind belong to the decades when reliable domestic refrigeration -- first the ice-box, later the mechanical refrigerator -- made a chilled molded dish something an ordinary cook could count on rather than a project requiring an icehouse. Molded gelatine appears constantly in the cookery literature of the period: it looks impressive and it can be made hours ahead. The seasonings suggested here, Worcestershire, onion juice, prepared mustard and anchovy, are the same ones then used for cheese straws and potted cheese, which is essentially what this is with gelatine and whipped cream folded through it.