Cheese Balls
Mix together thoroughly one cup and a half of grated cheese, one tablespoonful of flour, onefourth a teaspoonful of salt and a few grains of cayenne; then add the whites of three eggs, beaten stiff. Shape in small balls and roll in cracker crumbs, sifted or crushed to a fine meal; fry in deep fat and drain on soft paper.
Individual Soufflés of Cheese, Iced. (See cut facing page 106.) Mix half a cup of grated Parmesan and onefourth a cup of grated Gruyère cheese and onefourth a teaspoonful of paprica with two-thirds a cup of chicken aspic, cold, but not set. Stir over ice water until just beginning to form, then fold into it one cup of whipped cream. Fasten strips of white paper around paper soufflé cases, letting the strips rise an inch and a half above the cases, fixing in place with sealing-wax, mucilage, or a stitch. Fill the cases and the papers surrounding them with the cheese mixture, and set them in a pail or mould that is thoroughly chilled. Press the cover down over a paper, and pack in equal parts of ice and salt. Let stand an hour. Before serving, remove the paper, sprinkle the tops with buttered crumbs, browned, and serve at once.
Two separate items run together on the page: a fried cheese ball meant as a salad garnish, and an iced savoury soufflé built in paper cases and frozen in an ice-and-salt pail. Both are workable, though the second needs rethinking of the hardware.
- Which cheeseThe recipe says only "grated cheese"; a dry, sharp grating cheese is the likely intent. A young, high-moisture cheese will leach fat and collapse the balls in the fat. Grate on the fine side.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature; for a coated ball of this kind aim for roughly 375F. Below that the crumb coat soaks; above it the crumbs brown before the interior sets. Fry in small batches so the temperature holds.
- Size and yieldBalls the size of a large marble, roughly a rounded teaspoon each. The recipe gives no yield and no serving suggestion.
- Handling the mixtureFold the stiff whites in rather than stirring them through — the aeration is what keeps the balls light. Chill the shaped balls briefly before crumbing if the mixture is slack.
- Chicken aspicA savoury jellied stock, either reduced until it sets on its own or lightly gelatined. Two-thirds of a cup, cold but liquid, is the base; if it sets before you fold in the cream, warm it just to fluid again and re-chill over ice water.
- Paper collarsSealing wax and mucilage are period fastenings for the paper collar. Use tape or a paper clip. The collar exists so the mixture can be filled above the rim and stand proud once the paper is peeled away.
- Freezing without a pailEqual parts crushed ice and rock salt in a covered pail for an hour is the old freezing bath. A domestic freezer does the same work; an hour will firm the mixture but it will not freeze hard, which is the intended texture.
- The crumb toppingBrown the buttered crumbs separately and scatter them at the moment of serving. Added earlier they draw moisture from the surface and go soft.
This page appears to come from a book written for the chafing-dish and luncheon era, apparently of the early 1900s, when the fashionable American hostess wanted small, individually portioned savouries that could be assembled ahead. The fried cheese ball looks like a descendant of the cheese fritter, made in miniature to perch beside a salad; the iced soufflé because savoury cheese mixture set with aspic, lightened with whipped cream and frozen in an ice-and-salt pail was a display of exactly the kind of labour and ice supply a well-run household could command. Paper soufflé cases with hand-fastened collars, ice bought or cut and packed with rock salt, and Parmesan and Gruyère as imported luxuries all point to a specific readership. The dish tells you more about the equipment and staff behind the door than about any older tradition.