All cheese, except the foreign
skim-milk makes, contains more or less coloring matter, principally
annatto, turmeric, or marigold, all perfectly harmless unless they are
adulterated.
In families where much cheese is consumed, and it is bought in
large quantities, a piece from the whole cheese should be cut, the
larger quantity spread with a thickly buttered sheet of white paper,
and the outside occasionally wiped. To keep cheese moist a damp
cloth should be wrapped round it (wet with white wine or alcohol is
better), and the cheese put into a pan or crock kept covered in a
cool but not very dry place. To ripen cheeses, and bring them for-
ward, put them into a damp cellar, and to check the production of
mites spirits may be poured into the parts affected. Pieces of cheese
which are too near the rind, or too dry to put on table, may be
made into Welsh rare-bits, or grated down and mixed with maca-
roni. Cheeses may be preserved in a perfect state for years, by
covering them with parchment made pliable by soaking in water, or
by rubbing them over with a coating of melted fat. The cheeses se-
lected should be free from cracks or bruises of any kind. The usual
mode of serving cheese is to cut a small quantity
of it into neat square pieces, and to put them into a
glass cheese-dish, this dish being handed round.
Should the cheese crumble much, of course this Dianot cbw^
method is rather wasteful and it may then be put on the table in the
128 CHEESE.
piece, and the host may cut from it. When served thus, the cheese
must always be carefully scraped, and laid on a white doyley oi
napkin, neatly folded. CJream-cheese is often served in a cheese
course, and, sometimes, grated Parmesan ; the latter should be put
into a colored glass dish. Rusks, cheese-biscuits, and salad, or
water-cress, should always form part of a cheese course, which is
sers'ed just before the dessert. It is English to serve celery or cucum-
bers with it. Thin milk crackers or wafer biscuits (put into the
oven just a moment before serving, to make them crisp) should be
served with cheese ; butter also for spreading the crackers, this being
the only time that it is usually allowed for dinner. Macaroni with
cheese, Welsh rare-bits, cheese omelets, or little cheese cakes, are
good substitutes for a cheese-course. In serving a Stilton cheese,
the top of it should be cut off to form a lid, and a napkin or piece
of white paper with a frill at the top, pinned round. When the
cheese goes from table, the lid should be replaced. Those made in
May or June are usually served at Christmas ; or, to be in prime
order, should be kept from ten to twelve months, or even longer.
An artificial ripeness in Stilton cheese is sometimes produced by
inserting a small piece of decayed Cheshire into an aperture at the
top. From three weeks to a month is sulBScient
time to ripen the cheese. An additional flavor
may also be obtained by scooping out a piece
from the top, and pouring therein port, sherry,
'aderia, or old ale, and letting the cheese ab-
sorb these for tw^o or three weeks. But that
stiiioii oiMeie. cheese is the finest which is ripened without any
Page 104
Presented as published in 1890. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
All cheese, except the foreign skim-milk makes, contains more or less coloring matter, principally annatto, turmeric, or marigold, all perfectly harmless unless they are adulterated.
In families where much cheese is consumed, and it is bought in large quantities, a piece from the whole cheese should be cut, the larger quantity spread with a thickly buttered sheet of white paper, and the outside occasionally wiped. To keep cheese moist a damp cloth should be wrapped round it (wet with white wine or alcohol is better), and the cheese put into a pan or crock kept covered in a cool but not very dry place. To ripen cheeses, and bring them forward, put them into a damp cellar, and to check the production of mites spirits may be poured into the parts affected. Pieces of cheese which are too near the rind, or too dry to put on table, may be made into Welsh rare-bits, or grated down and mixed with macaroni. Cheeses may be preserved in a perfect state for years, by covering them with parchment made pliable by soaking in water, or by rubbing them over with a coating of melted fat. The cheeses selected should be free from cracks or bruises of any kind. The usual mode of serving cheese is to cut a small quantity of it into neat square pieces, and to put them into a glass cheese-dish, this dish being handed round. Should the cheese crumble much, of course this Dianot cbw^ method is rather wasteful and it may then be put on the table in the piece, and the host may cut from it. When served thus, the cheese must always be carefully scraped, and laid on a white doyley or napkin, neatly folded. CJream-cheese is often served in a cheese course, and, sometimes, grated Parmesan ; the latter should be put into a colored glass dish. Rusks, cheese-biscuits, and salad, or water-cress, should always form part of a cheese course, which is served just before the dessert. It is English to serve celery or cucumbers with it. Thin milk crackers or wafer biscuits (put into the oven just a moment before serving, to make them crisp) should be served with cheese ; butter also for spreading the crackers, this being the only time that it is usually allowed for dinner. Macaroni with cheese, Welsh rare-bits, cheese omelets, or little cheese cakes, are good substitutes for a cheese-course. In serving a Stilton cheese, the top of it should be cut off to form a lid, and a napkin or piece of white paper with a frill at the top, pinned round. When the cheese goes from table, the lid should be replaced. Those made in May or June are usually served at Christmas ; or, to be in prime order, should be kept from ten to twelve months, or even longer. An artificial ripeness in Stilton cheese is sometimes produced by inserting a small piece of decayed Cheshire into an aperture at the
top. From three weeks to a month is sufficient time to ripen the cheese. An additional flavor may also be obtained by scooping out a piece from the top, and pouring therein port, sherry, Madeira, or old ale, and letting the cheese absorb these for two or three weeks. But that Stilton cheese is the finest which is ripened without any