Chapter XI
.) Another excellent use for sour milk is to make it into cottage cheese. (See below.)
=Matzoon= and other similar preparations are essentially soured milks, prepared under controlled conditions. These preparations are the common form of milk in certain parts of the Orient, where milk is never used sweet.
=Kumyss= is milk slightly soured and fermented with one species of yeast. This is a Russian method. These preparations are excellent for invalids and exhausted people, for they can sometimes be assimilated because of the fine curds when sweet milk cannot.
=Condensed milk= is a practical method of preserving milk. The milk is evaporated under pressure at a high temperature in apparatus constructed for the purpose. Cane sugar or glucose is sometimes added. A new patent process condenses the milk at low temperature, preserving it for a short period, as compared with the condensed milk in tins, but it keeps well for several days, and bears transportation. Condensed milk may be used in cooking, when clean fresh milk is not available. The unsweetened kinds are most useful, but, like pasteurized milk, must be treated with care after the cans are opened.
=Cheese.=——Cheese is made from the curd of milk, and contains the most nutritive parts of the milk in highly concentrated form. In the process of manufacture, the milk is first curdled by rennet, and the whey strained out. The curds after preliminary treatment, varying according to the style of cheese to be made, are finally pressed together very slowly in a cheese press, which is screwed down more tightly as the cheese becomes dryer. The cheeses are then covered with cheesecloth and “ripened” slowly, the ripening process giving characteristic consistency and flavor. This ripening is due to the action of bacteria and molds. (See page 97.) Foreign varieties of cheese, made originally in some one locality, have marked colors, quality, and flavors, as Brie, Camembert, Roquefort, and the Swiss cheeses. Parmesan is an Italian cheese, excellent with macaroni and spaghetti.
_American cheeses_ vary in color, in strength of flavor, in creaminess, and in degree of hardness. Much the greater part is, however, of the general type known as “American cheddar” or “standard factory” cheese.
_Club cheese_ is an American cheese of good quality, put up in small jars. It is a soft cheese, excellent to serve with crackers, but is too expensive for common use.
_Cottage cheese_ is a home product made from sour milk, and used at once.
=Composition and nutritive value.=——Cheese is high in protein, and usually in fat. (See Fig. 40.) Note the small amount of water, which makes cheese a very concentrated food. The protein content makes it a meat substitute, for those with whom cheese does not disagree. Being a dense as well as concentrated form of food, it should be eaten in small quantities, and in combination with other food materials in such a way that it will become finely divided, or it will not be easily digested. The ash content is high, the most valuable of the ash constituents of the milk being retained in the cheese.
=The cost of cheese.=——The foreign cheeses are expensive, but American cheeses may be classed among the moderate priced foods and they compare favorably with other protein foods.
Cheese costs more than beans, and less than most cuts of meat. A good American cheese costs about twenty-five cents per pound. Taking account of composition as well as cost per pound, we find that a given amount of money buys about twice as much food value when spent for cheese as it would if spent for beef. See Fig. 45.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.——100-Calorie portions of cheese.
No. KIND WEIGHT OF PORTION, OUNCES
1. Swiss 0.8 2. Cream 0.9 3. American 0.8 4. Roquefort 1.0 5. Parmesan 1.9 6. Cottage 3.2
_A. Fowler, Photographer._]
=Care of cheese in the pantry.=——Cheese should be kept dry and covered, that its odor may not be noticeable. Soft cheese should be kept in the ice box. The receptacle for cheese should be thoroughly sterilized before each new purchase is put away.
GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES
=1. Uncooked cheese.=——Serve a cream cheese with a salad of lettuce, and the imported cheeses with crackers and fruit for dessert. American cheese may be thinly sliced and used in sandwiches. A small piece of cheese with apple pie or pudding is an old-fashioned combination that is always agreeable, but sometimes difficult of digestion.
=2. Cottage cheese.=
Use sour milk that has set. Other ingredients: salt to taste, cayenne pepper or paprika, if liked. Quality and flavor are improved by the addition of a tablespoonful of butter or two tablespoonfuls of cream to a pint of the curd, but these are not necessary.
Warm the milk slowly, until the whey begins to separate from the curd. If this process is continued too long, and the milk becomes hot, the curd will be tough. Place a piece of cheesecloth over a bowl, pour in the curds and whey, and lift the cloth carefully, allowing the whey to run through. Squeeze out the remaining whey. Add the seasoning and other ingredients to the curd, shape in balls, and chill before serving. It is delicious served with lettuce and dressing as a salad, or with gingerbread for dessert at luncheon or supper.
=Principles of cooking cheese.=——The fat in the cheese is melted by heat. The protein is toughened by a high temperature, therefore a low temperature process should be used.
=3. Cheese cooked with other food materials.=——A creamy cheese should be selected for cooking. Cheese may be grated and sprinkled on the top of potato on the half shell, or any other mashed potato; or it may be sliced and placed with each layer in escalloped potato. Its use is common with macaroni; and a dish of macaroni with milk and cheese is a good meat substitute, and may be used as the main dish of a luncheon or simple dinner. Those to whom cheese is agreeable will find many places for its use. Its flavor harmonizes with celery and with tomato. The Italians serve grated Parmesan cheese with soup, and with spaghetti that has a tomato sauce.
=4. Cheese crackers.=——Select crackers of a firm quality that will not crumble or flake easily, and of a small size. Spread very thinly with soft butter, put the crackers in a pan, and sprinkle grated cheese upon each one. Set the pan in a moderate oven until the cheese is melted. A sprinkling of paprika may be used. Serve with lettuce, celery, or other green salad.
EXERCISES
1. Compare the composition of eggs, milk, and cheese.
2. How may an egg which has been kept too long in cold storage be detected?
3. What is the effect of the boiling temperature of water upon an egg?
4. Compare a hard- and a soft-cooked egg for digestibility.
5. What are the dangers from unclean milk?
6. How may the milk supply be safeguarded?
7. Why is cheese a meat substitute?
8. What caution should we exercise in using it?
9. What precaution must we take in cooking cheese?
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