Soak crumbs in milk, season and stir in the cheese until melted.

Add the beaten egg yolks and stir until you have a smooth mixture. Let this cool while beating the whites stiff, leaving them slightly moist. Fold the whites into the cool, custardy mix and bake in a b.u.t.tered dish until firm. (About 50 minutes in a moderate oven.)

This is more of a baked cheese job than a true Fondue, to our way of thinking, and the scalded milk doesn't exactly take the place of the wine or kirsch. It is characteristic of our bland cookery.

OTHER FONDUES PLAIN AND FANCY, BAKED AND NOT

Quickie Catsup Tummy Fondiddy

3/4 pound sharp cheese, diced 1 can condensed tomato soup 1/2 cup catsup 1/2 teaspoon mustard 1 egg, lightly beaten

In double boiler melt cheese in soup. Blend thoroughly by constant stirring. Remove from heat, lightly whip or fold in the catsup and mustard mixed with egg. Serve on Melba toast or rusks.

This might be suggested as a novel midnight snack, with a cup of cocoa, for a change.

Cheese and Rice Fondue

1 cup cooked rice 2 cups milk 4 eggs, separated and well beaten 1/2 cup grated cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt Cayenne, Worcestershire sauce or tabasco sauce, or all three

Heat rice (instead of bread crumbs) in milk, stir in cheese until melted, add egg yolks beaten lemon-yellow, season, fold in stiff egg whites. Serve hot on toast.

Corn and Cheese Fondue

1 cup bread crumbs 1 large can creamed corn 1 small onion, chopped 1/2 green pepper, chopped 2 cups cottage cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs, well beaten

Mix all ingredients together and bake in b.u.t.tered ca.s.serole set in pan of hot water. Bake about 1 hour in moderate oven, or until set.

Cheese Fondue

1 cup grated Cheddar 1/2 cup crumbled Roquefort 1 cup pimento cheese 3 tablespoons cream 3 tablespoons b.u.t.ter 1 teaspoon Worcestershire

Stir everything together over hot water until smooth and creamy.

Then whisk until fluffy, moistening with more cream or mayonnaise if too stiff.

Serve on Melba toast, or a.s.sorted thin toasted crackers.

Brick Fondue

1/2 cup b.u.t.ter 2 cups grated Brick cheese 1/2 cup warm milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs

Melt b.u.t.ter and cheese together, use wire whisk to whip in the warm milk. Season. Take from fire and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Please note that Fondue protocol calls for each egg to be beaten separately in cases like this.

Serve over hot toast or crackers.

Cheddar Dunk Bowl

3/4 pound sharp Cheddar cheese 3 tablespoons cream 2/3 teaspoon dry mustard 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire

Grate the cheese powdery fine and mash it together with the cream until fluffy. Season and serve in a beautiful bowl for dunking in the original style of Savarin, although this is a static imitation of the real thing.

All kinds of crackers and colorful dips can be used, from celery stalks and potato chips to thin paddles cut from Bombay duck.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Chapter Seven_

Souffles, Puffs and Ramekins

There isn't much difference between Cheese Souffles, Puffs and Ramekins. The _English Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery_, the oldest, biggest and best of such works in English, lumps Cheese Puffs and Ramekins together, giving the same recipes for both, although it treats each extensively under its own name when not made with cheese.

Cheese was the basis of the original French Ramequin, cheese and bread crumbs or puff paste, baked in a mold, (with puff again the princ.i.p.al factor in Souffle, from the French _souffler_, puff up).

Basic Souffle

3 tablespoons b.u.t.ter or margarine 4 tablespoons flour 1-1/4 cups hot milk, scalded 1 teaspoon salt A dash of cayenne 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese, sharp 2 egg yolks, beaten lemon-yellow 2 egg whites, beaten stiff

Melt b.u.t.ter, stir in flour and milk gradually until thick and smooth. Season and add the cheese, continuing the cooking and slow stirring until velvety. Remove from heat and let cool somewhat; then stir in the egg yolks with a light hand and an upward motion. Fold in the stiff whites and when evenly mixed pour into a big, round baking dish. (Some b.u.t.ter it and some don't.) To make sure the top will be even when baked, run a spoon or knife around the surface, about 1 inch from the edge of the dish, before baking slowly in a moderate oven until puffed high and beautifully browned. Serve instantly for fear the Souffle may fall. The baking takes up to an hour and the egg whites shouldn't be beaten so stiff they are hard to fold in and contain no air to expand and puff up the dish.

To perk up the seasonings, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, nutmeg and even garlic are often used to taste, especially in England.

While Cheddar is the preferred cheese, Parmesan runs it a close second. Then comes Swiss. You may use any two or all three of these together. Sometimes Roquefort is added, as in the Ramekin recipes below.

Parmesan Souffle

Make the same as Basic Souffle, with these small modifications in the ingredients:

1 full cup of grated Parmesan 1 extra egg in place of the 1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese A little more b.u.t.ter Black pepper, not cayenne

Swiss Souffle

Make the same as Basic Souffle, with these slight changes:

1-1/4 cups grated Swiss cheese instead of the Cheddar cheese Nutmeg in place of the cayenne

Parmesan-Swiss Souffle

Make the same as Basic Souffle, with these little differences: