New England Cheese Puffs

1 cup sifted flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 2 egg yolks, beaten lemon-yellow 1/2 cup milk 1 cup freshly grated Cheddar cheese 2 egg whites, beaten stiff but not dry

Sift dry ingredients together, mix yolks with milk and stir in.

Add cheese and when thoroughly incorporated fold in the egg whites to make a smooth batter. Drop from a big spoon into hot deep fat and cook until well browned.

Caraway seeds are sometimes added. Poppy seeds are also used, and either of these makes a snappier puff, especially tasty when served with soup.

A few drops of tabasco give this an extra tang.

Cream Cheese Puffs

1/2 pound cream cheese 1 cup milk 4 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Soften cheese by heating over hot water. Remove from heat and add milk, eggs and seasoning. Beat until well blended, then pour into custard cups, ramekins or any other individual baking dishes that are attractive enough to serve the puffs in.

RAMEKINS OR RAMEQUINS

Some Ramekin dishes are made so exquisitely that they may be collected like snuff bottles.

Ramekins are utterly French, both the cooked Puffs and the individual dishes in which they are baked. Essentially a Cheese Puff, this is also _au gratin_ when topped with both cheese and browned bread crumbs. By a sort of poetic cook's license the name is also applied to any kind of cake containing cheese and cooked in the identifying one-portion ramekin. It is used chiefly in the plural, however, together with the name of the chief ingredient, such as "Chicken Ramekins" and:

Cheese Ramekins I

2 eggs 2 tablespoons flour 1/8 pound b.u.t.ter, melted 1/8 pound grated cheese

Mix well and bake in individual molds for 15 minutes.

Cheese Ramekins II

3 tablespoons melted b.u.t.ter 1/2 teaspoon each, salt and pepper 3/4 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated cheese 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1-1/2 cups milk

Mix the first four dry ingredients together, stir eggs into the milk and add. Stir to a smooth batter and bake in b.u.t.tered ramekins, standing in water, in moderate oven. Serve piping hot, for like Souffles and all a.s.sociated Puffs, the hot air will puff out of them quickly; then they will sink and be inedible.

TWO ANCIENT ENGLISH RECIPES, STILL GOING STRONG

Cheese Ramekins III

Grate 1/2 pound of any dry, rich cheese. b.u.t.ter a dozen small paper cases, or little boxes of stiff writing paper like Souffle cases. Put a saucepan containing 1/2 pint of water over the fire, add 2 tablespoons of b.u.t.ter, and when the water boils, stir in 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour. Beat the mixture until it shrinks away from the sides of the saucepan; then stir in the grated cheese. Remove the paste thus made from the fire, and let it partly cool. In the meantime separate the yolks from the whites of three eggs, and beat them until the yolks foam and the whites make a stiff froth. Put the mixture at once into the b.u.t.tered paper cases, only half-filling them (since they rise very high while being baked) with small slices of cheese, and bake in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes. As soon as the Puffs are done, put the cases on a hot dish covered with a folded napkin, and serve very hot.

The most popular cheese for Ramekins has always been, and still is, Gruyere. But because the early English also adopted Italian Parmesan, that followed as a close second, and remains there today.

Sharp Cheddar makes tangy Ramekins, as will be seen in this second oldster; for though it prescribes Gloucester and Cheshire "'arf-and-'arf," both are essentially Cheddars. Gloucester has been called "a glorified Cheshire" and the latter has long been known as a peculiarly rich and colorful elder brother of Cheddar, described in Kenelme Digby's _Closet Open'd_ as a "quick, fat, rich, well-tasted cheese."

Cheese Ramekins IV

Sc.r.a.pe fine 1/4 pound of Gloucester cheese and 1/4 pound of Cheshire cheese. Beat this sc.r.a.ped cheese in a mortar with the yolks of 4 eggs, 1/4 pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, and the crumbs of a French roll boiled in cream until soft. When all this is well mixed and pounded to a paste, add the beaten whites of 4 eggs.

Should the paste seem too stiff, 1 or 2 tablespoons of sherry may be added. Put the paste into paper cases, and bake in a Dutch oven till nicely browned. The Ramekins should be served very hot.

Since both Gloucester cheese and Cheshire cheese are not easily come by even in London today, it would be hard to reproduce this in the States. So the best we can suggest is to use half-and-half of two of our own great Cheddars, say half-c.o.o.n and half-Wisconsin Longhorn, or half-Tillamook and half-Herkimer County. For there's no doubt about it, contrasting cheeses tickle the taste buds, and as many as three different kinds put together make Puffs all the more perfect.

Ramequins a la Parisienne

2 cups milk 1 cup cream 1 ounce salt b.u.t.ter 1 tablespoon flour 1/2 cup grated Gruyere Coa.r.s.ely ground pepper An atom of nutmeg A _soupcon_ of garlic A light touch of powdered sugar 8 eggs, separated

Boil milk and cream together. Melt b.u.t.ter, mix in the flour and stir over heat 5 minutes, adding the milk and cream mixture a little at a time. When thoroughly cooked, remove from heat and stir in cheese, seasonings and the yolks of all 8 eggs, well beaten, and the whites of 2 even better beaten. When well mixed, fold in the remaining egg whites, stiffly beaten, until you have a batter as smooth and thick as cream. Pour this into ramekins of paper, porcelain or earthenware, filling each about 2/3 full to allow for them to puff up as they bake in a very slow oven until golden-brown (or a little less than 20 minutes).

Le Ramequin Morezien

This celebrated specialty of Franche-Comte is described as "a porridge of water, b.u.t.ter, seasoning, chopped garlic and toast; thickened with minced Gruyere and served very hot."

Several French provinces are known for distinctive individual Puffs usually served in the dainty fluted forms they are cooked in. In Jeanne d'Arc's Lorraine, for instance, there are the simply named _Les Ramequins_, made of flour, Gruyere and eggs.

Swiss-Roquefort Ramekins

1/4 pound Swiss cheese 1/4 pound Roquefort cheese 1/2 pound b.u.t.ter 8 eggs, separated 4 breakfast rolls, crusts removed 1/2 cup cream

The batter is made in the usual way, with the soft insides of the rolls simmered in the cream and stirred in. The egg whites are folded in last, as always, the batter poured into ramekins part full and baked to a golden-brown. Then they are served instantaneously, lest they fall.

Puff Paste Ramekins

Puff or other pastry is rolled out fiat and sprinkled with fine tasty cheese or any cheese mixture, such as Parmesan with Gruyere and/or Swiss Sapsago for a piquant change, but in lesser quant.i.ty than the other cheeses used. Parmesan cheese has long been the favorite for these.

Fold paste into 3 layers, roll out again and dust with more cheese. Fold once more and roll this out and cut in small fancy shapes to bake 10 to 15 minutes in a hot oven. Brushing with egg yolk before baking makes these Ramekins shine.

Frying Pan Ramekins

Melt 2 ounces of b.u.t.ter, let it cool a little and then mix with 1/2 pound of cheese. Fold in the whites of 3 eggs, beaten stiff but not dry. Cover frying pan with b.u.t.tered papers, put slices of bread on this and cover with the cheese mixture. Cook about 5 minutes, take it off and brown it with a salamander.

There are two schools of salamandering among turophiles. One holds that it toughens the cheese and makes it less digestible; the other that it's simply swell. Some of the latter addicts have special cheese-branding irons made with their monograms, to identify their creations, whether they be burned on the skins of Welsh Rabbits or Frying Pan Ramekins. Salamandering with an iron that has a gay, carnivalesque design can make a sort of harlequin Ramekin.

Ca.s.serole Ramekin

Here is the Americanization of a French original: In a deep ca.s.serole lay alternate slices of white bread and Swiss cheese, with the cheese slices a bit bigger all around. Beat 2 eggs with 2 cups of milk, season with salt and--of all things--nutmeg!

Proceed to bake like individual Ramekins.