To maintain traditional Christmas cheer for the elders, serve apple pie with cheese and applejack.

Angelic Camembert

1 ripe Camembert, imported 1 cup Anjou dry white wine 1/2 pound sweet b.u.t.ter, softened 2 tablespoons finely grated toast crumbs

Lightly sc.r.a.pe all crusty skin from the Camembert and when its creamy interior stands revealed put it in a small, round covered dish, pour in the wine, cover tightly so no bouquet or aroma can possibly escape, and let stand overnight.

When ready to serve drain off and discard any wine left, dry the cheese and mash with the sweet b.u.t.ter into an angelic paste.

Reshape in original Camembert form, dust thickly with the crumbs and there you are.

Such a delicate dessert is a favorite with the ladies, since some of them find a prime Camembert a bit too strong if taken straight.

Although A. W. Fulton's observation in _For Men Only_ is going out of date, it is none the less amusing:

In the course of a somewhat varied career I have only met one woman who appreciated cheese. This quality in her seemed to me so deserving of reward that I did not hesitate to acquire her hand in marriage.

Another writer has said that "only gourmets among women seem to like cheese, except farm women and foreigners." The a.s.sociation between gourmets and farm women is borne out by the following urgent plea from early Italian landowners:

_Ai contadini non far sapere Quanta e buono it cacio con le pere_.

Don't let the peasants know How good are cheese and pears.

Having found out for ourselves, we suggest a golden slice of Taleggio, Stracchino, or pale gold Bel Paese to polish off a good dinner, with a juicy Lombardy pear or its American equivalent, a Bartlett, let us say.

This celestial a.s.sociation of cheese and pears is further accented by the French:

_Entre la poire et le fromage_ Between the pear and the cheese.

This places the cheese after the fruit, as the last course, in accordance with early English usage set down by John Clarke in his _Paroemiologia_:

After cheese comes nothing.

But in his _Epigrams_ Ben Jonson serves them together.

Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be.

That brings us back to cheese and pippins:

I will make an end of my dinner; there's pippins and cheese to come.

Shakespeare's _Merry Wives of Windsor_

When should the cheese be served? In England it is served before or after the fruit, with or without the port.

Following _The Book of Keruynge_ in modern spelling we note when it was published in 1431 the proper thing "after meat" was "pears, nuts, strawberries, whortleberries (American huckleberries) and hard cheese." In modern practice we serve some suitable cheese like Camembert directly on slices of apple and pears, Gorgonzola on sliced banana, Hable spread on pineapple and a cheese dessert tray to match the Lazy Lou, with everything crunchy down to Crackerjacks. Good, too, are figs, both fresh and preserved, stuffed with cream cheese, k.u.mquats, avocados, fruity dunking mixtures of Pineapple cheese, served in the scooped-out casque of the cheese itself, and apple or pear and Provolone creamed and put back in the rind it came in. Pots of liquored and wined cheeses, no end, those of your own making being the best.

Champagned Roquefort or Gorgonzola

1/2 pound mellow Roquefort 1/4 pound sweet b.u.t.ter, softened A dash cayenne 3/4 cup champagne

With a silver fork mix cheese and b.u.t.ter to a smooth paste, moistening with champagne as you go along, using a little more or less champagne according to consistency desired. Serve with the demita.s.se and cognac, offering, besides crackers, gilt gingerbread in the style of Holland Dutch cheese tasters, or just plain bread.

After dinner cheeses suggested by Phil Alpert are:

FROM FRANCE: Port-Salut, Roblochon, Coulommiers, Camembert, Brie, Roquefort, Calvados (try it with a spot of Calvados, apple brandy)

FROM THE U.S.: Liederkranz, Blue, Cheddar

FROM SWEDEN: Hable Creme Chantilly

FROM ITALY: Taleggio, Gorgonzola, Provolone, Bel Paese

FROM HUNGARY: Kascaval

FROM SWITZERLAND: Swiss Gruyere

FROM GERMANY: k.u.mmelkase

FROM NORWAY: Gjetost, Bondost

FROM HOLLAND: Edam, Gouda

FROM ENGLAND: Stilton

FROM POLAND: Warshawski Syr

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Chapter Nine_

Au Gratin, Soups, Salads and Sauces

He who says _au gratin_ says Parmesan. Thomas Gray, the English poet, saluted it two centuries ago with:

Parma, the happy country where huge cheeses grow.

On September 4, 1666, Pepys recorded the burying of his pet Parmesan, "as well as my wine and some other things," in a pit in Sir W.

Batten's garden. And on the selfsame fourth of September, more than a century later, in 1784, Woodforde in his _Diary of a Country Parson_ wrote:

I sent Mr. Custance about 3 doz. more of apricots, and he sent me back another large piece of fine Parmesan cheese. It was very kind of him.

The second most popular cheese for _au gratin_ is Italian Romano, and, for an entirely different flavor, Swiss Sapsago. The French, who gave us this cookery term, use it in its original meaning for any dish with a browned topping, usually of bread crumbs, or crumbs and cheese. In America we think of _au gratin_ as grated cheese only, although Webster says, "with a browned covering, often mixed with b.u.t.ter or cheese; as, potatoes _au gratin_." So let us begin with that.