2. _Vacherin à la Main:_ This is a curiosity in cheeses,

resembling a cold, uncooked Fondue. Made of cow's milk, it is round, a foot in diameter and half a foot high. It is salted and aged until the rind is hard and the inside more runny than the ripest Camembert, so it can be eaten with a spoon (like the cooked Fondue) as well as spread on bread. The local name for it is _Tome de Montagne_. Here is a good assortment of Fondues: Vacherin-Fribourg Fondue 2 tablespoons butter 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 cups shredded Vacherin cheese 2 tablespoons hot water This authentic quickie is started by cooking the garlic in butter until the butter is melted. Then remove garlic and reduce heat. Add the soft cheese and stir with silver fork until smooth and velvety. Add the water in little splashes, stirring constantly in one direction. Dunk! (In this melted Swiss a little water takes the place of a lot of wine.) La Fondue Comtois This regional specialty of Franche-Comté is made with white wine. Sauterne, Chablis, Riesling or any Rhenish type will serve splendidly. Also use butter, grated Gruyère, beaten eggs and that touch of garlic. Chives Fondue 3 cups grated Swiss cheese 3 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons butter 1 garlic clove, crushed 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives 1 cup dry white wine Salt Freshly ground pepper A pinch of nutmeg 1/4 cup kirsch Mix cheese and flour. Melt butter in chafing-dish blazer rubbed with garlic. Cook chives in butter 1 minute. Add wine and heat just under boiling. Keep simmering as you add cheese-and-flour mix gradually, stirring always in one direction. Salt according to age and sharpness of cheese; add plenty of freshly ground pepper and the pinch of nutmeg. When everything is stirred smooth and bubbling, toss in the kirsch without missing a stroke of the fork and get to dunking. Large, crisp, hot potato chips make a pleasant change for dunking purposes. Or try assorted crackers alternating with the absorbent bread, or hard rolls. Tomato Fondue 2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped 1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil 1 clove garlic 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese Paprika Mix basil with chopped tomatoes. Rub chafing dish with garlic, melt butter, add tomatoes and much paprika. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, add wine, stir steadily to boiling point. Then add cheese, half a cup at a time, and keep stirring until everything is smooth. Serve on hot toast, like Welsh Rabbit. Here the two most popular melted-cheese dishes tangle, but they're held together with the common ingredient, tomato. Fondue also appears as a sauce to pour over baked tomatoes. Stale bread crumbs are soaked in tomato juice to make: Tomato Baked Fondue 1 cup tomato juice 1 cup stale bread crumbs 1 cup grated sharp American cheese 1 tablespoon melted butter Salt 4 eggs, separated and well beaten Soak crumbs in tomato juice, stir cheese in butter until melted, season with a little or no salt, depending on saltiness of the cheese. Mix in the beaten yolks, fold in the white and bake about 50 minutes in moderate oven. BAKED FONDUES Although Savarin's dunking Fondue was first to make a sensation on these shores and is still in highest esteem among epicures, the Fondue America took to its bosom was baked. The original recipe came from the super-caseous province of Savoy under the explicit title, _La Fondue au Fromage_. La Fondue au Fromage Make the usual creamy mixture of butter, flour, milk, yolks of eggs and Gruyère, in thin slices for a change. Use red pepper instead of black, splash in a jigger of kirsch but no white wine. Finally fold in the egg whites and bake in a mold for 45 minutes. We adapted this to our national taste which had already based the whole business of melted cheese on the Welsh Rabbit with stale ale or milk instead of white wine and Worcestershire, mustard and hot peppers. Today we have come up with this: 100% American Fondue 2 cups scalded milk 2 cups stale bread crumbs 1/2 teaspoon dry English mustard Salt Dash of nutmeg Dash of pepper 2 cups American cheese (Cheddar) 2 egg yolks, well beaten 2 egg whites, beaten stiff 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 buttered 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 buttered casserole 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 butter 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 assorted thin toasted crackers. Brick Fondue 1/2 cup butter 2 cups grated Brick cheese 1/2 cup warm milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs Melt butter 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. [Illustration] _Chapter Seven_ Soufflés, Puffs and Ramekins There isn't much difference between Cheese Soufflés, 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 principal factor in Soufflé, from the French _souffler_, puff up). Basic Soufflé 3 tablespoons butter 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 butter, 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 butter 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 Soufflé 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 Soufflé Make the same as Basic Soufflé, 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 butter Black pepper, not cayenne Swiss Soufflé Make the same as Basic Soufflé, with these slight changes: 1-1/4 cups grated Swiss cheese instead of the Cheddar cheese Nutmeg in place of the cayenne Parmesan-Swiss Soufflé Make the same as Basic Soufflé, with these little differences: 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese, and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan in place of the Cheddar cheese 1/4 teaspoon each of sugar and black pepper for seasoning. Any of these makes a light, lovely luncheon or a proper climax to a grand dinner. Cheese-Corn Soufflé Make as Basic Soufflé, substituting for the scalded milk 1 cup of sieved and strained juice from cream-style canned corn. Cheese-Spinach Soufflé Sauté 1-1/2 cups of finely chopped, drained spinach in butter with 1 teaspoon finely grated onion, and then whip it until light and fluffy. Mix well into the white sauce of the Basic Soufflé before adding the cheese and following the rest of the recipe. Cheese-Tomato Soufflé Substitute hot tomato juice for the scalded milk. Cheese-Sea-food Soufflé Add 1-1/2 cups finely chopped or ground lobster, crab, shrimp, other sea food or mixture thereof, with any preferred seasoning added. Cheese-Mushroom Soufflé 1-1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar 1 cup cream of mushroom soup Paprika, to taste Salt 2 egg yolks, well beaten 2 egg whites, beaten stiff 2 tablespoons chopped, cooked bacon 2 tablespoons sliced, blanched almonds Heat cheese with soup and paprika, adding the cheese gradually and stirring until smooth. Add salt and thicken the sauce with egg yolks, still stirring steadily, and finally fold in the whites. Sprinkle with bacon and almonds and bake until golden brown and puffed high (about 1 hour). Cheese-Potato Soufflé (Potato Puff) 6 potatoes 2 onions 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 1 cup hot milk 3/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese 1 teaspoon salt A dash of pepper 2 egg yolks, well beaten 2 egg whites, beaten stiff 1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese Cook potatoes and onions together until tender and put through a ricer. Mix with all the other ingredients except the egg whites and the Cheddar. Fold in the egg whites, mix thoroughly and pour into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of Cheddar on top and bake in moderate oven about 1/2 hour, until golden-brown and well puffed. Serve instantly. Variations of this popular Soufflé leave out the onion and simplify matters by using 2 cups of mashed potatoes. Sometimes 1 tablespoon of catsup and another of minced parsley is added to the mixture. Or onion juice alone, to take the place of the cooked onions--about a tablespoon, full or scant. The English, in concocting such a Potato Puff or Soufflé, are inclined to make it extra peppery, as they do most of their Cheese Soufflés, with not only "a dust of black pepper" but "as much cayenne as may be stood on the face of a sixpence." Cheese Fritter Soufflés These combine ham with Parmesan cheese and are even more delicately handled in the making than crêpes suzette. PUFFS Three-in-One Puffs 1 cup grated Swiss 1 cup grated Parmesan 1 cup cream cheese 5 eggs, lightly beaten salt and pepper Mix the cheeses into one mass moistened with the beaten eggs, splashed on at intervals. When thoroughly incorporated, put in ramekins, tiny tins, cups, or any sort of little mold of any shape. Bake in hot oven about 10 minutes, until richly browned. Such miniature Soufflés serve as liaison officers for this entire section, since they are baked in ramekins, or ramequins, from the French word for the small baking dish that holds only one portion. These may be paper boxes, usually round, earthenware, china, Pyrex, of any attractive shape in which to bake or serve the Puffs. More commonly, in America at least, Puffs are made without ramekin dishes, as follows: Fried Puffs 2 egg whites, beaten stiff 1/2 cup grated cheese 1 tablespoon flour Salt Paprika Into the stiff egg whites fold the cheese, flour and seasonings. When thoroughly mixed pat into shape desired, roll in crumbs and fry. Roquefort Puffs 1/8 pound genuine French Roquefort 1 egg white, beaten stiff 8 crackers or 2-inch bread rounds Cream the Roquefort, fold in the egg white, pile on crackers and bake 15 minutes in slow oven. The constant repetition of "beaten stiff" in these recipes may give the impression that the whites are badly beaten up, but such is not the case. They are simply whipped to peaks and left moist and glistening as a teardrop, with a slight sad droop to them that shows there is still room for the air to expand and puff things up in cooking. Parmesan Puffs Make a spread of mayonnaise or other salad dressing with equal parts of imported Parmesan, grated fine. Spread on a score or more of crackers in a roomy pan and broil a couple of minutes till they puff up golden-brown. Use only the best Parmesan, imported from Italy; or, second best, from Argentina where the rich pampas grass and Italian settlers get together on excellent Parmesan and Romano. Never buy Parmesan already grated; it quickly loses its flavor. Breakfast Puffs 1 cup flour 1 cup milk 1/4 cup finely grated cheese 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt Mix all together to a smooth, light batter and fill ramekins or cups half full; then bake in quick oven until they are puffing over the top and golden-brown. Danish Fondue Puffs 1 stale roll 1/2 cup boiling hot milk Salt Pepper 2 cups freshly grated Cheddar cheese 4 egg yolks, beaten lemon-yellow 4 egg whites, beaten stiff Soak roll in boiling milk and beat to a paste. Mix with cheese and egg yolks. When smooth and thickened fold in the egg whites and fill ramekins, tins, cups or paper forms and slowly bake until puffed up and golden-brown. 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 butter, melted 1/8 pound grated cheese Mix well and bake in individual molds for 15 minutes. Cheese Ramekins II 3 tablespoons melted butter 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 buttered ramekins, standing in water, in moderate oven. Serve piping hot, for like Soufflés and all associated 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. Butter a dozen small paper cases, or little boxes of stiff writing paper like Soufflé cases. Put a saucepan containing 1/2 pint of water over the fire, add 2 tablespoons of butter, 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 buttered 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, Gruyère. 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 Scrape fine 1/4 pound of Gloucester cheese and 1/4 pound of Cheshire cheese. Beat this scraped cheese in a mortar with the yolks of 4 eggs, 1/4 pound of fresh butter, 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-Coon 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 à la Parisienne 2 cups milk 1 cup cream 1 ounce salt butter 1 tablespoon flour 1/2 cup grated Gruyère Coarsely ground pepper An atom of nutmeg A _soupçon_ of garlic A light touch of powdered sugar 8 eggs, separated Boil milk and cream together. Melt butter, 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 Morézien This celebrated specialty of Franche-Comté is described as "a porridge of water, butter, seasoning, chopped garlic and toast; thickened with minced Gruyère 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, Gruyère and eggs. Swiss-Roquefort Ramekins 1/4 pound Swiss cheese 1/4 pound Roquefort cheese 1/2 pound butter 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 Gruyère and/or Swiss Sapsago for a piquant change, but in lesser quantity 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 butter, 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 buttered 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. Casserole Ramekin Here is the Americanization of a French original: In a deep casserole 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. [Illustration] _Chapter Eight_ Pizzas, Blintzes, Pastes, Cheese Cakes, etc. No matter how big or hungry your family, you can always appease them with pizza. Pizza--The Tomato Pie of Sicily DOUGH 1 package yeast, dissolved in warm water 2 cups sifted flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons olive oil Make dough of this. Knead 12 to 20 minutes. Pat into a ball, cover it tight and let stand 3 hours in warm place until twice the size. TOMATO PASTE 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 large onions, sliced thin 1 can Italian tomato paste 8 to 10 anchovy filets, cut small 1/2 teaspoon oregano Salt Crushed chili pepper 2-1/2 cups water In the oil fry onion tender but not too brown, stir in tomato paste and keep stirring 3 or 4 minutes. Season, pour water over and simmer slowly 25 to 30 minutes. Add anchovies when sauce is done. CHEESE 1/2 cup grated Italian, Parmesan, Romano or Pecorino, depending on your pocketbook Procure a low, wide and handsome tin pizza pan, or reasonable substitute, and grease well before spreading the well-raised dough 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Poke your finger tips haphazardly into the dough to make marks that will catch the sauce when you pour it on generously. Shake on Parmesan or Parmesan-type cheese and bake in hot oven 1/2 hour, then 1/4 hour more at lower heat until the pizza is golden-brown. Cut in wedges like any other pie and serve. The proper pans come all tin and a yard wide, down to regular apple-pie size, but twelve-inch pans are the most popular. Miniature Pizzas Miniature pizzas are split English muffins rubbed with garlic or onion and brushed with olive oil. Cover with tomato sauce and a slice of Mozzarella cheese, anchovy, oregano and grated Parmesan, and heat 8 minutes. Italian-Swiss Scallopini 1 pound paper-thin veal cutlets 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup grated Swiss and Parmesan, mixed 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with water Butter Salt Paprika Moisten veal with egg and roll in flour mixed with cheese, quickly brown, lower flame and cook 4 to 5 minutes till tender. Dust with paprika and salt. Neapolitan Baked Lasagne, or Stuffed Noodles 1 pound lasagne, or other wide noodles 1-1/2 cups cooked thick tomato sauce with meat 1/2 pound Ricotta or cottage cheese 1 pound Mozzarella or American Cheddar 1/4 pound grated Parmesan, Romano or Pecorino Salt Pepper, preferably crushed red pods A shaker filled with grated Parmesan, or reasonable substitute Cook wide or broad noodles 15 to 20 minutes in rapidly boiling salted water until tender, but not soft, and drain. Pour 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in baking dish or pan, cover with about 1/2 of the noodles, sprinkle with grated Parmesan, a layer of sauce, a layer of Mozzarella and dabs of Ricotta. Continue in this fashion, alternating layers and seasoning each, ending with a final spread of sauce, Parmesan and red pepper. Bake firm in moderate oven, about 15 minutes, and served in wedges like pizza, with canisters of grated Parmesan, crushed red pepper pods and more of the sauce to taste. Little Hats, Cappelletti Freshly made and still moist Cappelletti, little hats, contrived out of tasty paste, may be had in any Little Italy macaroni shop. These may be stuffed sensationally in four different flavors with only two cheeses. Brown slices of chicken and ham separately, in butter. Mince each very fine and divide in half, to make four mixtures in equal amounts. Season these with salt, pepper and nutmeg and a binding of 2 parts egg yolk to 1 part egg white. With these meat mixtures you can make four different-flavored fillings: Ham and Mozzarella Chicken and Mozzarella Ham and Ricotta Chicken and Ricotta Fill the little hats alternately, so you'll have the same number of each different kind. Pinch edges tight together to keep the stuffings in while boiling fast for 5 minutes in chicken broth (or salted water, if you must). Since these Cappelletti are only a pleasing form and shape of ravioli, they are served in the same way on hot plates, with plain tomato sauce and Parmesan or reasonable substitute. If we count this final seasoning as an ingredient, this makes three cheeses, so that each of half a dozen taste buds can be getting individual sensations without letting the others know what it's doing. Dauphiny Ravioli This French variant of the famous Italian pockets of pastry follows the Cappelletti pattern, with any fresh goat cheese and Gruyère melted with butter and minced parsley and boiled in chicken broth. Italian Fritters 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 pound fresh Ricotta 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Rind of 1/2 lemon, grated 3 tablespoons brandy Salt Stir and mix well together in the order given and let stand 1 hour or more to thicken the batter so it will hold its shape while cooking. Shape batter like walnuts and hold one at a time in the bowl of a long-handled spoon dipped for 10 seconds in boiling hot oil. Fritter the "walnuts" so, and serve at once with powdered sugar. To make fascinating cheese croquettes, mix several contrasting cheeses in this batter. Italian Asparagus and Cheese This gives great scope for contrasting cheeses in one and the same dish. In a shallow baking pan put a foundation layer of grated Cheddar and a little butter. Cover with a layer of tender parts of asparagus, lightly salted; next a layer of grated Gruyère with a bit of butter, and another of asparagus. From here you can go as far as you like with varied layers of melting cheeses alternating with asparagus, until you come to the top, where you add two more kinds of cheese, a mixture of powdered Parmesan with Sapsago to give the new-mown hay scent. Garlic on Cheese For one sandwich prepare 30 or 40 garlic cloves by removing skins and frying out the fierce pungence in smoking olive oil. They skip in the hot pan like Mexican jumping beans. Toast one side of a thickish slice of bread, put this side down on a grilling pan, cover it with a slice of imported Swiss Emmentaler or Gruyère, of about the same size, shape and thickness. Stick the cooked garlic cloves, while still blistering hot, in a close pattern into the cheese and brown for a minute under the grill. Salt lightly and dash with paprika for the color. (Recipe by Bob Brown in Merle Armitage's collection _Fit for a King_.) Spaniards call garlic cloves teeth, Englishmen call them toes. It was cheese and garlic together that inspired Shakespeare to Hotspur's declaration in _King Henry IV_: I had rather live With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far, Than feed on cates and have him talk to me In any summer-house in Christendom. Some people can take a mere _soupçon_ of the stuff, while others can down it by the soup spoon, so we feel it necessary in reprinting our recipe to point to the warning of another early English writer: "Garlic is very dangerous to young children, fine women and hot young men." Blintzes This snow white member of the crêpes suzette sorority is the most popular deb in New York's fancy cheese dishes set. Almost unknown here a decade or two ago, it has joined blinis, kreplach and cheeseburgers as a quick and sustaining lunch for office workers. 2 eggs 1 cup water 1 cup sifted flour Salt Cooking oil 1/2 pound cottage cheese 2 tablespoons butter 2 cups sour cream Beat 1 egg light and make a batter with the water, flour and salt to taste. Heat a well-greased small frying pan and make little pancakes with 2 tablespoons of batter each. Cook the cakes over low heat and on one side only. Slide each cake off on a white cloth, with the cooked side down. While these are cooling make the blintz-filling by beating together the second egg, cottage cheese and butter. Spread each pancake thickly with the mixture and roll or make into little pockets or envelopes with the end tucked in to hold the filling. Cook in foil till golden-brown and serve at once with sufficient sour cream to smother them. Vatroushki Russia seems to have been the cradle of all sorts of blinis and blintzes, and perhaps the first, of them to be made was vatroushki, a variant of the blintzes above. The chief difference is that rounds of puff paste dough are used instead of the hot cakes, 1 teaspoon of sugar is added to the cottage cheese filling, and the sour cream, 1/2 cup, is mixed into this instead of being served with it. Little cups filled with this mix are made by pinching the edges of the dough together. The tops are brushed with egg yolk and baked in a brisk oven. Cottage Cheese Pancakes 1 cup prepared pancake 4 tablespoons top milk or light cream 1 teaspoon salt 4 eggs, well beaten 1 tablespoon sugar 2 cups cottage cheese, put through ricer Mix batter and stir in cheese last until smooth. Cheese Waffles 2 cups prepared waffle flour 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten 1/4 cup melted butter 3/4 cup grated sharp Cheddar 3 egg whites, beaten stiff Stir up a smooth waffle batter of the first 4 ingredients and fold in egg whites last. Today you can get imported canned Holland cheese waffles to heat quickly and serve. Napkin Dumpling 1 pound cottage cheese 1/8 pound butter, softened 3 eggs, beaten 3/4 cup Farina 1/2 teaspoon salt Cinnamon and brown sugar Mix together all ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) to form a ball. Moisten a linen napkin with cold water and tie the ball of dough in it. Simmer 40 to 50 minutes in salted boiling water, remove from napkin, sprinkle well with cinnamon and brown sugar, and serve. This is on the style of Hungarian potato and other succulent dumplings and may be served with goulash or as a meal in itself. BUTTER AND CHEESE Where fish is scant And fruit of trees, Supply that want With butter and cheese. Thomas Tusser in _The Last Remedy_ Butter and cheese are mixed together in equal parts for cheese butter. Serbia has a cheese called Butter that more or less matches Turkey's Durak, of which butter is an indispensable ingredient, and French Cancoillote is based on sour milk simmered with butter. The English have a cheese called Margarine, made with the butter substitute. In Westphalia there are no two schools of thought about whether 'tis better to eat butter with cheese or not, for in Westphalia sour-milk cheese, butter is mixed in as part of the process of making. The Arabs press curds and butter together to store in vats, and the Scots have Crowdie or Cruddy Butter. BUTTERMILK CHEESE The value of buttermilk is stressed in an extravagant old Hindu proverb: "A man may live without bread, but without buttermilk he dies." Cheese was made before butter, being the earliest form of dairy manufacturing, so buttermilk cheese came well after plain milk cheese, even after whey cheese. It is very tasty, and a natural with potato salad. The curd is salted after draining and sold in small parchment packages. German "leather" cheese has buttermilk mixed with the plain. The Danes make their Appetitost with sour buttermilk. Ricotta Romano, for a novelty, is made of sheep buttermilk. COTTAGE CHEESE In America cottage cheese is also called pot, Dutch and smearcase. It is the easiest and quickest to make of all cheeses, by simply letting milk sour, or adding buttermilk to curdle it, then stand a while on the back of the kitchen stove, since it is homemade as a rule. It is drained in a bag of cheesecloth and may be eaten the same day, usually salted. The Pilgrims brought along the following two tried and true recipes from olde England, and both are still in use and good repute: _Cottage Cheese No. 1_ Let milk sour until clotted. Pour boiling water over and it will immediately curd. Stir well and pour into a colander. Pour a little cold water on the curd, salt it and break it up attractively for serving. _Cottage Cheese No. 2_ A very rich and tasty variety is made of equal parts whole milk and buttermilk heated together to just under the boiling point. Pour into a linen bag and let drain until next day. Then remove, salt to taste and add a bit of butter or cream to make a smooth, creamy consistency, and pat into balls the size of a Seville orange. CREAM CHEESE In England there are three distinct manners of making cream cheese: