Dishes made without meat

Welsh Rarebit (Hot)

Slice down some good, rich cheese rather thinly, into a delicately clean stewpan, with some morsels of butter, and 2 or 3 spoonsful of porter, good ale, or new milk as you please, according to the quantity of the cheese; flavour to taste with freshly-ground black pepper and English mustard. Stir it all till thoroughly melted, pour it over hot buttered toast, browning the surface if you like with a hot shovel, and serve at once.

This requires careful watching, because if it be in the least over-cooked it will be leathery.

Irish Rarebit (Hot)

Add a few drops of vinegar and a finely-minced pickled gherkin to cheese treated as above, and serve very hot.

Baked Cheese Sandwiches (Hot)

Cut some slices of good, rich cheese about a third of an inch thick, season lightly with freshly-ground black pepper, and a drop or two of tarragon vinegar; then place them between two slices of brown bread and butter; trim these neatly, and set them in the oven, serving them directly the bread is toasted.

Parmesan Puffs (Hot)

Mix 4½ oz. of breadcrumbs, 4 oz. of Parmesan cheese, 2 oz. of butter, ½ a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper and salt, and 2 eggs; pound these all thoroughly in a mortar, bind them with a well-beaten egg, shape into balls about the size of a walnut, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry a golden brown in plenty of boiling fat. Drain well, and serve at once very hot, garnished with parsley.

Parmesan Eggs (Hot)

Take a flat fireproof dish and put into it the yolks of 2 eggs, a small pat of butter, some spice, and a tablespoonful of finely-grated Parmesan cheese. Stir over the stove. Then break into it five or six eggs and sprinkle the whole with grated cheese. Brown and serve.

Cheese Balls (Hot)

Put 1 pint of water into a pan with 1 oz. of butter when quite hot, dredge in 4 oz. of flour, and pepper and salt to taste, draw to one side and when cooled a little add the yolks of 4 eggs and 4 oz. of grated cheese. Have ready a pan of boiling fat, take the mixture up in tablespoonsful, drop in and fry a golden brown. Serve very hot.

Cheese Butterflies (Cold)

Take 2 oz. of flour, 1½ oz. of Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. of butter and the yolk of 1 egg. Make a pastry of the above ingredients and roll out thin. Then with a crinkled round cutter cut out double the number of rounds you require to use and bake a light brown. Allow them to become cold. Mix some grated cheese with a little whipped cream to a nice thick consistency, season with salt and cayenne pepper, pile lightly on the rounds of pastry. (Some of the rounds must be cut into halves before baking to provide the wings for the butterflies.) Dip the crinkled edges of the halves into carmine to colour them, and arrange them as wings on the rounds of pastry. Put a piece of stalk of parsley to form each antennae; also arrange or ornament the back of each butterfly with a little of the green leaf of the parsley.

Cheese Pudding (Hot)

Place 1 pint of milk in a saucepan and let it become hot, then pour it on to 1 tablespoonful of ground rice previously mixed with a little cold milk, return to the pan and stir until the mixture thickens. Remove the pan from the fire and add 4 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a pinch of salt and cayenne, the yolks of 2 eggs, and 2 oz. of butter. Mix all well together and then add the beaten whites of the eggs. Butter a pie dish and pour the mixture into it, and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top before serving.

Cheese Aigrettes (Hot)

Place 1 oz. of butter in a pan with ½ pint of water; when boiling add 3 oz. of flour. Stir over the fire until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan quite clean. Remove the pan from the fire and when slightly cool add the yolks of 3 eggs and the whites of 2, cayenne and salt to taste. Stir in 2 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, and place the mixture on a plate to cool. Take a small piece of the mixture in a spoon and drop it in hot fat and fry a golden brown; continue this until it is used up. Serve on a dish paper garnished with parsley and sprinkled with grated cheese.

Cheese Patties (Hot)

Line some patty pans with puff pastry and fill them three-parts full with the following mixture. Place 2 oz. of finely-grated breadcrumbs in a basin and mix into them 1 raw egg and a tablespoonful of milk; then add 2 tablespoonsful of finely-grated cheese and 2 teaspoonsful of butter, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, ½ a teaspoonful of salt and the same of pepper. Mix very well. Place the patties in the oven and bake until a pale brown. The mixture will swell slightly in baking. Serve very hot.

Cheese Mushrooms (Hot)

Take ½ lb. of rich toasting cheese, slice it, place it on a soup plate. Cover it with flap mushrooms—on each mushroom a nut of butter and a dust of pepper and salt. Cover with another soup plate and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Dish up on buttered toast.

Cheese Custard Pudding (Hot or Cold)

Put 2 oz. of finely-grated cheese into a basin and add to it 2 well-beaten eggs and ¾ pint of milk. Trim the edge of a pie dish with cheese pastry and pour in the mixture. Place 2 or 3 pieces of butter on the top and bake in a quick oven (400 deg.) for 20 minutes.

Cheese Croûtons (Hot)

Take 6 rounds of bread ¾ inch thick and about the size of a five shilling piece, fry them a golden brown colour, sprinkle over them a dust of dry mustard, a layer of grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Place them in a quick oven until the cheese is cooked, then place a spoonful of hot rice on each, garnish with capers and serve very hot.

Cheese Canapés (Cold)

Grate 2 oz. of cheese and mix it smoothly in a basin with a dessertspoonful of mustard, the same of anchovy sauce, a shake of cayenne, a pinch of salt, a dessertspoonful of anchovy vinegar, a tablespoonful of fresh butter and the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs. Mix this until it is a smooth paste, then spread it on rounds of buttered white or brown bread. Chop the whites of the eggs finely or press them through a sieve on to the paste. Serve cold.

Little Cheese Custards (Hot)

Grate finely 3½ oz. of cheese and mix it with 1 egg, add ¼ pint of boiling milk, pour the mixture into small fireproof dishes and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot in the dishes.

Cheese Patties (Hot)

Line the required number of patty pans with puff pastry. Boil 1 oz. of macaroni in just as much water as it will absorb. When soft cut it into tiny pieces, mix with it 1 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and bind the mixture with a little cream or cheese sauce. Bake for 10 minutes.

Tomato Cheese Croûtons (Hot)

Stew ½ lb. of tomatoes in butter until tender with onion cut up finely, put them through a sieve, adding a small quantity of cream, or milk if the former is not procurable. Replace the tomato in the pan and add to it enough grated cheese to make it like a thick cream, season with pepper and place a little of the mixture in croûtons of fried bread. Serve very hot.

Cream of Cheese

Make some squares of hot buttered toast, place on a hot dish and keep hot. Melt ½ lb. of cheese in a little saucepan with 1 oz. of butter and 3 tablespoonsful of cream (or milk), pepper and salt. When of the consistency of very thick custard pour it over the toast and serve.

For the following Cheese Dishes, see

10s. a Head for House Books:—

The Single-Handed Cook:—