Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 cup large eggs
- 2 cup fresh bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 pound sharp cheddar cheese (preferably hook’s
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil, for frying
Preparation
Baking Directions:
Florida is oranges.
Texas is beef.
Maine is lobster.
And in the 1920s, some marketer decided that Wisconsin should be cheese.
The state had no history of cheese making, and no more dairy cows than Vermont or New York.
It did, however, have a surplus of milk.
By 1945, through a combination of savvy public relations and strategic agricultural investment, the state had 1,500 cheese factories that produced 515 million pounds of cheese a year.
There were giant wheels and bricks of compressed dairy product called Swiss, Mozzarella, Provolone, Gorgonzola, Camembert, Brie, Muenster, Limburger, Cheddar, Gouda, and Edam.
Most were orange, but that didn’t matter.
There was lots and lots of it.
In 1964, the world’s largest cheese, a fourteen-and-a-half-foot-diameter Cheddar that weighed seventeen tons, was shipped to the World’s Fair in New York.
By then, most of the state’s cheese factories were owned by large companies like Kraft or Borden, not small farmers.
But about ten years ago, artisanal cheeses began appearing in the land of Big Cheese.
Cheese makers like Tony Hook, whose factory in Mineral Point produced 1.5 million pounds of commercial-grade cheese a year, and his wife, Julie, switched to making fine farmstead cheeses and selling them at farmers’ markets.
Mr.
Hook, who made industrial cheese for thirty-nine years before “learning to make real special cheese,” won praises for his double-cream blue cheese and Stilton-inspired Tilston Point.
In a state where fried cheese curds are ubiquitous, he and his wife realized they’d better invent a snack using their super-rich, quick-to-melt cheeses.
This recipe is their answer.
The Hooks, who don giant cheese-wedge hats as quickly as any other Wisconsin sports fan, find these gourmet curds difficult to resist.
1.Place the flour in a shallow bowl.
In another shallow bowl, whisk the eggs together.
In a third shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs, thyme, cornstarch, paprika, and 1⁄2 teaspoon white pepper.
2.Working with a few cheese chunks at a time, dip in the flour, shaking to remove any excess so the cheese chunks are only lightly coated.
Dip the chunks in egg, then lightly coat with the bread crumb mixture.
Place the breaded chunks on a large plate.
Repeat until all of the chunks are breaded, then freeze for 30 minutes.
3.In a large skillet, heat the oil until a deep-frying thermometer reads 365° F to 375° F or a pinch of flour bubbles and sizzles in the oil.
Using tongs, carefully add the frozen chunks and fry about 3 minutes, until crisp and golden brown on all sides, turning as needed.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.
From "One Big Table" by Molly O’Neill.
Copyright © 2010 by Molly O’Neill.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc, NY
