SC - Mustard Soup: Finis!

[James and/or Nancy Gilly]

Woeller D wrote:
> 
> I'm planning a feast to be
> > > served in Mid-winter, that has a White theme (all of the foods served are
> > > white, called white, or started out as white). Any ideas???
> snip
> a spread of some sort (i was
> > > thinking of serving the bread swan subtlety that was talked about a month
> > > ago, but I don't know what to fill the "back" with...butter seems just a
> > > bit too far from white)
> >
> > Soft cream cheese might go over well. How about a cheese with a white
> > rind, like Brie? Or you could use whipped butter, which is more white
> > than yellow.
> >
> > Adamantius
> I saw somewhere on the web that cream cheese was close to a period
> cheese.  Then I read that it was not in any way period. (It was a while
> ago, but I thought it was on this list?) Is it indeed period? Perioid?
> Or just a suggestion because it's white?  Thanks,
> Angelique

"Philadelphia style" cream cheese, as manufactured today, couldn't
possibly be period for Western Europe, what with the Philadelphia
appelation and the emulsifying gums used to keep the butterfat from
leaking out at room temperature. On the other hand, it may resemble
cheeses made from cream in period. Certainly there are references to
"cream cheese" in, or very shortly after, period, but they mean just
that. Cheese made with cream, and sometimes not only cream. Digby's
Slipcote cheese is a good example of such a cheese, which, BTW, makes a
smashing cheese for Savoury Toasted Cheese. Trouble is, that unless you
go to England and can find someone who still makes York cheese, you have
to make it yourself.

Philly cream cheese really appears to be little more than "dairy sour"
cream, a.k.a. sour cream or smetana, drained in a cloth, though. Of
course, you'd need to determine the secret blend of eleven preservatives
and chemicals in order to duplicate it exactly. My reason for mentioning
all this is that it's likely that if one wanted to find a period cheese
made from sour cream, the place to look would probably be Eastern Europe
and Russia.

It could also be that there is no non-factory made original. It may
simply be a modern invention. For example, when trying to find Limburger
cheese in its original form, as a wheel or block of cheese, with an
edible rind of mold, which I sort of assumed because it tastes so much
like Liederkranz, I discovered that for more than a century, Limburger
has been made in the USA, by blending a mixture of different cheeses
with cream. In other words, it's not that the original form is
unavailable. It's that the stuff you can buy in the supermarket, in
jars, IS the orginal form, more or less. The name, Limburger, is a
German spelling of a place in Belgium, but the cheese appears to be
American. 

IIRC, there is a recipe for cream cheese in Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt
Book, which involves letting cream sour overnight, and then pouring it
onto a large damask napkin, spreading it thinly. You leave it to drain,
and then roll it up like Lady Aoife's favorite, cabbage cream.

Adamantius   
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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