[Sca-cooks] baked cheese dishes

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

Serena da Riva replied to me with:
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Stefan asked a couple of questions & I will attempt to answer them to the
best of my ability.
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Thank you.

However, she ended with:
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Sorry this has gotten so long, I am nothing if not thorough. I bet this will
teach you to ask me leading questions.
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Haven't been on this list long, have you? :-)

(Naw, Stefan doesn't ask leading questions...)

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> Can you post the original recipe translation?

A while back on this very list I requested info on anise dishes. His Grace
Caridoc was kind enough to post multiple recipies for me to choose from on
3/4/02 and this was one of them.
-Recipe for Oven Cheese Pie, Which We Call Toledan
-Andalusian p. A-64
-Make dough as for musammana and make a small leafy round loaf of it.
-Then roll it out and put sufficient pounded cheese in the middle.
-Fold over the ends of the loaf and join them over the cheese on all
-sides; leave a small hole the size of a dinar on top, so the cheese
-can be seen, and sprinkle it with some anise. Then place it in the
-oven on a slab, and leave it until it is done, take it out and use
-it, as you wish.
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Thank you. Now that you post this, I do remember this recipe and I
did save it. But since the discussion at that time was on anise, I
saved it as a file on anise recipes.

However, re-examining this recipe does make me wonder about a
few things.

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> Why did you choose those particular two cheeses? And why the mix of
> two cheeses?

First thing I did was go to the Miscellany and see what Caridoc had done. He
made small loaves and used feta. I wanted to make one per table about 8
inches across when finished & thought that feta would be cost prohibitive
and feta is a very strong cheese that not everyone likes.
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Yes, feta can be strong tasting, but I've also had some that was
milder than others. Unfortunately, I can't remember which brands
these were right now. Yes real, especially special, cheeses can be
more than the generic American factory cheeses.

I had not realized that this was for a feast rather than just a
meal or single item which you were cooking.

I like feta as well as some strong tasting cheeses like well-aged
cheddar or blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola, so I'm probably biased. But
I think you may be able to get feta for about the same price as Brie.

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I thought brie would be good but it
is VERY expensive & maybe a bit too soft & high fat. So I thought I would
use some brie for the flavor and a mild cheese that it would mix well with.

> How stretchy does this cheese end up getting? I'm wondering just how
> easy this dish is to eat without forks and with just a spoon and knife.
> Particularly if shared in a "mess". Sounds pretty messy to me. :-)

That is one of the other reasons I selected the queso cheese. It melts
beautifully but when it cools it firms up nicely. It also cuts perfectly
without any stretchieness or oozing (another drawback of mozzerella) it
actually slices better than most pies I have made.
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There are a number of these white, soft cheeses around here, often
from Mexico. They can have a variety of textures. I have trouble
knowing just what the texture will be when I buy one.

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If you served it piping
hot out of the oven it would be a huge mess, but if you let it sit and cool
down at least 30 min then it congeals and slices just fine. Of course it is
tastier as an ooey gooey mess but there are other things in my feast that
need will not sit as well and will need the out of the oven and out the door
treatment more than it does.

> THLord Stefan li Rous
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Sounds like this would work equally well as a feast dish or for a pot
luck or as a party appetizer.

It looked like the hole in your cheese ball?, loaf? was bigger than
a "dinar". Wouldn't a "dinar" be between say a US dime and a US
quarter? Cariadoc? I may have been mis-estimating the scale of the
photo though. A ruler or other standard-sized object in such pictures
can often help with this.

Was anise seed always used whole? Or was it sometimes ground? It sounds
like either might work in this recipe, but yes I suspect whole is what
is wanted.

Since it firms up as it cools, it does sound like eating it with a
knife and spoon or a knife and fingers is not as messy as I had at
first thought it would be.

Except for the cost, it sounds like you might be able to make small,
single serving versions of this that would work good as fingerfoods
at a sideboard or for feeding fighters on the field.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net