When Martha Stewart began her new show many years ago, she did a series of shows featuring the 20 things every kitchen needed. One was a spatula. She asked the audience if they owned spatulas and about half of the audience raised their hands. Only half? Seriously, the audience was full of women screaming about how much they loved Martha and they didn't own spatulas? You can't make fish sticks and tater tots without a spatula. In the end, Martha gave everyone a spatula (which was a good thing for all those poseurs who said they loved Martha and yet failed to find time to buy a spatula. Remember when Oprah gave everyone in her audience cars? Well I must say, Martha's audience was just as excited to get a spatula, but I digress...)
I felt that the better show would have been the 20 things no kitchen needs but are really cool to have. Here is one of the items I would feature -- a cheese safe. Back in the day, before those nifty pre-grated, pre-measured bags, cheese came in a wheel. Cheese, being a living organism, needed a bio dynamic environment to stay fresh and -- safe. Not to mention cheese is a prized food item for the rodent population. So you kept your cheese in a cheese safe. The bottom of the glass has ridges to allow for airflow around the cheese. A bit of vinegar and water in the bottom keeps the cheese fresh and moist.
I own a cheese safe or two, but rarely do I get a nice wheel of cheese. This Christmas, however, I received a lovely wheel of Vermont Cheddar from my friend Catherine. I was excited about the cheese but even more excited that I would get to use my cheese safe. I set it out and proudly admired it.
Over at Cookbook Of The Day, I wrote about another of my Christmas presents, a new 9 X 13 pan. So I managed to combine these two Christmas presents into this lovely item. In this 9 X 13 the cheese was not safe! Not at all. It was, however, delicious.
I must say, that's pretty brilliant. Do you still keep it in the fridge?
ReplyDeleteI'd love to own a cheese safe and would imagine that its decorative value makes it worth having even sans wheel.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the most delicious cheese-based recipe I've ever taste in my whole life! thanks for post it!
ReplyDeleteI do love any likttle glass jar with a lid - so quaint! Cheese is never safe in our household, I love it so much it gets inhaled immediately so I avoid buying it but on special occasions. My husband snacks on cheese and crackers all the time, the skinny so-an-so, but I make him buy oatcrackers and cheese with onion in it, neither of which I like. Interesting about people who 'love' Martha but don't own a spatula (it's my most-used implement, perhaps after a knife). I just happened upon this very interesting talk by Michael Pollan.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7kwfE3cJQ
I've not read any of his famous books yet, but having seen this video they are now on my Christmas wish list. He's part social historian as well as food activist and that was the hook that caught me!