Grate 1/2 pound of any dry, rich cheese.  Butter a dozen small paper cases, or little boxes of stiff writing paper like Souffle cases.  Put a saucepan containing 1/2 pint of water over the fire, add 2 tablespoons of butter, and when the water boils, stir in 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour.  Beat the mixture until it shrinks away from the sides of the saucepan; then stir in the grated cheese.  Remove the paste thus made from the fire, and let it partly cool.  In the meantime separate the yolks from the whites of three eggs, and beat them until the yolks foam and the whites make a stiff froth.  Put the mixture at once into the buttered paper cases, only half-filling them (since they rise very high while being baked) with small slices of cheese, and bake in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes.  As soon as the Puffs are done, put the cases on a hot dish covered with a folded napkin, and serve very hot.

The most popular cheese for Ramekins has always been, and still is, Gruyere.  But because the early English also adopted Italian Parmesan, that followed as a close second, and remains there today.

Sharp Cheddar makes tangy Ramekins, as will be seen in this second oldster; for though it prescribes Gloucester and Cheshire “’arf-and-’arf,” both are essentially Cheddars.  Gloucester has been called “a glorified Cheshire” and the latter has long been known as a peculiarly rich and colorful elder brother of Cheddar, described in Kenelme Digby’s Closet Open’d as a “quick, fat, rich, well-tasted cheese.”

 Cheese Ramekins IV

Scrape fine 1/4 pound of Gloucester cheese and 1/4 pound of Cheshire cheese.  Beat this scraped cheese in a mortar with the yolks of 4 eggs, 1/4 pound of fresh butter, and the crumbs of a French roll boiled in cream until soft.  When all this is well mixed and pounded to a paste, add the beaten whites of 4 eggs.  Should the paste seem too stiff, 1 or 2 tablespoons of sherry may be added.  Put the paste into paper cases, and bake in a Dutch oven till nicely browned.  The Ramekins should be served very hot.

Since both Gloucester cheese and Cheshire cheese are not easily come by even in London today, it would be hard to reproduce this in the States.  So the best we can suggest is to use half-and-half of two of our own great Cheddars, say half-Coon and half-Wisconsin Longhorn, or half-Tillamook and half-Herkimer County.  For there’s no doubt about it, contrasting cheeses tickle the taste buds, and as many as three different kinds put together make Puffs all the more perfect.

 Ramequins a la Parisienne

2 cups milk 1 cup cream 1 ounce salt butter 1 tablespoon flour 1/2 cup grated Gruyere Coarsely ground pepper An atom of nutmeg A soupcon of garlic A light touch of powdered sugar 8 eggs, separated