A fondu of cheese

Grate cheese and crush broken and dried bread and crusts into fine crumbs. There should be two cupfuls of these to one of cheese. Wet the crumbs with two cupfuls of milk in which has been dissolved a bit of soda no larger than a Lima bean. Beat two eggs light, whites and yolks apart; whip the yolks into the soaked crumbs with a tablespoonful of melted butter. Season with salt and a dust of cayenne, add the frothed whites, deftly and rapidly; bake in a greased pudding dish in a brisk oven, keeping the dish covered until the fondu has puffed high and is crusty on top. Then brown lightly and serve at once, as it soon falls. Pass crackers and pickles with it.