I will now say a few words on Cream cheeses, and then, I think, you will have had quite enough of this subject.
A York cream cheese is made by taking a quart of new milk warm from the cow, into which is sometimes put half a pint of cream, and adding to it two spoonfuls of the water in which a piece of rennet has been steeped all night. The milk is then set before the fire till the curd is formed, when it should be taken up without breaking, if possible, and put into a frame made of oak wood, seven inches long within, four inches wide, and three inches and a half deep. This frame being open at the top and bottom, it must be placed upon rushes to permit the whey to run out; to encourage which, a board must be put within the frame to support a weight to press down the curd, between which and the curd some rushes must be put. After standing two days, the rushes must be renewed, when the cheese should be taken from the vat and turned as often as necessary. This will make an excellent cream cheese without the cream; and, indeed, the York cheeses sold in the shops are always made of milk only, without any cream. The rushes should be sewed together with thread.
A kind of cream cheese is, however, made in Yorkshire of cream only, without any rennet. "Take any quantity of cream and put it into a wet cloth. Tie it up, and hang it in a cool place for seven or eight days. Then take it from the cloth and put it into a mould (in another cloth) with a weight upon it, for two or three days longer. Turn it twice a day, when it will be fit for use."
The following is a receipt for making a Bath cream cheese. Add half a pint of cream to a quart of new milk, and warm the mixture till it is about 80° of Fahrenheit; then stir in as much rennet as will coagulate it. As soon as the curd has formed, put a cloth over the bottom of a large shallow vat, and, taking the curd up with a skimming-dish, place it in the vat and wrap the cloth over it. As the curd shrinks, the vat must be filled up with fresh curd, till the cheese is of a proper thickness. When the cheese has become a little firm, it is turned out of the vat and laid in a dry cloth. A board is then put over it, on which is placed a weight of two pounds. At night it is put into another clean cloth, and the next morning it is slightly salted with a little fine dry salt, and placed on a bed of fresh nettles or strawberry leaves, being covered with leaves of the same kind. These leaves are changed every morning, and the cheese is turned twice a day for a fortnight, after which it is fit for use.
I think I have now told you almost all I know relative to those points of domestic economy in which a country life differs from a life in town. I have, however, omitted to mention an Ice-house, which you will find an important addition to your comfort in summer. A common ice-house is a kind of well, built in Roman cement, and sunk in the ground. It is arched over, and the ice is put in through a hole in the top. A door is on one side for taking the ice out, and there is a drain at the bottom for carrying away the water that runs off as the ice melts.
A more modern invention is a small cellar built adjoining the house, with double walls, the space between the walls being filled with charcoal. The cellar has double doors with a space between, so that one may be shut before the other is opened, to prevent the entrance of the atmospheric air. The ice is kept in a sunk part made like a bath, at the farther end of the cellar, furnished with a drain to carry off the superfluous water; and in the other part of the cellar are shelves, on which wine or food can be placed to be kept cool. The old-fashioned ice-house was always made in the park at some distance from the house, and consequently was of very little use; but the modern ice-cellar is very useful for keeping cool, water, butter, and other articles of daily consumption; which can be fetched out of it when they are wanted, as easily and expeditiously as they could be out of a common dairy or pantry.
When ice is supplied from a distance, it will soon melt, if exposed to the atmospheric air during summer. To prevent this it may be kept in an ice chest, that is, a large deep coffer lined with cork, and with a double lid; or in a box called a refrigerator, which may even be brought into the dining-room. The refrigerator consists of a double frame of wood, with the space between filled in with charcoal. The bottles of wine are placed in little tin cases left for them, and ice is put between the cases. Below the ice is a tin grating, through which the melted water runs, and is let off when requisite by a cock. The box is made to hold two bottles of wine on one side, and a bottle of water and a glass for butter on the other.
The American refrigerator is another contrivance of the same nature, which will keep the ice unmelted for a fortnight even during the hottest weather in summer. This box, like the other, is double, the inner part being of lead, and the space between the two being filled with sawdust. There are two lids so as completely to exclude the air when both are closed.
The usual mode of cooling wine and other liquids by ice, is to surround the bottle, or other vessel in which the liquor is contained, entirely with ice, observing that the hottest part of the wine is always at the top of the bottle, but that if the top is chilled faster than the bottom, the cold wine descends, and that which is still warm rises and takes its place. As, therefore, the wine is liable to be set in motion by the process of cooling, it is best to decant it before it is put into the refrigerator, as otherwise there will be danger of disturbing the sediment of white wine and the crust of port. When ice is perfectly clean and clear, like that of the Wenham Lake, it is sometimes broken into small pieces, and put into the liquid which is to be cooled; but this could not be done with the ice collected from the dirty ponds near London.
When it is wished to cool wine rapidly, it is only necessary to put it into a thin glass bottle, and to wet the outside with ether; as cold is produced by rapid evaporation sooner than in any other manner, wine-coolers are formed on this principle.