5 02 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



I may here mention that I have recently made some experiments on 

 the dissolving of cheese by adding sufficient alkali (carbonate of pot- 

 ash) to neutralize the acid it contains, thus converting the casein into 

 its original soluble form as it existed in the milk, and have partially 

 succeeded both with water and milk as solvents ; but before reporting 

 these results in detail I will describe some of the practically established 

 methods of cooking cheese that are so curiously unknown or little 

 known in this country. 



In the fatherland of my grandfather, Louis Gabriel Mattieu, one of 

 the commonest dishes of the peasant who tills his own freehold and 

 grows his own food is a " f ondevin " (I can not explain the etymology 

 of the word, and spell it only by ear, never having seen it in print or 

 writing). This is a mixture of cheese and eggs, the cheese grated and 

 beaten into the egg as in making omelets, with a small addition of new 

 milk or butter. It is placed in a little pan like a flower-pot saucer, 

 cooked gently, served as it comes off the fire, and eaten from the ves- 

 sel in which it is cooked. I have made many a hearty dinner on one 

 of these, plus a lump of black bread and a small bottle of genuine but 

 thin wine ; the cost of the whole banquet at a little auberge being usu- 

 ally less than sixpence. The cheese is in a pasty condition, and partly 

 dissolved in the milk or butter. I have tested the sustaining power of 

 such a meal by doing some very stiff mountain-climbing and long fast- 

 ing after it. It is rather too good over-nutritious for a man only 

 doing sedentary work. 



A diluted and delicate modification of this may be made by taking 

 slices of bread, or bread and butter, soaking them in a batter made of 

 eggs or milk without flour then placing the slices of soaked bread 

 in a pie-dish, covering each with a thick coating of grated cheese, and 

 thus building up a stratified deposit to fill the dish. The surplus bat- 

 ter may be poured over the top ; or, if time is allowed for saturation, 

 the trouble of preliminary soaking may be saved by simply pouring 

 all the batter thus. This, when gently baked, supplies a delicious and 

 highly nutritious dish. We call it cheese-pudding at home, but my 

 own experience convinces me that we make a mistake in using it to 

 supplement the joint. It is far too nutritious for this ; its savory char- 

 acter tempts one to eat it so freely that it would be far wiser to use it 

 as the Swiss peasant uses his f ondevin, i. e., as the one and only dish 

 of a good wholesome dinner. 



I have tested its digestibility by eating it heartily for supper. ISTo 

 nightmare has followed. If I sup on a corresponding quantity of raw 

 cheese, my sleep is miserably eventful. Knowledge. 



