I heard a reference to hook cheese while viewing the Food Channel on
making maccaroni and cheese. Does anyone know what hook cheese is?

(CMC) writes:

I heard a reference to hook cheese while viewing the Food Channel on
making maccaroni and cheese. Does anyone know what hook cheese is?

You probably heard "hoop cheese".
What program or cook were you watching on FoodTV? You can probably find the
recipe on their site, or I'll help you.

Connie
************************************************** ***
My mind is like a steel...um, whatchamacallit.

ConnieG999 said:

I heard a reference to hook cheese while viewing the Food Channel on
making maccaroni and cheese. Does anyone know what hook cheese is?
You probably heard "hoop cheese".

http://tinyurl.com/x6gj

quote
Q. What is "hoop cheese"?
A. Hoop cheese (also known as Baker's cheese or pot cheese) is the curd
drained of whey but uncooked or unwashed. If Little Miss Muffet had drained
the whey from her "curds and whey" she would have "sat on her tuffet, eating
her hoop cheese."
/quote

--
Bob
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://kanyak.com

"Opinicus" wrote in message
...
ConnieG999 said:

I heard a reference to hook cheese while viewing the Food Channel on
making maccaroni and cheese. Does anyone know what hook cheese is?
You probably heard "hoop cheese".

[snip]

Well, I've lurked here a while and this is my first post. Around here
(central North Carolina, USA) hoop cheese is what a lot of older people call
medium to sharp cheddar cheese. There used to be a little country store
nearby where my grandparents would stop and buy 'hoop cheese' and the clerks
would cut a wedge off a big wax-covered wheel (possible source of the 'hoop'
part of the name) of cheddar. When I was a kid it was always sharper than I
liked...

So in regard to the original poster's question, it might help if we knew who
the host of the show was and what the provenance of the recipe was. There's
that older lady from South Carolina who has a show... if it was her, she may
well have meant cheddar cheese. Especially as the OP said it was a
mac'n'cheese recipe, I'd bet on the cheddar. Just my $0.02, and now I'll
re-lurk...

--
Ken Coble

"The troubles of our proud and angry dust
Are from eternity, and shall not fail.
Bear them we can, and if we can we must.
Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale."

- A.E. Housman, from "Last Poems: IX (The chestnut casts his flambeaux)"

Kenneth Coble muttered....



"Opinicus" wrote in message
...
ConnieG999 said:

I heard a reference to hook cheese while viewing the Food Channel
on making maccaroni and cheese. Does anyone know what hook cheese
is?
You probably heard "hoop cheese".

[snip]

Well, I've lurked here a while and this is my first post. Around here
(central North Carolina, USA) hoop cheese is what a lot of older
people call medium to sharp cheddar cheese. There used to be a little
country store nearby where my grandparents would stop and buy 'hoop
cheese' and the clerks would cut a wedge off a big wax-covered wheel
(possible source of the 'hoop' part of the name) of cheddar. When I
was a kid it was always sharper than I liked...

So in regard to the original poster's question, it might help if we
knew who the host of the show was and what the provenance of the
recipe was. There's that older lady from South Carolina who has a
show... if it was her, she may well have meant cheddar cheese.
Especially as the OP said it was a mac'n'cheese recipe, I'd bet on the
cheddar. Just my $0.02, and now I'll re-lurk...

Other US perspective....

No way, Jose!

"Cheddar" is a name of late origin given to sort of standard classic yellow
regular cheese in the US. It ain't cheddar or much like (except in some
aged, small batch varieties) what transpondians think of as cheddar.
better we should use names like the humble "Rat trap" or "Longhorn"
(signifying long logs instead of fat wheels) as more descriptive and apt.

In my experience, "hoop" or "Farmer" cheese was the basic "curds minus
whey" product, partially/mostly strained and receiving it's name from
having been packed into a wooden of metal "hoop" (ring) from which aging
might turn into cheese for slicing or grating and other culinary purpose.

Cottage cheese and ricotta may have similar flavors but have either not
been dehydrated to the extent that hoop cheese is (or have had milk solids
and liquid added back, as i suspect storbought cottage cheese does).

TMO

----- Original Message -----
From: "Olivers"
Newsgroups: rec.food.historic
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 12:29 PM
Subject: what is hook cheese ???

[snip]

Well, I've lurked here a while and this is my first post. Around here
(central North Carolina, USA) hoop cheese is what a lot of older
people call medium to sharp cheddar cheese. There used to be a little
country store nearby where my grandparents would stop and buy 'hoop
cheese' and the clerks would cut a wedge off a big wax-covered wheel
(possible source of the 'hoop' part of the name) of cheddar. When I
was a kid it was always sharper than I liked...

So in regard to the original poster's question, it might help if we
knew who the host of the show was and what the provenance of the
recipe was. There's that older lady from South Carolina who has a
show... if it was her, she may well have meant cheddar cheese.
Especially as the OP said it was a mac'n'cheese recipe, I'd bet on the
cheddar. Just my $0.02, and now I'll re-lurk...

Other US perspective....

No way, Jose!

"Cheddar" is a name of late origin given to sort of standard classic
yellow
regular cheese in the US. It ain't cheddar or much like (except in some
aged, small batch varieties) what transpondians think of as cheddar.
better we should use names like the humble "Rat trap" or "Longhorn"
(signifying long logs instead of fat wheels) as more descriptive and apt.

In my experience, "hoop" or "Farmer" cheese was the basic "curds minus
whey" product, partially/mostly strained and receiving it's name from
having been packed into a wooden of metal "hoop" (ring) from which aging
might turn into cheese for slicing or grating and other culinary purpose.

Cottage cheese and ricotta may have similar flavors but have either not
been dehydrated to the extent that hoop cheese is (or have had milk solids
and liquid added back, as i suspect storbought cottage cheese does).

TMO

Olivers, are you saying "No way Jose" that no one in the SE United States
uses hoop cheese = yellow cheese? If so, I'll have to disagree with you,
since I've been hearing people call it that for 28 years. However, if
you're saying "that's not the common use of the term, this is," then I'll
happily agree. But what I was saying is that if the host on Food Network
is from this neck of the woods (and one, Paula Deen, is) and especially as
the recipe mentioned was a macaroni and cheese recipe, it seems like the
colloquial use of hoop cheese = yellow cheese (and I also agree that what we
call cheddar would be called cheddar elsewhere) may indeed be what was meant
for this recipe.

However, it's all a little pointless, since the original poster hasn't got
back to anyone so far with who the host was, more details about the recipe
in question, etc. Again, if you were going to make me guess, the 'yellow
cheese' meaning seems to fit most macaroni and cheese styles I know of,
while I haven't had a mac n cheese that would include anything like the
'Farmer's cheese' hoop cheese. A lasagna or something along those lines
might be a better fit for the curds and whey meaning of the term, but as
always, your milage may vary, and actually if anyone has a mac n cheese
recipe that uses that type of cheese I'd love to have it - I sort of collect
mac n cheese recipes, although I mostly use my mom's old recipe.

Anyway, $0.02 more from my corner. BTW, Olivers, what part of the US are
you from? Around here hoop pretty much means yellow, and what you (and lots
of other people) call hoop cheese we call Farmer's cheese. Just curious,
I'm starting to wonder about the geographic distribution of this
terminology...

Thanks,
Ken Coble

Kenneth Coble muttered....



Anyway, $0.02 more from my corner. BTW, Olivers, what part of the US
are you from? Around here hoop pretty much means yellow, and what you
(and lots of other people) call hoop cheese we call Farmer's cheese.
Just curious, I'm starting to wonder about the geographic distribution
of this terminology...


Central Texas, but have lived and worked over much of the US except for the
Northwest, years of it in Florida. I'd never encountered "hoop" cheese as
anything other than a white "young" cheese, while what you're describing
sort of travels under the Cheddar, Colby, Longhorn or Rat (Trap)
designation (sort of depending on strength of flavor, but even that can
vary and today's US Cheddar is pretty mild "Wisconsin" style except for
gourmet varieties and some places like cabot which mass market sharper
cheese).

In the US, red or black rinds on "Cheddar" used to be indicators of longer
aging, but red seems simply ornamental these days.

TMO

"Olivers" wrote in message
...
Kenneth Coble muttered....



Anyway, $0.02 more from my corner. BTW, Olivers, what part of the US
are you from? Around here hoop pretty much means yellow, and what you
(and lots of other people) call hoop cheese we call Farmer's cheese.
Just curious, I'm starting to wonder about the geographic distribution
of this terminology...


Central Texas, but have lived and worked over much of the US except for
the
Northwest, years of it in Florida. I'd never encountered "hoop" cheese as
anything other than a white "young" cheese, while what you're describing
sort of travels under the Cheddar, Colby, Longhorn or Rat (Trap)
designation (sort of depending on strength of flavor, but even that can
vary and today's US Cheddar is pretty mild "Wisconsin" style except for
gourmet varieties and some places like cabot which mass market sharper
cheese).

In the US, red or black rinds on "Cheddar" used to be indicators of longer
aging, but red seems simply ornamental these days.

TMO

Interesting to know. The cheese we bought at that little store followed the
black rind = sharper rule. And I have heard it called rat-trap cheese
around here. Colby I never really heard that much until the advent of
mass-market Colby Jack cheeses. Longhorn isn't one I've heard around here.
It is interesting to see how people react to true Cheddar cheese when they
have it for the first time. I remember it took me a while to appreciate it,
and while I like it now I still really like a couple of pieces of the
'rattrap' cheese with plain saltine crackers.

It's interesting to trace these different local names for stuff... thanks
for replying. We could probably get a halfway decent new thread out of the
topic... Anyway, I'm off to have dinner, and a big chunk of Maytag Blue
(thereby neatly stepping out of the whole yellow cheese arena!)

Thanks again,
Ken Coble

Kenneth Coble muttered....


It's interesting to trace these different local names for stuff...
thanks for replying. We could probably get a halfway decent new
thread out of the topic... Anyway, I'm off to have dinner, and a big
chunk of Maytag Blue (thereby neatly stepping out of the whole yellow
cheese arena!)

I still think of the "Black Rind" as , hopefully, sharper. One of the
advantages of a multi-cultural environment is that a number of STexas
dairies now produce passable Mexican cheeses in several varieties fro dry
and crumbly through meltable and the new "fresh' sorts, all a bit different
than to what the standard "store bought" American palate may be used.

"Longhorn" may be a regional term, but usually suggests a Cheddar/Colby
type cheese produced in logs instead of big wheels.

Color - Most American cheeses are "dyed to match" to achieve that glorious
orange glow, and I suspect that the color comes straight from Mexico's
annatto seeds, also apparently used in Chile to supplement the food of farm
raised salmon and steelhead trout. I've been told that the need to color
comes both from customer preference and the composition of dairy cattle
feed in the US, long on makeup from materials which lend no color to dairy
products. Having grown up around cotton, the idea that any beast could be
happy chewing cotton seed cake.....

Being old enough to remember when the milk delivered by our local small
dairy came with a few inches of buttercup yellow cream atop the bottle, I
don't reckon they "bleach" store-bought whipping cream these days.

TMO

TMO

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 22:13:45 -0600, Alan wrote:

Now, my question: Is ANY cheese naturally orange in color?

Don't think so. Even cheddar made here in Norway is orange-yellowish
in color. Do not know what they use for coloring. Should occur on the
declaration, so maybe I'll check tomorrow.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 14:56:34 +0100, Alf Christophersen wrote:

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 22:13:45 -0600, Alan wrote:

Now, my question: Is ANY cheese naturally orange in color?

Don't think so. Even cheddar made here in Norway is orange-yellowish
in color. Do not know what they use for coloring. Should occur on the
declaration, so maybe I'll check tomorrow.

Cheddar cheese before it became common practice to add annatto
varied in colour due to the grass at the cows ate. Spring grass is richer
in beta carotene so the milk was a deeper colour and so was the cheese.
Consumers assumed that the deeper colour meant more milk fat and therefore
richer cheese.

I suppose that a cow that was fed just carrots would produce an orange
cheese. Anyone with a cow willing to test the hypothesis?

--
Cymru Llewes
Caer Llewys

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 01:07:05 GMT, Cymru Llewes
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 14:56:34 +0100, Alf Christophersen wrote:

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 22:13:45 -0600, Alan wrote:

Now, my question: Is ANY cheese naturally orange in color?

Don't think so. Even cheddar made here in Norway is orange-yellowish
in color. Do not know what they use for coloring. Should occur on the
declaration, so maybe I'll check tomorrow.

Cheddar cheese before it became common practice to add annatto
varied in colour due to the grass at the cows ate. Spring grass is richer
in beta carotene so the milk was a deeper colour and so was the cheese.
Consumers assumed that the deeper colour meant more milk fat and therefore
richer cheese.

I suppose that a cow that was fed just carrots would produce an orange
cheese. Anyone with a cow willing to test the hypothesis?

But *why* orange cheese? I spent a lot of time Googling yesterday and
gave up. I mean, why would a more richly-colored cheese be desirable?
The questions of beta-kerosene is rather recent, and much cheese
(Cheddar, Gloucester, etc.) has apparently been colored with annatto
for quite some time. More milkfat? I've read that wartime (WWI) oleo
came with dye pellets to knead in to make the (presumably white) fat
look more like butter. Are people strange, or what? :-)

Frogleg said:

I've read that wartime (WWI) oleo
came with dye pellets to knead in to make the (presumably white) fat
look more like butter.

Not just during wartime. I remember being regularly given the kneading job
around 1952 or so. I would have been 7-8 years old at the time. The undied
margerine was ghastly white and looked (and tasted) like Crisco. (I remember
trying that too.)

--
Bob
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://kanyak.com

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:28:55 +0200, "Opinicus"
wrote:

Frogleg said:

I've read that wartime (WWI) oleo
came with dye pellets to knead in to make the (presumably white) fat
look more like butter.

Not just during wartime. I remember being regularly given the kneading job
around 1952 or so. I would have been 7-8 years old at the time. The undied
margerine was ghastly white and looked (and tasted) like Crisco. (I remember
trying that too.)

I recall buying margarine with the separate coloring pellet in a small
Canadian trading post while on a fishing trip ~1960. My mother
commented that she hadn't seen that since the end of WWII.
----
Diogenes )

The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again . . . .

Alan wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:42:58 -0500, Diogenes
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:28:55 +0200, "Opinicus"
wrote:

Frogleg said:

I've read that wartime (WWI) oleo
came with dye pellets to knead in to make the (presumably white) fat
look more like butter.

Not just during wartime. I remember being regularly given the kneading
job
around 1952 or so. I would have been 7-8 years old at the time. The
undied
margerine was ghastly white and looked (and tasted) like Crisco. (I
remember
trying that too.)

I recall buying margarine with the separate coloring pellet in a small
Canadian trading post while on a fishing trip ~1960. My mother
commented that she hadn't seen that since the end of WWII.
----
Diogenes )

The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again . . . .


We had that stuff when I was a kid, but I don't think the real reason
was the war. At the time, the dairy producers didn't want margarine
on the market. While they weren't able to keep it off the market,
they were able to keep it from being yellow, like butter.

Hence, the dye 'pill'.

This was in Illinois in the middle-to-late '40s.



I remember ours coming in a oblong plastic bag with a dye pellet and my mom
would let us knead it. I hated the stuff!

Never use anything but butter now.