Here’s a preview of today’s subscriber post. For the full story and recipe, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you! A Party Perfect Cheese Ball - No. 259An old-school holiday appetizer gets a facelift thanks to Vivian Howard and David Lebovitz + cranberry chutney to spoon over
WHEN I THINK OF CHEESE BALLS, I am reminded of the mail order catalogs my father used to peruse—no, drool over—back in the days leading up to Christmas. They came from the cold Midwest, the land of snow and Dobosh Tortes, of tidy kitchens where women made cheese balls and men drank hearty beer. It seemed a far-off land to those of us in the milder South, and that was the appeal. Around the holidays, Hickory Farms of Ohio opened kiosks at Southern shopping malls, and we got to sample cheese balls, some streaked red and tasting faintly of port. I never really gave cheese balls much thought again until Substack’s Ruth Stroud recommended the David Lebovitz cheese ball recipe last year. And David credits North Carolina chef and PBS TV personality Vivian Howard with the recipe.
In her 2016 bestselling book, Deep Run Roots, Vivian names this recipe the Party Magnet and says, ‘’cheese balls are so cliched they’ve actually become cool. Socially acceptable or not, when this thing is put out at a party of any kind, people hover over it like it’s a crystal ball.’’ Curious, I made Vivian’s recipe, and then I made it again. And again. Its creamy blue cheese (Vivian prefers Maytag blue and I used Stilton), the bright addition of goat cheese, and the surprise of sweet dates clearly wasn’t the OG orange cheese ball of my youth. Instead of Velveeta or Kraft’s Old English processed cheese spread, it was a rich concert of flavors and real cheese. We spread it on French bread or a Ritz, and Vivian says to keep the crackers simple so you let the cheese ball shine. I think she’s right. Just like that, cheese ball came back into my life. And it makes me wonder, where in the world did cheese balls come from?
In a 1944 cookbook, Food of my Friends, written by Minneapolis Tribune newspaper food and travel columnist Virginia Safford, is a simple cheese ball recipe. In Safford’s 1969 sequel cookbook, she ventured further into the genre with Cheese Rolls. These early recipes, such as one published by the Minneapolis Junior League in a 1941 cookbook, show the wartime dependability of cheese balls, blending cream cheese, minced onion, and dried beef, rolling it into small orbs and eating them off toothpicks. Even after World War II, cheese balls endured. In the beginning they might have been made with a bowl and a spoon and gravitated to the electric mixer, but when the Cuisinart food processor came onto the kitchen scene in the early 1970s, there was no limit as to what you could churn into a cheese ball. The Jackson Cookbook (1971) revealed a simple cheese ball of Velveeta, cream cheese, and Roquefort as well as a Shrimp Ball—a mixture of canned shrimp, cream cheese, onion, horseradish and liquid smoke combined, then chilled until firm. Not to be outdone, Southern Sideboards, the 1978 cookbook of the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi, shares ‘’Coleman’s Favorite Cheese Ball’’ made of 1 pound each shredded sharp cheddar, cream cheese, fried and crumbled bacon, grated onion, half a pound Roquefort, plus some garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce. Whiz it together in the processor and you have two cheese balls or four logs to serve 20! The best cheese balls are full of drama. In the Woman’s Exchange Cook Book (1964) from Memphis, you poke a hole in the Tally-Ho Cheese Ball scented with sweet French Sauternes and fill it with Heinz-57 steak sauce before rolling in chopped almonds. I’ll bet it was popular back then! So cheese balls are anything but boring. In fact, it’s not the cheese ball’s fault it’s been excommunicated along with the fruitcake. You can make a beautiful cheese ball if you begin with nice cheeses and add a surprise element, which Vivian Howard does with the chopped dates. (Or add Craisins or dried cherries as David Lebovitz suggests.) Cheese balls are just blueprints to create your own party magnets. And they’re time stamps, too. When future cooks look at our cheese balls they will see the world of cheeses at our fingertips and how clever we were playing sweet off of salty. And if there is something time will never forget, it’s the need for a do-ahead holiday appetizer, something to pull together to take to a party this Friday night. I know my Dad would approve. Are you following the Eight Cake Mix Hacks of Christmas? No. 5 (White Chocolate Glaze over Chocolate Pound Cake) will be revealed on my Instagram this week, and No. 6 (my new and improved HERSHEY BAR CAKE!) is coming to paid subscriber inboxes in a few days. Holiday Favorite Alert! Some of my favorite holiday recipes are resting in the archive for paid subscribers, too: Chocolate Saltine Toffee and Dayna’s Firecrackers, Chicken Tettrazzini, Christmas Steak and Dione Lucas’s Chocolate Roulade, Gingerbread Stars, Sugar Cookies, to name just a few… Have a good week! - xo, Anne
THE RECIPES: Vivian Howard’s Party Magnet Cheese BallThe best cheese ball has something going on inside and outside. It’s your choice to roll the ball in chopped fresh parsley or dill, or coat it in sliced almonds or chopped pecans toasted with a little kosher salt and butter. Can’t decide? Roll in half of each, offering something for everyone! And on top? My touch— cranberry chutney (for paid subscribers, see below), a Chattanooga recipe from my husband’s godmother, or maybe your favorite pepper jelly or a spoonful of apricot preserves. I added a little Pecorino Romano to Vivian’s recipe and I doubled it because if I’m making a cheese ball, I want a nice size that feeds 10 to 12. But suit yourself. You can also make this into a log by forming the mixture into a log on plastic wrap, chilling, and rolling on the counter into the shape you like. And if you are absolutely against the ‘’ball’’ in cheese balls, press the mixture onto a large platter, shower with the parsley and pecans, and dribble over the chutney for a cheese spread. Makes 10 to 12 servings
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