Things are getting cheesy — yes, even more than usual — this week in Lost Recipes. Get the crackers out, folks, because April 17 is National Cheeseball Day, and we’re spreading it on pretty thick.
In May 1987, the Montgomery Advertiser’s late, great roving reporter Alvin Benn visited a group of talented 4-H club students in Marion at the Muckle’s Ridge Festival. By this point in his career, Alvin had written about almost everything from civil rights, to hard crime, to features in every corner of the state. Odds are this story was a first for him.
The students — who would probably be in their 50s today — created a more-than-200-pound cheeseball. It wasn’t really a “ball,” having more of a mound shape. Surrounded by 4-Hers in the photo Alvin shot, the massive party food looked like a pecan-encrusted model volcano they were waiting to watch erupt. Instead, they ate it — and then sold it in pieces as a for $1 as 4-H club fundraiser.
The young chefs also handed out the recipe:
- 200 pounds of grated cheese (Alvin said half was shredded by hand.)
- 2 gallons of chopped olives
- A quart of Worcestershire sauce
- 10 ½ ounces of paprika
- 9 ½ ounces of garlic powder
- 1 cup of tobacco sauce (spicey!)
- 2 ½ pounds of chopped pecans
One ingredient cheeseball makers will notice missing is cream cheese, which is pretty much a staple in most recipes. If I had to guess, I’d say they left it out for the sake of stability — their cheese mound might have collapsed under its own weight if it had a softer interior.
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The kids had a “big cheese” they were working under — Perry County Cooperative Extension Service agent Joyce Richardson. She told Alvin, “This should be of adequate size to feed almost any crowd you might have, but if more is needed, just double the recipe.”
Bite-size cheese balls
One of the oldest references to cheese balls in the Advertiser is from October 1909. It’s also one of the tiniest, simplest versions. It’s a small ball of cream cheese, with half a walnut pressed into its top. Serve them up with walt wafers and cheese straws.
Peach salad surprise
Here’s a fancy cheeseball for upscale parties in 1933.
- ½ package of cream cheese
- 1/3 pound Roquefort cheese
- 12 ripe olives
- Sliced pineapple
- Canned peaches
- Pimento
- Head of lettuce
Mix the cream cheese with the olives. Place a pineapple slice on a lettuce leaf. Fill the center of the pineapple with the cheese mixture. Cover that with half a peach, sliced side down. Garnish it with a cross of pimento strips, and serve with French dressing. This should serve eight.
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Mushroom and cheeseball kabob
Cheeseballs on a stick, anyone? This one from December 1972 was suggested as a New Year’s Eve treat.
- 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon blue cheese, crumbled
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 6 drops hot pepper sauce
- ½ cup finely chopped blanched almonds
- 16 oz. whole mushrooms
Combine cream cheese and blue cheese, onion powder, hot pepper sauce, and ¼ cup of the nuts, and mix well. Shape the mixture into ¼ inch balls, and then roll them in the remaining nuts. Skewer a cheeseball and a mushroom on a “fancy toothpick.” Garnish it with paprika. You should end up with around 40 hors d’oeuvres.
Pumpkin-shaped walnut cheddar cheese balls
Want a cheese ball for your Halloween party? The Advertiser obliged readers in October 1982.
- 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/3 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickles
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- A few drops of hot sauce
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Mix the cheddar and cream cheese. Then mix in the pickles, mayo, mustard and hot sauce. Chill it until its firm enough to be made into a ball, then roll it into nuts. That’s the regular cheeseball recipe. If you want a jack-o-lantern looking one, skip the nuts and roll it into crushed cheese crackers. Use a knife or toothpick to make the vertical pumpkin lines. Use walnuts to make the face and stem.
Festive sage cheeseball
This last one from 1998 the oddball of the group. Like it’s ginormous cousin from the 4-H cheese mountain, it doesn’t use cream cheese. It’s a typical cheeseball size, but uses two types of cheddar.
- 1 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 10 oz. sharp yellow cheddar cheese, grated
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ cup sweet full-bodied port
- 30 pecan halves
By this time, food processors were very much a thing, and the recipe called for the cheese and butter to be put in one with sage, nutmeg and port to be mixed well. Then pour it out onto a plastic wrap and form it into a loose ball. Put it in the refrigerator to chill overnight “or for several days.” When you’re ready to serve it, form it into the desired shape. Stuff it with pecans halves and dust it with more nutmeg. Garnish it as desired and serve with crackers and fruit.
IF YOU TRY IT
If you decide to try one of these lost recipes, please send us a photo and a note on how it went. Send it in an email titled “Lost Recipes” to Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.
