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

i use always chadder cheese for pizza
it is best type of cheese