NEW YORK — If we stipulate that neither the gelatinous neon orange stuff nor the pre-shredded stuff sold in plastic bags qualifies as cheese, I can say confidently that I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like. Cow, goat, sheep: Great. Firm, blue, ripened, fresh: All of the above. Between crackers, with apple slices, in sandwiches, on pizza: Yes.
So, really, this blog post is not meant to rebuke you for your cheese-eating habits: Whatever they are, I approve. Instead, this blog post is meant to draw your attention to an intriguing and unusual technique that will enrich your cheese life and, like a deep knowledge of Radiohead’s oeuvre, make you look way more sophisticated than you actually are.
I’m talking about turning hard, grate-able cheese, like Parmesan, cheddar or Manchego, into cheese crisps. You’ve probably been to a restaurant where your salad or appetizer came adorned with a thin, crispy, delicate disc of cheese — like a Florentine cookie, only savory. You might not know that making such discs at home is literally as simple as sprinkling grated cheese on a baking sheet and putting it in the oven for 10 minutes.
Granted, you have to pay attention to a couple of details to get your homemade cheese crisps to turn out well: For one, you need to line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Parchment paper is useful almost any time you’re baking — it does a way better job of preventing cookies, cakes and breads from sticking to the pan than a layer of oil does. But it’s not merely useful here; it’s crucial. If you don’t first line your cookie sheet with parchment, your cheese will harden semi-permanently onto it and require vigorous scraping to get off.