Limburger: That’s Putting It Mildly

This cheese is famously stinky but actually very mild in flavor. Anney and Lauren dig into the science and history of limburger cheese.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Sabor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Moine Mogelbaum. And today we
have an episode for you about Limburger cheese. Yes, and
you know we love cheese around here. Oh yeah, oh yeah,
we love talking about it. Uh And we have done
several cheese episodes, uh and bass that you should check out.

(00:29):
But I really didn't know much about this one, and
it was a really fun to learn about. Oh you
don't think you've ever had it? It sounds like I
would remember if I had it. Um. I did go
to a cheese event once where I mean spoiler, not

(00:49):
spoil alert, a Limburger has a strong smell, a strong event. Yeah.
I did go to a cheese event once where there
was a cheese that they, uh like really prefaced and
disclaimed and they're like people, A lot of people can't
handle the smell and it when they brought it out,
I made several people gag and I ate it and

(01:12):
it was fine. But that's the only thing. I'm like,
maybe that was it, but I don't know. Yeah, Um,
I remember my my grandmother, my grandma Gloria. I used
to buy Limburger. I think was a more mild version
um that yeah. Like I mean like I like like
I ate it as a kid, like on like as

(01:33):
a as a sandwich filling um. And I remember I
remember it having a strong scent but a mild flavor.
I I just don't remember it being that strong or
like that off putting. But also like I've always been
like like I grew up in a household where I
was really encouraged and allowed to um to eat weird

(01:55):
foods from a young age, and so like, I never
I was never the kid who it's like Na, there
was like one year where I was like, I want
a plane hamburger and I'm going to eat the bun
and the burger separately, um for like a year. But
but right, but but oither than that, Like I've never
been that kid. So um. So I I don't know.
It's I think it's good, good, nice, nice good memories

(02:16):
of it. Okay, I'm wanna try it's just reading this.
It was one of those things that kind of tickled
me when we just we talked about humanity and how
will eat things that nature kind of evolved for us
not to eat, or was like trying to warn I
was like why are you doing things? Yeah? Yeah, it
kind of gave me that vibe and it really brought

(02:36):
George in my heart that I gotta smell this, right,
You're like, oh, that sounds so fascinating, Like yeah, no, no,
that and that urged Like I I there's there's a
certain almost like a morbid curiosity I suppose, but where
you're just like, oh man, that's terrible. You try it,
like you want to share it? Yeah, just the experience

(03:00):
it is, it is. I'm excited. I'm excited to check
it out. As I said, we have done several past
cheese episodes that you can listen to if you have not,
or we listen to. I guess, you know, whatever you want.
I would also say yogurt because I feel like yogurt
it's pretty involved in a lot of our cheese. Absolutely,
that's a and that's a really good. That one and

(03:20):
kind of sort of butter um are both really good
basis seas of um. Uh just the the process of
like milk coagulation, which features heavily milk coagulation. It is delicious. Okay,
So I guess that makes us to our question. I

(03:41):
guess it does Limburger cheese what is it? Well, Limburger
is a type of washed rind cow milk cheese that
smells real weird and tastes real normal. Um. It's it's
made in a small squarich blocks and not usually aged

(04:02):
very long. It'll have a springy soft to a creamy
soft texture and in a distinctive red orange, rusty colored
exterior that that smells like the inside of your gym
shoes after you just took a walk through a barnyard.
Yeah huh, But that interior is creamy yellowish white um,

(04:27):
maybe laced with some small holes and just sort of
sweet and buttery and flavor. It is often eaten, sliced
in sandwiches or incorporated in recipes. I guess, however, you
want to use a semmy soft cheese. Um, it's like
a it's like a very mild soft cheddar like with opinions,
kind of like the texture of like a like an

(04:49):
American monster or like a like a jack cheese or
something just just nice and yeah, but with anius um,
it's like it's like if you're walking around in Dungeons
and Dragons and you spot what appears to be a
totally normal brick, but you get closer and you're like, oh, no,

(05:09):
it's a mimic. Um, but it's cheese and it's actually delightful.
Oh that sounds fun. I mean a mimic would be scary,
I guess. But in general I like this vibe of
you know, this cheese has got a lot going on.
It's kind a lot going on for it. It does,
it does, and it's it's a little bit surprising. Um,

(05:30):
it's in a way I find fascinating. Yeah, yeah, uh
And okay, we get to talk about washed rind cheese
is yeah, um, but first, but first cheese, one oh one,
all right. Cheese is a way of preserving milk by
getting some of the water out because harmful microbes need

(05:51):
water to grow, and also of condensing the nutritious and
tasty fats and proteins and stuff, which also happens to
make cheese a little bit more portable than like liquid milk.
All of these are good things. So you take some
milk from cow in this case, and convinced that milk
to coagulate and push some of the water that's in

(06:11):
it out, in this case by adding a rennet, which
is a protein that does that. A rennet originally comes
from the stomachs of young cows or other milk producing animals,
where it helps them digest their mother's milk, but these
days it's more likely to be produced in a lab anyway. Um,
the water and stuff that has been released is called whey,
and the solids are the kurds. For limburger, you collect

(06:33):
the kurds and squish them into a rectangular mold forming blocks,
and at that point you keep them in a warmer
and more humid environment than you generally want to with cheese,
like like up around sixty fahrenheit, which is fifteen five
celsius like up over humidity, because what you are trying
to do here is create a space that first some

(06:57):
yeasts and then this very picular bacterium like to hang
out in. And that bacterium is breavy Bacterium linens. All right,
So most cheeses you want to keep fairly dry. You're
usually looking to let the surface dry out and let
moisture so slowly evaporate out of the cheese. But this

(07:19):
is what sets washed rind cheese is apart. You're you're
purposefully keeping the surface moist by frequently gently washing it
down with a solution of brine and maybe with some
alcoholic beer, and the warmth plus moisture plus salt is
what lets these bacteria thrive. Um. And you'll notice that

(07:42):
warmth plus moisture plus salt is also the environment of
the inside of your shoe. It wasn't particularly notice noticing that,
but yeah, you're right, yeah, yeah, like if you're sweating,
that's what the inside of your shoe is like. Um. Anyway,
the the yeast meanwhile, prepare the surface of the cheese

(08:05):
by de acidifying it a bit. Um and also that
that serves to make it a little bit slimy um Uh.
The east colony will die off as the bacteria take hold. Originally,
these bacteria would have been added to the surface of
the cheese naturally from from the hands of the workers
washing it, because these bacteria do often live on our
skin and would have just hitched a ride. Um. These days,

(08:27):
you've probably add a culture of the bacteria like on purpose.
But yes, so so the next step in making this
cheese is too physically rub down each block daily um
with your brine solution, removing some of the salime as
you go, until the surface becomes moist tacky. And this
reddish smear develops and that's your b linen's colony. And

(08:49):
these bacteria will will start eating the fats and proteins
on the surface of the cheese. UM only the surface.
They do need oxygen so they can't dive too far
into the body of the cheese. And and as they
go they'll be excreting stuff like alcohols and flavors bacteria. Uh.

(09:11):
And those flavors includes stuff like um acetic acid, which
is vinegar, uh isovlaric acid, which is basically body odor um,
and uh coporic acid, which is like barnyard Wow, yeah, yeah,
okay um. The blocks are then individually wrapped in paper

(09:34):
lined foil and moved into a cooler environment where the
bacteria can no longer thrive. But but the compounds they
created on the surface will continue developing and the body
of the cheese will set. So if it's aged for
a couple of months, limburger will be kind of soft,
springy in texture, and fairly mild. Incent aged another couple

(09:57):
of months, it starts going soft and spreadable. UM, not
quite like a bree but like approaching a brie, and
uh in a really intense scent will develop the interior,
though stays a sweet and earthy. It will start to
gain a better hint the longer that it ages, and
the blocks will have rounded corners thanks to all of
that man handling. Okay, yeah, yeah makes sense. Yeah. One

(10:23):
of the traditional ways to serve it is sliced on
a cold sandwich made with some kind of dark flavorful
bread like a like a rye or a pumpernickel. Um,
maybe with some some raw shaped onions and some brown
mustard on there. So good. Uh. It's also frequently served
with bright jams like raspberry or strawberry, or with dark
beers or dark coffee. All of these pairings are meant

(10:45):
to play up the bitter sweet flavors and kind of
mitigate the strong scent of the cheese. Yeah, and serving
it serving it cool does help. Um. Heating limburger definitely
intensifies the scent. Uh. If you're into that sort of thing,
you want to let it warm up to room temperature. Generally,
it's recommended to let cheese is warm up to room

(11:06):
temperature for their best expression of flavor and texture. But
if you aren't going for that thing, you might want
to keep it chilled. Uh. There there is a story
that a deli in Wisconsin, um, which is the place
in America where this cheese is made. Uh, they tried
melting a limburger in a microwave once and wound up

(11:27):
having to throw out the microwave because end I quote,
everything coming out of it after that tasted like limburger.
O great love that. Yeah. Yeah, another another tip from

(11:48):
from the internet, like if you if you're looking to
minimize that that odor, you can um rinse or or
remove the rind once you get the cheese home. But
I feel like at that point, like what do you like?
What do you do? And come on, like lean into
it right right, Yes, it's by Colby Jack if you
want to do that, Like, oh it sounds like a challenge.

(12:10):
Now again, I just love this whole thing where it's
like all the smell is so strong and it's for
a lot of people perhaps off putting, are bad. Let's
eat it, let's do it. Yeah, the sandwich does sound
really good to me. When I was doing the research,
I was like okay, yeah, yeah, well what about the nutrition.

(12:33):
Cheese is a calorically dense food. Uh yeah what what
watch your watch your portion sizes? Um? Uh? It does it?
Does have some good you know, proteins and fats in there,
so it'll it'll help keep you going to you know,
I eat vegetable, drink of water. Yeah yeah, uh, we
have some numbers for you A couple A couple. Um

(12:55):
so as often the one Limburger factory in United States
was producing about six hundred thousand pounds a year. Wow
yeah yeah. Um. However, in one survey, um it was
a relatively small survey thing, was only like seven and
fifty people, but it was but it was a pretty good,

(13:17):
pretty good cohort um. It was taken in the Northeast
United States circuit. Only fourteen percent of respondents said that
they enjoyed washed around cheeses like Limburger. Wow. Huh okay.
Well I wonder mm hmmm. I wonder if it's that

(13:38):
they've never had it or that they haven't had it
well right, sure, you know, I don't know and research
and like, like you know, just just just what your
culturally used to in different areas. I wonder if you
like went to parts of Germany or Belgium and asked them,
they would be like, oh yeah, heck yeah we do
that every day. Like what are you talking about exactly.

(14:00):
M hmmm, well, listeners, let us know, yes, but in
the meantime, we do have some history for you. We
do when we're going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break for a
word from our sponsors, we're back. Thank you sponsoring, Yes,

(14:23):
thank you so yes. You can see our past cheese
episodes and our yogurt episode for more about cheese. Is
more about this conversation. I was also thinking about uh
way back and the way way back when we were
doing YouTube videos m Kristen Conger of Unladylike and formerly
stuff I Never told you and Bim Bowling of stuff

(14:45):
they don't want you to know. Tons of other things. Uma.
There was a brief there's a short lived food stuff
uh YouTube series, and there's a very funny there's one
about cheese, and there's kind of a funny the origin
of cheese. Oh yeah, hid in a cheese in black
and white. It's pretty good anyway, but yes, okay. So basically,

(15:10):
cheese originated in different forms all over, largely by accident,
and then was refined in specific regions based on ingredients, taste, cultures,
and conditions. Mm hmm. Uh. Most of the sources I
I found about this, but the origination of Limburger cheese
in the Middle Ages, in the region that is now Belgium,

(15:32):
Germany and the Netherlands, and often specifically the Limber region
of Belgium, where Trappist monks were some of the early
producers of washed rind cheeses. Yeah, these may have been
being produced by like the twelve hundreds or so. Yes,
And of course there is a specific story I couldn't verify,
but there is a specific story about washing down cheese

(15:55):
Rhymes and it goes that a monk was on cheese
duty during the Middle Ages and he saw this mold
growing on the cheese, and he scrubbed down the cheese
with a mixture of brine and alcohol. A couple of
days passed and the mold was back, so yes, so
the monk did it again. The process resulted in a

(16:17):
stinky and sticky cheese, which was not at all what
they were going for. Um. But of course somebody tried
it before somebody did um, and it had this kind
of meaty flavor. So the monks started using it as
a meat replacement during times of fasting. That's how the
story goes, Like I said, I couldn't really verify it,

(16:38):
but yeah, yeah. By the nineteenth century, this process was
called putrefactive fermentation, which I adore. Oh that's the name
of something I mean, Oh my gosh. Yeah, that paints

(17:00):
a picture. It does, it does. Um. The timeline is
a bit foggy with the cheese, but it didn't take
long for cheeses like this to become popular in Europe. Yeah,
I I couldn't find an authoritative source. But what I
think happened is this. Okay, So this, this corner of
Europe that we're talking about is like smack on the

(17:22):
border of what's now Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. And
historically it's been called Heaven uh for nicknamed after a
town there, and it was also part of the Roman
duchy of Limburg. And so these monks in the region
we're creating and refining these washed rind cheeses. In the area,

(17:43):
the product became known as Heaven, but as the cheese
moved around, it was sometimes called Limburger cheese or cheese
from Limburg. She's called Heava. Is still produced in the area.
Like it has a p d O protected as nation
of origin, like a set of rules about what can
be called hella and how it can be made to

(18:05):
to ensure quality and tradition are upheld. But in other areas,
similar cheeses became known as Limburger um and and the
term Limburger cheese appears in print in English by eighteen seventeen. UH.
With European colonists making their way to America and improvements
that came with the Industrial Revolution, UM cheesemakers in the

(18:28):
US started producing Limburger in the nineteenth century. Records show
it was first produced here in eighteen sixty seven, if
not earlier, but around that time. Um And Yes, Wisconsin
has long been the home for a lot of this.
At one point Monroe, Wisconsin alone hosted over one factories

(18:48):
making Limburger and other cheeses. She's making really got going
in the area in the eighteen forties, and Swiss immigrants
who settled there bought their cheeses and taste with them.
Rudolph Bankerts specifically gets credit for being the first to
make Limburger in Wisconsin in the cellar of his home.
Who knows what that's the popular story that it gets

(19:10):
told UM Within a couple of decades, over twenty five
cheesemakers were producing limburger in the area, and over one
companies were producing it by nineteen thirty. I read it
was a practical cheese during harsh winters like those in Wisconsin. Um,
and people add all kinds of ways on toast, on

(19:30):
sandwiches and as an accompaniment to beer. Um. It was
affordable and everywhere. Oh yeah. In eighteen eighty five, five
Wisconsin dairy farmers came together to form the Chalet Cheese Cooperative. UM,
though that name wasn't adopted until nineteen forty seven. That
trips me up all the time. UM, but anyway, oh
yeah yeah. Over time, demand for limburger grew, and the

(19:53):
cooperative pushed to meet it. As of nineteen six, Monroe
accounted for nine percent of Wisconsin's limburger. UM. Seven million
pounds was being produced in Wisconsin by nineteen thirty six.
And I love this. It was a local train line
that was established. It was called the Milwaukee five oh eight,
but it was nicknamed the Limburger Special because it was

(20:15):
specifically for transporting limburger. UM. And earlier in the nineteen twenties,
the Craft Brothers and yes, those Craft Brothers joined up
with chile A cheese to distribute limburger, and that fueld
even more growth. Yeah. Skipping ahead of nine seven, Craft
and CHILEI built a limburger plant in Monroe like like

(20:35):
like all like, all new and shiny and modern, uh
an expanded version of which is still where Chilli produces
that their product today. There's a story that at some
point in the plant's history, Craft management wanted to replace
the pine boards that were that were being used to
store limburger while it was curing with something more sanitary. Um,

(20:59):
So they took him out replaced him with something The
resulting batches of cheese were ruined, but not all was lost.
They had not thrown away the old boards yet, and
so once they were restored, they were back in business. Um.
Supposedly those same boards are in use today with the
culture first developed in nineteen eleven. Fascinating. Yeah. During the

(21:25):
seventies was turning an annual two million pounds of limburger. Yeah.
But things have not always been great for limburger in
with Wisconsin. In Monroe based politician described the limburger producing
plants in the area as quote, a premeditated outrage upon

(21:46):
the Organs of smell, which we have to admit is
pretty solid slam whether we Yeah, that's pretty good. Um.
Mark Twain called the older quote most evil around the
same time. Yeah, there was a there was a joke
printed in Uh. Some frauds a few years ago started

(22:09):
a Limburger cheese factory down in Keyport, New Jersey, but
the imposition was soon exposed. A man could come within
three yards of the spurious article without being knocked down.
I love it, oh um and yeah. According to one
story I read, a doctor in Kentucky said that the
cheese was the same as quote animal life and that

(22:31):
it was quote unwholesome and full of microbes. And apparently
this got it banned in Kentucky. Two. Something I read
made it sound like it was more of a train.
The train just smelled so badly, and it did the
smell got into other things. Yeah yeah um. A local
group of Germans protested this. This man related. Another story

(22:57):
goes that an Iowan post office worker who was overwhelmed
by the smell of a Limburger package they were delivering,
went to the postmaster, who then went on to ban
shipping and delivering of this cheese for quote objectionable smells. Um. Yeah, yeah,
and the odor was primarily blamed, but there was an air,

(23:19):
certainly an Arab skepticism and racism against arriving immigrants and
their foods they brought with them. In the nineteen forties,
American companies started coming out hard against germs and smell.
Like I read a again, if we were a different podcast,
I was like, who, I want to learn more about this,
but kind of like being really clean, being sanitized, that
kind of thing. Limburger was a casualty of that, and

(23:42):
the cheese saw pretty steady decline. By the nineteen eighties,
there was only one plant producing Limburger left in Wisconsin,
the che Cheese Cooperative. Um. They managed to make it
through by making other cheeses and cornering the US limburger market. Yeah,
they're right. The their production would never would never be

(24:04):
the same as it wasn't their heyday, and Kraft ended
their distribution deal in Yeah. Um, However, it sounds like
Monroe from what I've wrote Wisconsin. Yes, it was very
very they they have embraces cheese. They have gone on

(24:25):
and been like no Limburger, It's part of part of us. Um.
From a culture cheese mag article. Limburger, a name steeped
in memory and meaning, a word that elicits a visceral response.
Sitting incognito at the far end of the bar, I
watched the drama unfold. Three women visiting from Milwaukee dare
one another to try the famous menu item, thick pieces

(24:47):
of Limburger cheese and raw red onion between slices of
rye bread. The bravest one volunteers. She pinches her nose
shut in preparation. Her friends look on, eyes wide with
cringe and curiosity. Surely they've heard the stories, the rumors
of wedding pranksters who smear Limburger cheese atop of honeymoon
car's engine, sending an assaulting aroma through the vehicle. That's

(25:09):
the newly last drive away. Maybe they read the Invalid
story by Mark Twain in which two men mistake a
box of Limburger for decaying corpse. Perhaps they remember seeing
the Three Stooges faint over a whiff of the cheese.
Or they watched Charlie Chaplin toss it into enemy trenches
and shoulder arms. It's stink, compelling surrender. Whatever they've heard,

(25:33):
Limburger's reputation precedes it. The brave tourist closes her eyes
and takes a bite. Gosh, that's so funny. Oh, that's
so funny again, kind of going back to this human nature. Yeah, wonderful.

(25:58):
And and and Limburger was I I didn't like write
out all the cultural notes because because that one, because
that quote encompassed a bunch of them, but there are
I think Limburger was really used as like the stinky
cheese and American pop culture very very heavily in like
the middle of the nineteen hundreds, Like it shows up
in looney tunes and stuff like that. Um oh yeah,

(26:21):
all over the place. Uh but um about that smell?
Uh okay. And I want to preface this this history
note with um with the fact that originally Annie had
put a note about about this I think just as

(26:43):
just as a holder under the nutrition section, and and
she put in the link to one of these stories
about it, and and and just wrote I don't know,
I know, sometimes I feel like the worst mose because
I'm like, Lord, do you deal with this? Oh? Yeah, no, no,
I always I always look at that and I go, yes,

(27:04):
I shall step in. I've got this one. Don't worry,
thank you. Okay. So, so, in two thousand six, a
team of researchers published their findings that the female mosquitoes
that transmit malaria are attracted to the stinky feet odor

(27:26):
that's created by the bacteria b len ends makes sense.
I mean, it's a bacteria that lives in our skin.
Mosquitoes want to find our skins so that they can
suck our blood, so you know, it makes sense that
they would be attracted to it. It also makes me
wonder about vampires. I had the same thok. And of

(27:47):
course you would wonder about vampires. M hmmm, I don't
think we don't see you. We aren't mirrors. Oh no, okay, alright, alright.
So so anyway, your research research into using uh this

(28:10):
this scent to to create mosquito traps in malaria infested
areas UH was suggested by this research and went on
to be funded by the Gates Foundation. UM and the
team won an Ignoble prize for their work that year. Wow, stinky,

(28:34):
stinky odors changed in the world. Love it, love it,
love it. Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah anytime. It
did not go under the nutrition section. But yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough. I was just kind of like a, oh boy,
I don't know what this means. I need Lauren help

(28:57):
you did anytime I feel like you the stinky oder
odors in general? I'm like, yeah, we'll talk about this. Yeah,
we need like a bacterial odor signal that you can
just like like put up. And yeah, yeah, I agreed, agreed. Well,

(29:18):
I have very much enjoyed learning about this, honestly. Oh
yeah me too, me too. What fun um? And yeah,
we would love to hear from any of you who
have personal experience. Yes, yes, for sure, but we have
heard from some listeners already. Uh and we will share
their messages after we get back from one more break

(29:40):
for word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you, we're back with I am very sensitive to smell.

(30:03):
Actually that's probably my biggest I'm not sensitive to like
that's so much to taste, but smell can't get me.
So I do want to try this, but I'm kind
of curious. Yeah, play out. I'm I'm the guy who
doesn't mind like not though and stuff like that. So yeah,
it's well, it will be a fun experiment. Another thing

(30:25):
to add to our wilder and wilder feast that we
were planning. Oh dear, okay, yeah, I mean we already
got the dury in, so we do all right, um.
Melita wrote, what a delight to find your episode on
panatone in my downloads, right after sharing one with a friend.
I shouldn't be surprised, though, I think, as we cut

(30:47):
into my third for this holiday season. Panatone has been
a tradition in my family, brought to us by my aunt,
who taught math and Peru for many years before returning
to the States. She had her favorite breakery in Lima
for panata tony, but as far as the mass produced
ones are concerned, Didna frio is the best in our opinion.
Insidebar I tried to find that pronunciation and that's all

(31:08):
I could find. So hopefully yes, Melita continues. This year,
my aunt had to buy our panatone at Sam's Club,
but since we do not have access to any Latin
American grocery stores in the area. To our surprise, the
second one we ate had mold growing on top. This
has never happened to us before. My sister had a
panatone from my aunt from her favorite local bakery and

(31:31):
Peru for months before being able to deliver it, and
all it did was shrink a bit over time. My
parents held onto a dinofrio for a year before eating it,
and it was perfectly fine. But it was okay. We
just had to sacrifice the delicious dome of bread to
the mold and cut it off. Anyway, Thank you for
the episode. Knowing about the production process makes me appreciate

(31:53):
the unique flavors of the different brands and the high
price point. Now I need to go make some hot
chocolate to dunk my pen the tony. Oh I bet
that is good? Yeah right, yes, because I'm not I'm
not actually like in particular about chocolate. I sort of
want like I don't really like chocolate flavored breads, but

(32:15):
I bet dipping that and hot chocolate would be great. Um.
And Melia was also here using a different a different
spelling um, so it might be like like panoton Spanish,
but um, yeah, yes. And I do love, as you know,

(32:37):
we love these stronging opinions about food brands. And I
love that you have a line in here where it's
like held onto a dignafrio for a year. It's just
that's it. That's that's what it is I love that beautiful? Yes,
I want to foreign Pentatoni opinions. Okay, alright, more work

(32:57):
is to be done. Um uh, Paul wrote, I just
finished listening to your last listener mail. This is in
response to the ask about Scandinavian cream wafer cookies. They
sound like I could not found a pronunciation for this,
um pariser wafiers. Sure, let's go with that, um, he continues.

(33:19):
Attached is my family's recipe for them. This isn't a
long past down recipe, but likely came from a newspaper
or magazine decades ago or from a friend of the
family and tweaked by my dad. You need to work
in small batches, and even then it's tricky to work
fast enough because the dough is mainly just butter. Dropping
the temp in the house, and if you can have
a cold counter to work on it can help, but

(33:41):
it's still challenging. You may also be tempted to make
them bigger, since it's more of a good thing. This
makes the cookies too big to be structurally sound, and
if they do hold up, it's too rich. You need
a small break between small cookies, as you're just eating
butter and sugar. If you have ever been tempted to
eat the butter sugar mixed when creaming them together for

(34:01):
other recipes, you'll understand I definitely do that all the time. Agreed.
I'm sorry, I'm not sorry. Um okay. So the recipe
goes as follows. Um one cup soft butter, a third
cup of cream butter fat uh, and two cups sifted
Gold Medal flour. Mix well the butter, cream and flour. Chill,

(34:25):
heat your oven to three. Rollout dough one eighth of
an inch thick on a flowered board. Cut rounds out
with a one and a half inch cutter. Roll only
a third of the dough at a time, keep the
rest refrigerated. Transfer rounds to waxed paper heavily covered with
granulated sugar. Turn each round so the both sides are
coated with sugar. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Prick

(34:48):
with a fork about four times, and then bake seven
to nine minutes. Cool and put two cookies together with filling.
Makes about five dozen double cookies. And then the filling
is as follows. You blend a quarter cup soft butter
three fourths of a cup of sifted confection or sugar
and egg yolk, a teaspoon of vanilla and uh and tint,

(35:09):
half of it pink and half of it green. Oh,
oh my gosh, wow, that is that is a recipe.
Those those those those would just melt. Yes, And I love.
One of my very favorite things about reading recipes, which
is something I sometimes just do for fun, even make something. Yeah,
I was saying, um is when terms like constructurally sound

(35:33):
or use like these engineering terms. I enjoyed that so much. Yeah,
just the specificity here is great. And also, as we've
said a million times, we love so much. We had
a listener right in requested some aid about this recipe.
What what could these cookies be? And paul I answered

(35:54):
the call. Yeah. Yeah, and the and the spelling on
that in case I butchered, the pronunciation is m p
A r I s e er w a f I
e r s. Yeah. So that's if you're trying to
google it, I don't know, slow slow my voice down
to one half speed and type that in um or

(36:14):
or just or just google like Swedish cream cream wafers
and they'll probably come up. Yeah. Yeah, well, I'm I'm
very excited to hear to hear more about this. If
this is the correct thing, have we gotten to the
bottom of it? Yeah? And they do sound so good.
I'm like, that sounds so finicky. I dislike cutting I
dislike cutting out cookies, and I also dislike I mean like,

(36:37):
I'll do it for special occasions, but working with any
dough that that's that's that finicky because it's so much.
Butter is always like, oh what am I doing with
my life? Yeah, but it's so good. But it sounds
so good. It does well. We'll see, Lauren. Maybe the
feast continue to get bigger and bigger. Our dreams are
getting huge. I'm very excited to see what happens when

(37:03):
we finally do this. Um, but I'm also excited to
always hear from you listeners. Thanks to both of these
listeners for writing. If you would like to write to us,
that you can. Our email is hello at favorite pod
dot com. We're also on social media. You can find
us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod, and
we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production

(37:23):
of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.