241 Fire

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
This week we learn all aboutthe oldest burned cheese in the world.
We talk about campfires, meltycheese, a Chicago Greek cheese invention,

(00:22):
and we discuss a Norwegiantunnel. We're also going to find
out if cheese can be used as acandle. And of course, we're going
to tell our very cheesy joke.Stay tuned for for episode fire on
Just Cheesy the podcast. Youknow, cheesy cheese and fire go way
back.
Way back.
It turns out that this is oneof the oldest and most dramatic relationships

(00:43):
in culinary history.
It is.
Someone burned some cheese inDenmark 3,000 years ago, and the
actual pot survived. Accordingto NPR in the Smithsonian Magazine,
archaeologists were digging ina Bronze Age trash heap in a hilly
wetland in Denmark and theyunearthed a completely intact clay
pot. It contained charredresidue burned on the inside. According

(01:06):
to head archaeologistRasmussen of the Silkburg Museum,
it was a glassy, foamysubstance. They say it was a lot
like you've had a fire. Andthe ashes have been burning so hot
that they sometimes cinder together.
Wow.
Analysis at Denmark's NationalMuseum confirmed it was bovine lipids
consistent with a whey basedcheese similar to Bruno's. The pot

(01:27):
is approximately 3,000 years old.
Holy cow.
You can say that again.
Holy cow.
According to ZME Science andMental Floss, finding charred cheese
in ancient cookware isextremely rare. Archaeologists almost
always find charred grain orseeds. This discovery is considered
significant because itprovides a glimpse into the dairy

(01:47):
culture of ancient NorthernEurope. Let's fast forward a little
bit to 1574.
Fast forward.
According to Wikipedia andFood Republic, the word raclette
comes from the French wordraclair, meaning to scrape. References
to melting raclette typecheese in front of an open fire go
back to this date in the Swisscanton of Vela. Cow herders carrying

(02:09):
wheels of cheese moving cattleup or down the mountain would hold
the cheese near a campfire inthe evening to soften the face of
the wheel. When the surfacebecame molten, they would scrape
it directly onto bread. Justcheese, fire and a knife. And according
to Food Republic, the electricraclette machine was invented in
the 1950s and turned acampfire tradition into a tabletop

(02:31):
dinner party format.
Nice.
Wikipedia says the traditionis so embedded in Swiss identity
that the Swiss governmentofficial officially recognizes raclette
as part of the country'scultural heritage. Of course, my
namesake fondue takes the firerelationship one step further. Fondue
doesn't just use heat to meltcheese. It deliberately burns some

(02:51):
of it as the finale. Accordingto the Swiss government's official
About Switzerland site andgreat British chefs, when a fondue
is made correctly, a thincrust of toasted cheese forms on
the bottom of the pot. Thisdelicious crust is called la religieuse,
French for the nun. Accordingto Murray's Cheese and Food Republic,

(03:11):
the origin of the name isdebated. Murray's cheese says that
there is a theory that themonks would save this remaining bite
for nuns in the nearby abbey.Another theory says crust resembles
the cap that the nuns wore inthe middle ages. Even 1001 fondues.
You know the place that's beenserving fondue in Quebec since 1984?
Oh, yeah.

(03:32):
They say that the true originof the term remains an enigma with
many competing hypotheses.
Really?
But what's not debated is thischunk of cheese itself. The Swiss
government's official fondueguide says that it has a texture
of a waxy cracker. It's liftedout with a spatula. It's traditionally
considered the most prizedbite of the entire meal.
Oh, yeah.

(03:52):
Food Republic says thatsometimes when this big chunk of
cheese is removed from thepot, the Swiss will sometimes crack
an egg directly into theremaining pot and they cook it in
the last traces of cheese and heat.
Delish.
You can say that again.
Delish.

(04:56):
1001 fondues is not a sponsor,but if they are, one day their ad
will go right here. I've justrecently had this next one called
Saganaki, and this thing islike dinner in a show. Yeah, it's
flaming Greek cheese.
Yummy.
According to Olive Tomato andChicago magazine, fried cheese in
a small pan called a saganihas existed in Greek cuisine for

(05:20):
a long time.
It has.
The pan gives the dish itsname. But the fire, the brandy, and
the shout of opaque were notinvented in Greece. They were invented
in Chicago. The owner ofParthenon restaurant in Greektown,
Chicago, invented flamingSaganaki in 1968. Waiters at this
restaurant poured brandy orouzo over the hot fried cheese. They
set it alight. They shoutedopa. While ringing sheep bells. According

(05:43):
to multiple sources, thetradition spread to Greek restaurants
worldwide within a few years.According to Taste Atlas, the cheeses
traditionally used for thisdish include graviera, kasiri, enquela,
tear, and halloumi, all semihard cheeses that can withstand heat
without fully dissolving. Andthis really gives it a yummy flavor.

(06:04):
A pure palate. Cooking sitesays the flames are extinguished
with a squeeze of lemon juice.And let me tell you, it is so yummy.
So yummy.
And, of course, a littledramatic. And speaking of dramatic.
Okay.
There was a very dramaticcheese fire in a Norwegian tunnel.
According to NPR and the NorskStoryteller, In January of 2013,

(06:26):
a truck carrying approximately27 tons of Brunost caught fire inside
the Bratley tunnel in northernNorway. Now, Brunost, we just covered
in our Scandinavian episode,Nor Way Norway. And this is made
by boiling whey with creamuntil the milk sugar is caramelized.
Oh, yeah.
But it's that caramelizedsugar and high fat content that make

(06:47):
it extraordinarilycombustible. They say when Brunos
catches fire, it burns nearlyas intensely as gasoline. A Norwegian
police officer at the scenedescribed it as burning like petrol.
And I'm talking pretty bad here.
Oh, no.
According to npr, the fireburned for five days.
Five days.
The intense heat and toxicgases from the burning cheese made
it nearly impossible forfirefighters to approach.

(07:09):
Oh, no.
The tunnel was so badlydamaged that geologists had to assess
the structural integritybefore it could reopen.
Oh, no.
Traffic was closed for weeks.
Holy cow.
And I guess a fire thatintense made me think, can cheese
actually be a candle?
Can it?
And the answer is sort of inthree different ways.
Okay.

(07:30):
And all are very interesting.The first is an edible cheese candle.
According to Kiwico's KitchenScience series for young experimenters,
you can make a fullyfunctional edible candle. You fill
a small container with softcheese. You press a pecan half lengthwise
into the center, and you lightthe tip of the nut.
What?
Kiwico says that pecans burnbecause of their high oil content.

(07:52):
Really?
Similar to how a wick drawsliquid wax into a flame. The pecan
burns for a few minutes. Thecheese is the substrate and the nut
is the wick. When the flamegoes out, you simply eat it. Now,
there's a second way to makesomething here with cheese. It's
as a wax fire starter.According to Gippsland Unwrapped,
an Australian sustainabilityblog, the paraffin wax coating on

(08:14):
cheeses like Gouda isgenuinely flammable. So the blogger
discovered that cheese waxcan't be composted. The blogger also
discovered that it cannot besafely used in regular candle making
because of health concernsfrom petroleum based paraffin. But
it can be melted down and usedto make fire starters.
Really?
You melt the cheese wax downin a double boiler. You pour it over

(08:36):
dryer lint packed in cardboardtubes, like toilet paper tubes.
Oh, no.
And you let it harden. Theresult is a functional fire starter.
No way.
And then, of course, there arenovelty cheese candles. Of course,
there's an entire market forcandles shaped like Amanthal wedges,
Brie Mac and cheese bowls, andthese are usually made from soy wax
or paraffin, not actualcheese. And they're not edible. But

(08:59):
there's a London gift shopcalled Choosing Keeping.
Okay.
And the wax used to make theirfood shaped candles is the same grade
of paraffin used to coatactual cheese for preservation. The
cheese wax and the candle waxare literally the same material.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay. Why didn't cheese wantto jump on the grill?
I don't know why.
It was afraid of having a meltdown.

(09:19):
Oh. Ha ha ha. Get it. I getit. That was silly.
Yeah, it's kind of. It's kindof silly and a little bit cheesy.
Thanks for listening to JustCheesy, the podcast episode Fire.
Thank you.
From Bronze Age fire to aNorwegian tunnel disaster, cheese
and fire have always found one another.
Yeah.
And you can find other hotthings hot on our website, justcheesy.com

(09:43):
or wherever you get your podcast.
Stay Cheesy, everybody.

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