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American hors d'oeuvre From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cheese ball is an American hors d'oeuvre that is a type of cheese spread. It first appeared in the 1940s, fell out of fashion, and then had a resurgence in popularity in the 21st century.
The cheese ball is typically made from grated hard cheese and softened cream cheese, sometimes with some sort of binder such as mayonnaise; the mixture is shaped, chilled to resolidify, and often rolled in nuts, seeds, or herbs to provide a decorative finish.[1][2] It is often served with crackers or crudites at holiday parties in the United States.[3][4][5]
Cheese balls are sometimes formed into wheels or logs rather than balls or shaped and decorated to represent a variety of items such as owls or pineapples.[1][6][7]
The dish is representative of mid-20th century US cuisine.[8] According to Splendid Table the first recipe appeared in a 1944 cookbook by Virginia Safford, a "wildly popular columnist" for the Minneapolis Star Journal.[8][9]
The dish fell out of fashion for a period; by the late 1980s the term "cheeseball" was synonymous with "lacking style, taste, or originality".[10] According to Amanda Hesser, writing for the New York Times in 2003, it "tend[s] to be associated with shag rugs and tinsel, symbols of the middle-class middlebrow".[2] Kim Severson, writing for The New York Times in 2016, said it was "the culinary equivalent of a Rorschach test".[7]
Amy Sedaris and her brother David wrote a play, The Book of Liz, that focussed on cheese balls as a metaphor for "the cliches we all live by", according to Ben Brantley.[7][11] She included a recipe in her 2006 cookbook, Hosting a Party Under the Influence, and in 2007 made a version on the Martha Stewart Show, which according to Severson, "elevated cheese ball kitsch to an art form".[12][7][13] According to Splendid Table's Jennifer Russell, writing in 2014, "Sedaris may be singlehandedly responsible for the cheese ball's revival."[8] In 2014 Culture, an industry magazine, said "cheese balls are making their comeback".[12] MplsStPaul Magazine called 2016 "the year of the cheese ball", calling the dish "the North’s answer to Southern pimento cheese".[7][9]
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