Empanadas De Queso

This recipe is lifted from the 1899 manuscript cookbook 'Libro de Cosina de la Sra Concepcion Lerma de Chacon', written in Mexico during a vibrant period of culinary evolution. The book features a blend of European techniques and Mexican ingredients, reflecting the tastes and resources of late 19th-century urban households. Edam cheese, known locally as 'queso de bola', was popular thanks to Dutch import routes and became a luxurious touch in various dishes. Cheese-filled empanadas were frequently found both as festive treats and as satisfying everyday snacks, packaged with the nostalgia and domestic comfort the 'cocina casera' of the era could offer. Culinary manuscripts like this were treasured family possessions, often hand-copied and handed down through generations, preserving memories of flavors and the ingenuity of home cooks at the turn of the century.

A wooden mixing bowl was likely used to combine and knead the dough, with a wooden spoon or hands for mixing. The dough would have been rolled out using a robust wooden rolling pin ('palote'), and circles cut with the rim of a glass or a round tin cutter. To seal the empanadas, the cook might use her fingers or the tines of a fork. Traditional frying was done in a heavy cast-iron pan or clay cazuela over a wood or coal stove, using clarified lard or rendered pork fat for that authentic golden crisp.