GOATS MILK CHEESE THE ANDALUZ WAY

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The traditional container for curing cheese is a deep earthenware pot glazed on the inside. Nowadays, sturdy plastic pails are also used, with good results. (Since the cheese is covered with oil, it doesn't sweat and spoil as it does when the fresh product is kept in a plastic bag.) Either type of vessel is covered to keep out insects and cut down air contact.

Dried Andaluz cheeses which go into the pots in June and July are properly aged by fall. The cured rounds will keep for months, and those covered in olive oil will last "indefinitely" throughout the lean winter season and then some, or as long as they're likely to be needed. The product is slightly crumbly, and strong in flavor without being exactly sharp. Good as queso de cabra is fresh or slightly aged, the well-cured wheels are considered better still and are looked forward to by many families.

A third aging process is known but rarely used nowadays though it still has a few devotees. The method is simple: The dried cheese is placed in wheat and covered on all sides by a layer of grain at least a foot or so thick. Usually the round is just shoved back into the winter wheat supply (although chaff-the residue from harvestingis also used with similar results). After three or four months of curing, the cheese is truly sharp and piquant with a slightly nutty flavor.

CHEESE COOKERY

Goat cheese is extremely versatile. Either a fresh or a well-aged round is best eaten raw in sandwiches or salads. A wheel that has dried somewhat and become a bit yellow after two to four weeks of airing, or one that has cured in oil for a short time, may be cooked with good results (but won't melt for use in sauces and fondues). Such a dried cheese is added to hot soups at the last minute, and is included in stuffings for eggplant or sweet peppers.

When at this same firm yellow stage, cheese is excellent fried (a use that's unknown in most parts of Andalusia but does turn up here and there). Slices about 1 /4 inch thick and three to four inches long are cut from the slightly aged round and cooked uncoated in half an inch of medium-hot olive oil which has just reached the smoking point. The pieces are added one or two at a time, so as not to disturb the temperature in the skillet. Sometimes, too, queso de cabra is cut in smaller bits which are dipped in egg batter and fried for use as appetizers. In either case, the surface of the finished morsels should be golden brown and the interior softly melted but not so liquid as to lose its shape. Another way (un-Spanish but delicious) to serve the aged cheese is to cut it in half-inch cubes, coat them with flour, and deep-fry them for use as croutons in salad or soup.

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