pot cheese n [Prob calque of Du potkaas] chiefly NY, NJ, nPA, CT See Map Cf cook cheese n, Dutch cheese n, farmer’s cheese n, smearcase n, stink cheese n
A soft cheese made from sour milk curd, usu unaged (and in recent use, differing from commercial cottage cheese only in having a dryer texture), but occas = cook cheese n; a cake of such cheese.
1812 Paulding Diverting Hist. 111 NY, Tell me thou heart of cork, . . and brain of pot-cheese. 1838 NY Mirror 16.149/1, Then the tea and rich cream, the little pot-cheese, the short-cake, the quince sweetmeats in cut-glass dish, terminate the evening meal. 1847 (1852) Crowen Amer. Cookery 206 NY, To Make Pot Cheese.—Put butter-milk and thick sour milk together . . , make it scalding hot, then take the curd from the whey with a skimmer, put it into a muslin or linen bag, tie it up and hang it to drain; after an hour or two, . . moisten it slightly with sweet cream, put a little salt to it, work the salt into it, and make it in balls the size of a teacup. . . Pot-cheese should be made fresh, once or twice a week. 1854 Boston Eve. Transcript (MA) 1 July [2]/3, A sudden transportation, indeed, from our goodly city to a land of “Argoksingers,” “Lingenfelters,” “Vanheusens,” “Van-Veghtens,” &c., with their “souse,” “sour krout,” and “pot cheese.” [DARE Ed: The author is writing from Montgomery Co. NY.] 1872 Peterson’s Mag. 61.67 NEng, You might make one of your delicious pot-cheeses. [DARE Ed: In the story the pot cheese is made and consumed on the same day.] 1892 Rural New-Yorker 51.150/3, The skim-milk and buttermilk go to the cheese house, where they are made into pot cheese and schmier käse. The pot cheese is not finished—we simply ship it in barrels and kegs in the shape of curds, and it goes to the large cities, where it is made up for the table. 1907 PA German 8.133, Cup or Pot-Cheese. A quantity of the well scalded curds were put in a pot with a little salt added and kept in a uniform temperature of about 75 or 80 degrees, well stirred daily for about a week, by which time it was a sticky mass. This was placed in a pan in which a generous lump of butter had been melted, and the whole was brought to a boil with constant stirring. 1913 DN 4.54 ceNY, Pot-cheese. . . Cottage cheese. “Mrs. Henry will give pot-cheese for the church supper.” 1936 AmSp 11.375, [A contributor says] that in northern New Jersey pot cheese and cottage cheese are interchangeable terms, but that in various other parts of the country may be found persons who do not know what is meant by cottage cheese. 1939 Wolcott Yankee Cook Book 215, Sour Milk Cheese [Called also Dutch, Curd, Cottage Cheese and Connecticut Pot Cheese]. . . Place the milk in a pan on the back of the stove or over hot water until curd has separated from whey. Spread a cheese cloth over a strainer, . . drain or squeeze quite dry. . . Add the butter, salt, pepper and cream. 1949 Kurath Word Geog. 71, The Hudson Valley expression [for cottage cheese] is pot cheese, which is modeled on Dutch pot kees. . . This term is now in general use in the Dutch settlement area and has spread eastward into Connecticut (the Housatonic Valley) and the New England settlements of Long Island, and westward to the Delaware and the head of the Mohawk. 1950 WELS (The lumpy white cheese that is made from sour milk) 1 Inf, csWI, Cottage cheese or pot cheese; (Different kinds of home-made cheese) [same Inf,] Cottage or pot cheese, Dutch cheese, smeerkaas—[these are all] same kind. 1950 WELS Suppl. neWI, Pot cheese—made with cooked casein. Calumet Co., around New Holstein (low German settlement). 1955 Taber Stillmeadow Daybook 269 cwCT, And from the big curds of pot cheese, so creamy and mild, to the sophisticated flavor of a Port Salut, it is all good. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H60, The lumpy white cheese that is made from sour milk) 32 Infs, chiefly NY, NJ, PA, CT, Pot cheese; CO27, Pot cheese—common here; MD27, Pot cheese—made from cooked cottage cheese, also called stink cheese; NJ29, Cottage cheese; pot cheese—old-fashioned; NY20, Cottage cheese; pot cheese—old-fashioned; German lady; NY72, Pot cheese—old-fashioned; cottage cheese—high-toned; NY92, Pot cheese—made at home; cottage cheese—when the factory makes it; NY94, Cottage cheese—what we buy; pot cheese—when we make it ourselves—old-fashioned; NY130, Pot cheese—thick yellowish-white cheese; NY220, Pot cheese—old-fashioned; cottage cheese—now; PA176, Pot cheese—drier than cottage cheese; WI20, Pot cheese—heard in Pennsylvania; WI47, Cottage cheese; pot cheese—different; dried. 1980 NY Times (NY) 5 Mar sec C 4, Cottage cheese is one of the first stages. . . Pot cheese is left to drain for a longer period. . . Farmer’s cheese and pot cheese are practically identical, except that farmer’s cheese is generally molded. 1985 Palm Beach Post (W. Palm Beach FL) 21 Dec sec A 9/3, [Advt:] Oriole Kosher Inc. . . Bulk Pot Cheese 99ȼ lb. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance, 1 inf, ceTN, Pot cheese—like cottage but cooked; 1 inf, swGA, Pot cheese—heard of; 1 inf, swTN, Pot cheese. 2003 Record (Hackensack NJ) 6 Nov sec L 7/4, Callers may order potato, sauerkraut, or pot cheese pirogi. . . The homemade delicacies will be available for pickup . . at Three Saints Russian Orthodox Church Cultural Center. 2024 Star–Ledger (Newark NJ) 20 Sept sec C 4/1, Sometimes you just need a bowl of pasta that takes you back to your Italian-American roots—sitting at the dinner table, passing around a container of “pot cheese” to plop on top of our [sic] rigatoni.