America’s Baking Heritage is more diverse and imaginative than that of countries whose history stretches back thousands of years. From the time of the earliest settlers, we have been passionate bakers, drawing on the traditions of myriad cultures, simplifying and adapting them, and creating a varied popular repertoire in the process.
Unfortunately, though, many of the best recipes of our past have been forgotten, buried in obscure cookbooks, family journals, and handwritten diaries- that is, until now.
For this ground breaking collection, already hailed by bakers across the country as the achievement of a lifetime, Greg Patent spent years in reading rooms and private collections to recover lost gems.
A History of Rennet in Cheese Cake Making
The cheesecakes made by mid-nineteenth century America cooks bore little resemblance to the sublime, silky creations of today. Many of the recipes began with a distinctly unromantic ingredient: rennet, the lining of a calf’s stomach.
The rennet, used in cheese making for its coagulating properties, was first soaked in water, releasing an enzyme. When that water was added to warmed milk and allowed to stand for a few minutes, the enzyme caused the mild proteins to set into curds, which were then ladled into a sieve and the watery whey drained off. The curds then where mixed with sugar, flavorings, and sometimes pulverized almonds or dried currents or raisins, and baked in a pan-with or without a pastry crust.
Other recipes called for making a custard of eggs and milk and draining it for a few hours in a sieve until it was firm. Old-fashioned cheesecakes were bland and distinctly curdy.
Where did Cream Cheese We Know Today Begin?
Our national obsession with smoothness did not begin until after 1920, the year the Breakstone company began marketing cream cheese on a large scale. Cream cheese had originated hundreds of years before in Europe and was imported to America from Holland. Unlike cottage cheese, cream cheese was made without rennet, without heat, and without separating curds and whey. It was simply fresh cream that was allowed to drain in cloth-lined sieve for about two weeks, until it became spreadable, like ultrathick sour cream.
Breakstone’s readily available modern version was make in hours, not weeks and involved treating cream and milk with lactic acid-producing bacteria, which caused the mixture to become firm.
The Beginning of New York Style Cheesecake
One of the first bakers to use the new cream cheese in cheesecakes was Arnold Reuben, Jr., owner of Reuben’s Restaurant in Manhattan. Theater people and other night owls thronged to his place for the smooth creamy dessert, which had a velvety feel on the tongue. Reuben’s spawned many imitators, and the New York cheesecake-a particular style, not a recipe-was born.
A Truly American Cheesecake.
This is a truly American Cheesecake, starring two great American products, pecans and maple syrup. Serve small portions-it is rich.