cheesecake-msg - 1/12/08
Medieval cheesecake. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: cheese-msg, cheesemaking-msg, Cheese-Making-art, desserts-msg, sotelties-msg, butter-msg, dairy-prod-msg, tarts-msg.
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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 10:03:36 +0100
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy M Renfrow)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
In article <54hh87$jmi at news3.realtime.net>, moondrgn at bga.com wrote:
> Is cheesecake period? If so, when and where?
> -Tivar Moondragon
>
> C and E Zakes
> moondrgn at bga.com
This is from Harleian MS. 279, circa 1420. It is a *curd* cheesecake,
typical of the period, and contains bone marrow for added richness. There
is a variation using strawberries which has been redacted in Pleyn Delit.
Cheesecakes which use cream cheese are *not* period. [th] has been
substituted for "thorn".
xl. Daryoles. Take croddys of [th]e deye, & wryng owt [th]e whey; & take
yolkys of Eyroun nowt to fewe, ne nogt to many, and strayne hem bo[th]e
to-gederys [th]orw a straynour, & [th]an hard [th]in cofynne, & ley [th]in
marew [th]er-in; & pore [th]in comade [th]er-on, an bake hem, & serue hem
forth.
Hope this helps!
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/
From: DDFr at Best.com (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 00:46:58 -0800
Organization: School of Law, Santa Clara University
In article <54hh87$jmi at news3.realtime.net>, moondrgn at bga.com wrote:
> Is cheesecake period? If so, when and where?
Define "cheesecake."
Kenelm Digby, mid-17th century, has something along the lines of a
cottage-cheese cheesecake. Tarte de Brie is 14th-15th c.
English/French--but I wouldn't call it a cheesecake. There are probably
things close to cheesecake in the sixteenth century English/French, but
Nouvelle Cuisine is not my specialty.
I vaguely remember having eaten something like a cheesecake attributed to
Apicius, but I don't know whether it is accurate.
David/Cariadoc
From: mjc at telerama.lm.com (Monica Cellio)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: 22 Oct 1996 10:43:19 -0400
Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA
>Is cheesecake period? If so, when and where?
Cheese pies of various sorts are period, but not as sweets. The closest
thing I know of to dessert-grade cheese pies is from Digby (1669). The
closest approximation for the cheese is probably ricotta or farmer's cheese.
Cream cheese is modern.
Ellisif
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjc/ellisif.html
From: "Theron Bretz" <Flour at Satake-USA.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: 22 Oct 1996 15:25:02 GMT
Organization: Electrotex, Inc.
> Is cheesecake period? If so, when and where?
My old roommate Berengaria dela Rossi had an Italian recipe from the 15th
century. It was, however cheesecake only in the most academic sense of the
word. No cream cheese, of course. It was incredibly dense, crumbly and
dry, and flavored with (of all things) fennel. An acquired taste, to say
the least. But, then again, you're talking about a culture that considers
hard parmegiano cheese and balsamic vinegar a dessert item.
Etienne de Montagu
From: maddie teller-kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 22:32:58 -0500
David Friedman wrote:
> I vaguely remember having eaten something like a cheesecake attributed to
> Apicius, but I don't know whether it is accurate.
There is a cheesecake recipe in "The Tastes of Ancient Rome" by Giacosa
that is attributed to Cato. I have made it a number of times and it is
pretty tasty.
Mistress Meadhbh
From: jacquetta at aol.com (Jacquetta)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: 23 Oct 1996 18:33:14 -0400
The Horizon Cookbook documents a riccota cheese cheesecake to Socretes and
cites a <<possibly apocryphal>> story about his wife smashing to the
floor, in a jealous rage, a cheesecake sent to the great teacher by a
zealous student. The philosopher is said to have remarked, mildly, "now
we both shall do without..." :-)
Jacquetta
Lynn Shaftic-Averill
From: maddie teller-kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Is cheesecake period?
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 18:18:58 -0500
Bryan J. Maloney wrote:
> > I do know of a cheesecake recipe in a Roman cookbook I have. The recipe
> > is one from Cato. It is very simple and tasty.
>
> Could you give the original from Cato, not the attribution?
Here it is in Latin: Savillum (Cato 84)
Savillum hoc modo facito: Farinae selibram, casei P. II S una cmmisceto
quasi libum, addito mellis P. et ovum unum. Catinum fictile oleo
unguito. Ubi omnia bene comiscueris, in catinum indito, catinum testo
operito. Videto ut bene percocas medio, ubi altissimum est. Ubi,
coctum erit, catinum eximito, melle unguito, papaver infriato, sub
testum subde paulisper, postea eximito. Ita pone cum catillo et lingua.
The redaction in the text is:
1 2/3 lbs ricotta (or other soft cheese)
1 cup flour
6 Tablespoons honey
1 egg
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
(my addition: toasted pine nuts)
Blend the cheese with the flour, 4 tbsp honey and egg. Grease a baking
pan with oil and pour in the mixture, and bake in a hot oven (400
degrees F) for 20-30 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil for the first 15
minutes so the surface will not burn.
Remove from the oven. Drizzle with the remaining honey over the surface
and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Replace in the oven for 5 minutes, then
remove and serve.
From: Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini, "A Taste of Ancient Rome", University of
Chicago Press, Chicago. 1992 p 163.
Enjoy!
meadhbh
From: Grizel <scababe at dnaco.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Cheesecake IS period
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 20:12:38 -0400
Organization: The Dayton Network Access Company (DNACo)
> Is cheesecake period? If so, when and where?
YES it is!
Mistress Gwyneth Banhfidlir of the Middle (Laurel in cooking) has
documented it.
It's texture is a bit different (a bit wetter with some small curds)
from the NY style we are so familiar about, but it does taste great!
She has made it more than once in our local feasts and is pretty famous
in these parts for it. She did some pretty extensive research on it. I
know she has a recipe. She might even give it out! (I think she will,
but you never know about cooks!)
Her e-mail is: 70003.7005 at CompuServe.COM
Grizel
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 10:43:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Bloch <sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu>
Subject: SC - cheesecake
Aoife wrote:
> I probably wouldn't have gotten so over-excited about the curds thing, but
> suddenly we were faced with a new recipe for....CHEESECAKE.....of all things.
I've seen a number of medieval recipes that more or less resemble
cheesecake. There's one from the Anglo-Norman cookbook that my wife
redacted as a delicious fruit-filled cheesecake (and now I can't find
the recipe, or even its name, on this computer!)
And there's "flaons", from the 15th-c. Catalan "Libre del Coch", and
apparently cognate with both the modern Spanish "flan" and the
contemporary English "flathonys". Our most successful redaction to date
involves
1/2 pound of farmer cheese
1/4 pound ricotta
5 eggs
4 crumbled dried mint leaves
2 tsp. rosewater
mixed together, poured into a pie crust, baked for 40 minutes at 350F,
and then brushed (hot from the oven) with
1/6 cup honey
mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
Stephen Bloch
sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 22:36:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Bloch <sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - cheesecake
> I would be very interested in seeing the original of the flaons
> recipe (in English or Catalan). The only "flan" I ever had in South
> America had nothing to do with a pie crust.
I don't seem to have the Catalan on-line, and I don't feel like finding
it and typing it in right now, but here's our English translation.
Libre del Coch #136
De flaons
Take fresh cheese and curds that are well [drained?] and pound them well
in a mortar together with as much eggs. And [fold?] a bit of fat
cheese which is grated and minced together with the curds with a bit of
[pols] of dried mint. And then put in the mortar a little rosewater,
not too much but rather in [appropriate] measure. And then make dough
from good farina and knead it with very fine oil, kneading it well so
that it becomes very firm. And then make of the dough [coffins?] to
place the cheeses. But before filling, heat the dough a little, but
[that?] it should [remain? become?] firm. And then fill it with the
filling. And before they are all done, take some forks or [pincers?]
and [crimp?] the edge. And then take it to the fire to cook. And when
it's cooked, and [the top is browned?] a bit, then [from edge to edge?]
put on honey or a syrup of sugar and rosewater.
mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
Stephen Bloch
sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 22:30:54 -0500
From: "meadhbh at io.com" <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: SC - Roman Cheese Cake
Here is the cheesecake recipe. It is very easy to make and delicious.I also like to use pine nuts instead of the poppy seeds.....
meadhbh
* Exported from MasterCook *
Savillum (Cato 64)
Recipe By : Ilaria Giacosa (Taste of Ancient Rome)
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cheese Dishes Dessert
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
- -------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 2/3 pounds ricotta cheese -- or other soft cheese
1 cup flour
6 tablespoons honey
1 whole egg
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Blend the cheese with the flour, 4 tablespoons of honey and the egg. Grease a baking pan with oil, pour in the mixture, and bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F) for 20-30 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil for the first 10-15 minutes so that the surface doesn't burn.
Remove from the oven. Drizzle the remaining honey over the surface and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Replace in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and serve.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTES : It is also good with pine nuts.
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 12:45:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - advise (oop)
Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 29-Sep-97 Re: SC - advise
(oop) Maddie Teller-Kook at io.co (1503*)
> If you want to do cheesecake... how about a period recipe? I have made
> a roman cheesecake (out of Giacosa's book) that is pretty tasty and very
> rich. If you would like the recipe, I can share...
The White Torte from Platina is excellent--I served it with strawberries
recently at a local Music and Dance collegium. Since the strawberries
were "Bobolu Strawberries" (the company, I think), we referred to the
dish as Ricky Ricotta Cheesecake.
There is a redaction of this in the Miscellany, though I'd recommend a
few less egg whites and a little more cheese then called for in that
recipe.
toodles, margaret
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 21:27:55 -0800
From: salbert at polarnet.com (S.Albert)
Subject: Re: SC - Cheesecakes
Greetings Rakhel Petrovna:
Our group found this in a Spanish cookbook a few years ago. Unfortunately,
it didn't give a primary source, and I don't even have handy the title of
the cookbook we found it in. Also, I don't have any specific instruction
left on crust -- I usually make a butter pie crust when in doubt and don't
want to worry how anything will work out.
Flaon
(16th Century Cheesecake)
pie crust to line 8-inch springform pan
2 eggs
1/2 lb. cottage cheese
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp dried mint leaves
1/8 tsp anisette liqueur
3 tbs. honey
1 tsp rose water
cinnamon, for dusting
Fit dough into springform pan, covering the bottom halfway up the sides. In
a bowl beat the eggs with the cheese, sugar, mint and anisette. Spread onto
the dough and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until filling is set. Mix
together honey and rose water. Dribble over the flaon, then dust with
cinnamon. Serve warm.
Notes:
(1) For the crust, I've used both regular pie pans, and made individual
tarts (smaller portions for the end of a feast, and easier on portion
controlling)
(2) I thought about substituting riccotta cheese for the cottage, but
haven't gotten around to it.
(3) We used homemade anisette, which is quite tasty.
(4) It's a fairly sturdy recipe. I lost track of what I was doing one busy
feast day and threw all the ingredients in together, including the
garnishes, and it still tasted wonderful, just didn't look the same.
It looks like it might be original, and adapted to a modern kitchen.
There is never any leftover, and what doesn't get eaten on the first round
is fought over during cleanup...
Two more Notes on the flaon: (1) it's not a high-rise cheesecake,
but is rich and tasty. If you make the dough go halfway up a regular
springboard pan, it will be too high, and (2) the "16th Century Cheesecake"
was the subtitled used by the modern Spanish cookbook, not my comment.
Morgana
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Morgana yr Oerfa, Baroness * Sharron Albert
Winter's Gate/Oertha/West * salbert at polarnet.com
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 00:02:04 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Cheesecakes
From the Miscellany:
To Make Cheesecakes
Digby p. 214/174
Take 12 quarts of milk warm from the cow, turn it with a good spoonfull of
runnet. Break it well, and put it in a large strainer, in which rowl it up
and down, that all the whey may run out into a little tub; when all that
will is run out, wring out more. Then break the curds well; then wring it
again, and more whey will come. Thus break and wring till no more come.
Then work the curds exceedingly with your hand in a tray, till they become
a short uniform paste. Then put to it the yolks of 8 new laid eggs, and two
whites, and a pound of butter. Work all this long together. In the long
working (at the several times) consisteth the making them good. Then season
them to your taste with sugar finely beaten; and put in some cloves and
mace in subtle powder. Then lay them thick in coffins of fine paste and
bake them.
Judging by the cottage cheese recipe in Joy of Cooking, 12 quarts of milk
would yield about 4.5 lbs of cottage cheese. It sounds as though either
creamed cottage cheese or fresh cheese corresponds to what Digby is making.
The following quantities are for half of Digby's quantity, with an
adjustment for egg sizes.
2 lbs of creamed cottage cheese 1/2 lb of butter 1/4 t mace
2 large eggs 1/2 c sugar 2 pie crusts (this made 2 9" cheese cakes)
1 egg yolk 1/4 t cloves
Cook at 350° for 70 minutes. Let cool 1 hour before serving.
- ---
White Torta
Platina p. 135 (book 8)
Prepare a pound and a half of best fresh cheese, chopped especially fine.
Add twelve or fifteen egg whites, half a pound of sugar, half an ounce of
white ginger, half a pound of pork liquamen and as much fresh butter. Blend
in as much milk as you need. When you have blended this, put it into a
pastry crust rolled thin and put it all in a pan and set it to bake on the
hearth with a gentle flame. Then, to give it color, put coals on the lid.
When it is cooked and taken from the pan, sprinkle ground sugar over it,
with rosewater.
1 lb fresh cheese: ricotta 1/4 lb lard 10" pastry shell
8 egg whites 1/4 lb butter ~2 t sugar
2/3 c sugar 1/2 c milk 1 t rosewater
1/3 oz fresh ginger
Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Soften butter and lard together at room
temperature. Fold together cheese and egg whites, then add sugar, minced
ginger, lard and butter. Mix until fairly uniform. Add milk, fill shell.
Bake at 325° for 40 minutes. When oil separates, it is done. Put under
broiler to brown top lightly. Sprinkle sugar and rosewater, spread on with
spoon bottom. Cool until set.
This is a little less butter and lard than Platina suggests, but we found
it too fatty using his quantities. Our interpretation of "add egg whites"
is pretty free-it would be worth trying to follow the recipe more literally.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 23:38:48 -0600
From: Maddie Teller-Kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Roman Desserts
I also did the 'Roman Cheesecake' from the book: A Taste of Ancient
Rome. I think the recipe is attributed to Cato. Anyway, it calls for
using Ricotta (much creamier and richer than cottage cheese), honey and
sprinkle with poppy seeds. an egg and some flour is added as a binder.
Wonderful stuff and very, very easy to make.
meadhbh
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 17:52:34 -0600
From: "meadhbh at io.com" <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: SC - Roman Cheesecake (Cato) from Tastes of Ancient Rome
Attached is a copy of the recipe I used to make the Roman Cheesecake. It is very good. And not very sweet. I am sure the honey can be adjusted for those that have a sweet tooth. It is also good with Pine nuts!
meadhbh
* Exported from MasterCook *
Savillum (Cato 64)
Recipe By : Ilaria Giacosa (Taste of Ancient Rome)
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cheese Dishes Dessert
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-