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03 December 2005
Pumpkin Cheesecake for Lefties
Years ago I owned a software company. My original partner was a right-wing Republican lawyer. (We had some knock-down drag-out debates, I can tell you — but only after business hours.) He'd put himself through law school making and selling cheesecakes, and at that he was a master. He and his family came for a holiday dinner one year and for the occasion he prepared a fabulous pumpkin cheesecake. I had thought never to taste its like again.
I mentioned this not long ago to our friend and colleague Jillian "Cookie Jill" Johnson, and she came up with a left-wing version that is every bit(e) a match.
Pumpkins have no politics, you say? Don't tell that to Jed Bartlet — er, Martin Sheen — for the recipe Jillian gives us here is from his family kitchen. Bon appétit!
Posted by EDN on December 3, 2005 at 11:44 PM in Artifacts of Culture | Permalink
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Comments
For once, we are not in agreement. Perhaps it's my one failed attempt at baking a pumpkin cheesecake for a huge Thanksgiving dinner with numerous relatives of my husband's in attendance. Those were my "gourmet" days, and I made the cardinal error of testing on the crowd instead of in rehearsal.
Oh, it was a gorgeous thing to behold. The recipe called for chocolate leaves as decoration, made by painting lemon leaves from the florist with melted semi-sweet chocolate, then carefully peeled off when hardened.
Alas, it tasted and had the mouth feel of a winter squash and cheese sludge. It's not good when the comments include the word, "Interesting..."
Now I am a firm believer in New York-style cheesecake--dense, not too sweet, with a whiff of lemon. No icky toppings, either. Just the real deal.
Funny thing, my uncle--now deceased--had worked as a cook at Junior's and Senior's in Brooklyn many years ago. When he moved to Florida he started a little side business baking cheesecakes for local restaurants. He had a full repertoire including chocolate, amaretto, whatever he could dream up. But I don't think he ever went the pumpkin route.
Posted by: Chiaroscuro | Dec 4, 2005 6:18:04 AM
So sorry that your own pumpkin cheesecake was below code. I can truly promise that a good recipe can turn out a delight.
But that exercise nothwithstanding, your gene tree is wildly impressive. Junior's! The best cheesecake in the world. A foray to Junior's from my Flatbush home was an expedition to pure pleasure.
I've always been grateful to know you, but now...even a little bit moreso.
Posted by: Ellen Dana Nagler | Dec 5, 2005 10:03:02 AM
Back in the seventies, better than Junior's was the cheesecake at the Caraville Restaurant on Ave. M in Brooklyn. I had the recipe from the manager himself--and lost it to my unending regret. My uncle's cheesecake came close, but Caraville's was the best, hands down. I believe the restaurant is still there--a typical Greek-owned and run restaurant in the modern diner style but I have no idea about the quality of cheesecake now, almost thirty years later.
Cheesecake is one of those things where feelings run high and there is no arguing with personal taste. Some like it light and fluffy--an abomination in my view. Cherries, pineapple, all the rest is gilding the lily. A modestly sweetened sour cream topping is permissable, but nothing more.
I actually hardly ever eat cheesecake these days. It's finicky and exacting to bake oneself, and whenever I've had it out in the last decade, it's been a disappointment. My mother-in-law's is pretty good, actually, but she likes to cover the cracked top (her oven is a horror) with that cherry topping.
Posted by: Chiaroscuro | Dec 5, 2005 9:30:41 PM
I come down totally on the side of dense, and no sweet, gooey furbelows. Jillian is coming up from L.A. to spend a couple of days with me, and I hope we'll give the Sheen recipe a go. I shall report...
I wonder if "dense" isn't a texture based in Brooklyn. It's how I make my matzo balls. The Bronx contingent -- my husband's family -- liked light and fluffy, in my view an "abomination" in line with light and fluffy cheesecake. I watched an aunt whip up a batch once -- literally. She incorporated beaten egg whites. Awful.
Posted by: Ellen Dana Nagler | Dec 6, 2005 7:51:03 AM
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