Cheesecake 2nd draft- now with no plagiarism!

I added the cites and reworked some just plain bad sentences.

            The New York style cheesecake is one of the most popular desserts in America and has a history stretching back to at least the fifth century B.C.(CulinarySchools) The cheesecake is a baked custard, so it also contains eggs and heavy cream, but with flour added. The cheese used is always a soft, fresh type (Corriher 222)(Labersky, Hause 1097). Together, those ingredients create the smooth, rich texture that cheesecake is known for. Some types add sugar to the mix, but there are some savory cheesecakes that do not. There is a huge variety of ways to top a cheesecake without flavoring baked into the filling, the most common include berry sauces and glazes and sour cream toppings. New York style cheesecake most often uses a crumb crust, but a cheesecake can be prepared without one (Labersky, Hause 1097). To better understand how the New York style cheesecake came to be, it is best to examine the history of cheesecake in general, the characteristics that make a New York style cheesecake unique, and the ingredients of that cheesecake.

            The history of the modern cheesecake is long, stretching back to the ancient Greeks and Romans (CulinarySchools)(Crownover X) The first written recipe comes from Cato the Elder, a Roman politician. He wrote books on a number of other culinary topics, but the first one of concern here is called placenta. His instructions involve creating a soft cheese, mixing it with honey, and cooking it inside a pastry crust (Nova Roma). It does not include the eggs that are used in a modern cheesecake, but is remarkably close. Cato also writes of another pastry in the same text (De Agricultura), the libum cake. It is made by mixing a crushed, hard cheese with flour and an egg (Nova Roma). While neither of these dishes are quite the modern cheesecake, the two cakes together have all of the elements of a New York cheesecake. Cheesecake, along with many other trappings of civilization, was then introduced to the rest of the world with the conquering Roman armies (CulinarySchools). By 1872, every ingredient of a modern cheesecake except one was present, and that was cream cheese.

            Before 1872, cheesecakes were primarily made with ricotta, cottage, or neufchâtel cheeses. A dairyman, William Lawrence, created the first cream cheese while attempting to replicate the French neufchâtel cheese (Philadelphia). His soft cheese was heavier and creamier than the cheeses being used for cheesecake at the time. The new cheese was then sold under the trade name of Philadelphia, which has continued to this day. The use of cream cheese in cheesecake, however, didn’t happen until 1928. A chef named Arnold Rueben claimed to have sold the first New York style cheesecake using cream cheese instead of the usual cottage cheese in that year (Practically Edible). Whether his claim is true or not, by 1930 the New York style cheesecake existed in its present form.

Here is a simple recipe for New York style cheesecake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Homemade Cookie Crust

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix flour and sugar. Add eggs, butter, and vanilla extract. Mix well. With generously greased fingers, press dough evenly onto bottomed of greased 9-inch cheesecake pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Keep oven at 350 degrees.

New York Filling

40 ounces cream cheese

1 ½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ teaspoons orange extract

1 ½ teaspoons lemon extract

1 cup whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, orange, and lemon extracts. Stir in cream. Pour filling onto crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake for 2 hours, or until center is firm and no longer looks wet or shiny. Remove cake from oven and carefully run a knife around inside edge of pan. Turn oven off and return cake to it for an additional 2 hours. Chill overnight. (Crownover 228-229)

This recipe has every element mentioned previously. The echoes of the Roman placenta and libum recipes are still there- it includes a soft cheese, a sweetener, and eggs. This recipe has an additional binding agent that the Romans would not have had, the cornstarch, but the similarity is still striking. The custard base is made up of the five eggs and cup of whipping cream. The forty ounces of cream cheese give the cheesecake its particularly rich feel. The flour and cornstarch together bind the other ingredients together and give it a more bread like texture than it would have without those ingredients. Together, all those parts make up a New York style cheesecake.

            The modern New York cheesecake is, in fact, a study in antiquity with roots stretching back to Rome. Tracing the history of the cheesecake illuminates the traditions that have gone into this class of dessert. It is not a custard, nor a cake, but something entirely different. When the cream cheese was added in 1872, a classic dessert, with a uniquely American twist, was created. Damon Runyon assured the New York cheesecake its place in history when wrote  a New York deli called Lindy’s into two of his short stories as Mindy’s (eBooks). Later, those short stories were converted into a Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which fixed Lindy’s, and the New York style cheesecake, in the public mind.

Works Cited;

“Arnold Rueben”. Practically Edible. N.p., 27 May 2009. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/arnoldreuben>

 “Cato’s ‘De Agricultura’: Recipes”. Nova Roma. Nova Roma, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.novaroma.org/religio_romana/cato_recipes.html>

Corriher, Shirley O. Cookwise. New York, NY: William Morrow and Co, 1997. Print.

Crownover, Mary. I Love Cheesecake. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Pub., 2005. Print.

“July 2007 CulinarySchools Newsletter”. CulinarySchools. CulinarySchools, July 2007. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.culinaryschools.com/newsletter/July%202007%20CulinarySchools.com%20Newsletter.pdf>

Labersky, Sarah R. Hause, Alan M. On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2002. Print.

“Philadelphia- 1872-1920”. Philadelphia. Kraft Foods, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.philadelphia.co.uk/philadelphia3/page?siteid=philadelphia3-prd&locale=uken1&PagecRef=584>

“Damon Runyon”. eBooks-Library. Chrysoma Associates Ltd, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ebooks-library.com/author.cfm/AuthorID/900>