Dish · american
Cheesecake
A dense custard of cream cheese, egg, and sugar baked or set over a crumb crust, somewhere between cake and pudding in texture.
Where it comes from
Cheesecake goes back to ancient Greece, where a wheat-and-cheese cake was reportedly served to athletes. The cream cheese version familiar today took shape in New York delis and bakeries in the early twentieth century.
What cooks argue about
Bakers argue over baking in a water bath to prevent cracking versus skipping it for a firmer crust, and over a low, slow oven against a hot, fast one.
Nobody has published a cheesecake recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.