Kate Dicey extrapolated from data available...

> Charles Gifford wrote:
>
>> "ASmith1946" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>>This cheesecake discussion raises several important questions
>>>related to culinary history:
>>>
>>>What is a cheesecake (or what is a definition of any dish)?
>>>
>>>Are there essential ingredients/process that are necessary for a
>>
>> cheesecake (or
>>
>>>other dishes)?
>>>
>>>Does this definition change over time?
>>>
>>>When there is no clearly accepted source for defining cheesecake (or
>>>other dishes), how much of our conversation is related to these
>>>linguistic
>>
>> matters?
>>
>>>Andy Smith
>>
>>
>> I think a good beginning is to understand that there a
>>
>> 1. Cheese Cakes
>> 2. Cheesecake
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>>
>
> Indeed. I remember loving a Maltese cheese cake that was a mad
> confection of layers of light flaky pastry alternated with layers of
> ricotta cheese... Yummy, but more like a cheese pasty than the
> dessert cheesecake. Then there are the ones like Yorkshire
> Cheesecake, made with a pastry shell filled with a sort of curd cheese
> custard, and the little Richmond Maids of Honour, filled with a curd
> cheese and ground almond mixture. My friend Debbie's Chocolate
> Whiskey Cheesecake is another different baked cheesecake... And my
> darling Big Sis STILL won't give me her Tia Maria Cheesecake recipe!
> Sisters can be SO mean... ;D
>
> Somewhere I have a recipe called Roman Cheesecake. I think it's a
> baked-in-a-pastry-shell type one. I'll hunt it out and see if there
> are any historical notes to go with it.
>

That's why the categories must be broadened even further....

Cheese cakes
Cheesecakes
Cheese pies (separately prepared crusts)
Cheese "pastries" (interleaved or filled - the cream cheese and cottage
cheese "kolaches" of Moravian/Czech ethnic communities in the US qualify)
.....and maybe more.

But then the bigger classification axe....sweet or the minority "main
course/non-dessert recipes/traditions, inc. the Greek "cheese" appetizer
and main meal dishes, asa much cheesecake/pie/pastry as the Maltese
version.

TMO