> >The oldest written receipe for cheesecake comes from the work of Martino
> >de' Rossi (d. c. 1468). It first appeared in publshed form in Platina's
> ><De honeste voluptate> (Rome, 1470; Venice, 1470). Its next appearance was
> >in Giovanni Rosselli's <Epulario> (Venice, 1517, English trans. from the
> >1579 ed., 1598).
> >
> >--
> > Regards, Frank Young
> > 703-527-7684
> > Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891
> > "Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"

That's pretty good. Surely, though, cheesecake is older.

(OED)
1. a. A cake or tart of light pastry, orig. containing cheese; now
filled with a yellow butter-like compound of milk-curds, sugar, and
butter, or a preparation of whipped egg and sugar.

c1440 Promp. Parv. 73 Chesekake, ortacius. 1530 PALSGR. 204/2 Chese
cake, gasteav, torteav. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 40 The dogg flies
at the B[ishop] and took of his corner capp (he thought belike it had
bene a cheese cake). 1611 COTGR., Talmouse, a Cheese-cake; a Tart made
of egges, and cheese. 1667 PEPYS Diary 11 Aug., We..eat some of the
best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life. 1708 MOTTEUX Rabelais
IV. xxx. (1737) 125 Like three corner'd Cheese-Cakes. 1796 H. GLASSE
Cookery xxi. 318 This we call saffron cheesecakes; the other, without
currants, almond cheesecakes. 1853 A. SOYER Pantroph. 292 A sort of
cheese-cake, made of cheese, eggs, and butter.

http://inventors.about.com/library/i...cheesecake.htm
The History of Cheesecake
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mary Bellis
Cheesecake is believed to have originated in ancient Greece. History
has the first recorded mention of cheesecake, as being served to the
athletes during the first Olympic Games held in 776 B.C. However,
cheese making can be traced back as far as 2,000 B.C., anthropologists
have found cheese molds dating back to that period. The Romans spread
cheesecake from Greece to across Europe. Centuries later cheesecake
appeared in America, the recipes brought over by immigrants. In 1872,
cream cheese was invented by American dairymen, who were trying to
recreate the French cheese, Neufchtel. James L. Kraft invented
pasteurized cheese in 1912, and that lead to the development of
pasteurized Philadelphia cream cheese, the most popular cheese used
for making cheesecake today.

http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food...tml#cheesecake
A sampler of cheesecake recipes through the ages:

[1st century AD] Sweet Libum, Cato
[1390:London] Tart de Bry, Forme of Cury
[1545:London] To Make a Tarte of Chese, Proper newe Booke of Cookery
[1669: London] To Make Cheese-Cakes, Closet of The Eminently Leaned
Sir Kenelme Digbie Opened
[1720s:London] Chees Cakes, Receipts of Pastry and Cookery For Use of
His Scholars, Ed. Kidder
[1803:New York] Cheesecakes after the best manner, Frugal Housewife,
Susannah Carter (keep paging for more recipes)
[1866:Philadephia] Orange, Lemon, Curd & Cottage-Cheese cakes,
National Cook Book, Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson (recipes p.123-5)
Need more details? Ask your librarian to help you obtain the following
books:

Cheesecake, Lou Pappas, 1993
Cheesecake Extraordinare, Mary Crownower, 1994
Joy of Cheesecake, Dana Boubjerg & Jeremy Iggers, 1980

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

There is a Biblical reference to cheesecakes in the story of Judith and
Holofernes, in the book of Judges.

"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
>
>

"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

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.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

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

Barry Popik wrote:

> ... In 1872, cream cheese was invented by American dairymen,
> who were trying to
> recreate the French cheese, Neufchtel. James L. Kraft invented
> pasteurized cheese in 1912, and that lead to the development of
> pasteurized Philadelphia cream cheese, the most popular cheese used
> for making cheesecake today.

I have read this claim about cream cheese being invented in the latter
half of the 19th century.

The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan, originally published in 1839
has four recipes for cheeses. One of those is for cream cheese. I
can't vouch for the texture being identical to Philadelphia Cream Cheese
but cream cheese as a type of cheese was certainly around prior to 1872.

CREAM CHEESE

Having kept your night's milk perfectly sweet, skim it, and mix the
cream with the morning's; make it lukewarm over a few embers, and stir
into it enough of the preparation of rennet, to turn it to a curd in
twenty or thirty minutes, adding half a pint of wine to each gallon of
the milk, a little rose water, and a small portion of salt. When a firm
curd is formed, drain the whey from it, put it in wet cloths, place them
smoothly in small cheese hoops, and press them lightly: next day turn
them, wetting the cloth, and press them lightly again for twenty-four
hours; then brush them over well with butter, using a soft cloth; place
them in a wire safe, or some other convenient place where the air will
have free admission to them, taking care to turn them over every
morning, and brush them lightly with a soft cloth, and a little butter.
In one week they will be fit for use. Scrape and brush the outsides
neatly, and send them to table whole, as they should be quite small.
They are eaten at tea, and are considered very fine. They look very
pretty pressed in hoops of a conical shape, and sent whole to be sliced
at table. When you press them in such hoops, you must have a small hole
made in the top, or pinacle of each hoop for the whey to escape, and
place the small ends downwards while pressing.



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