Old fashioned cheesecake

It's difficult to find someone who doesn't like cheesecake. Even vegans, who don't eat cheese, have all kinds of recipes for making cheesecake where "you really don't miss the cheese."

Uh, yeah, you do. Trust me. I've made them. You can play basketball with those things. So, we're sticking to good old dairy products here.

Cheesecake seems to be one of those things that, to be frank, certain "classes" of people treat as a serious, major dessert treat, and other people stick their nose up at, because it's too, well, a lot of things.

One of those things, I would submit, is badly made. Even the famous ones (and you know which ones I'm talking about), taste nasty to me. Very sweet, and nothing much more. Where's a really GOOD cheesecake?

I think that the reason that good cheesecake is hard to find is because a good one is so filling, and so rich, that eating it at the end of a meal is a mistake. I have seen people eat a pastrami sandwich at Carnegie Deli, and follow it with a HUGE hunk of the stuff. I wonder how long they hold it down. No, cheesecake is one of those things that's nice to have a slice of, with coffee, in mid afternoon, or perhaps late at night, if your meals before and/or after were or will be light. A small slice, not a huge one, with something to drink, and that's it. Having it at the end of the meal? Uh uh.

Every "culture" in Europe seems to have their version of cheesecake, even if it's one as simple as baked ricotta, with no crust, and perhaps a bit of honey or some fruit with it. That one, by the way, is one of my favorites. But I'm talking here about AMERICAN cheesecake, or perhaps more precisely, "cream cheese cake," because the cheese here is cream cheese. Pure, unadulterated, full fat cream cheese.

When I was in my 20s, I used to collect cheesecake recipes, and I had well over 150 of them. And that was fine, because, as I've said "it was so easy then," and we all could metabolize that stuff much more easily than we can now. These days, I have one recipe. Just one. And it's a good one. It's from a departed, wonderful cooking teacher, Richard Sax, and Richard would have been the first one to admit that it wasn't his recipe. He collected American clasic dessert recipes, and did a wonderful book on them. This is out of his book. I made a few adjustments, which I think Richard would have approved of.

Let me warn you ahead of time. This is gonna take some time to do, and it involves some work. It's worth it, especially if you need a BIG cake, because this could easily serve 20 normal appetites.

You're going to need one special piece of equipment: a springform pan. Get a good one. You can use them for other things, and for cheesecake, it's essential. The original recipe calls for a 9 inch pan, but I find that the 9 inch one doesn't work as well as the bigger, 1o inch pan does (no jokes about 10 inches working better than 9 inches here, please). Now, your ingredients. You'll need twelve graham crackers. That's a package and a half from the box of them you can buy (eat the other ones for breakfast with peanut butter). You'll also need 3 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, and a tablespoon and a half of sugar. This is going to be your crust, and if measuring half a tablespoon is a hassle, use two tablespoons.

You have to turn the crackers into crumbs. I do this in a food processor, but if you've been having a particularly bad time of things and need to get out some frustration, put them in a big strong plastic bag and go at them with a rolling pin or something like that. Bash them until they're fine. Then combine them, the sugar, and the butter. Press this into the bottom of your pan, and bake it, in a 375 degree oven, for 8 minutes. This will just give it a bit of color and crunch, which you will want because the cake itself is very soft textured.

To the cake filling itself. Ah, are we going to have fun and watch our cholesterol levels rise. Get 2.5 pounds of cream cheese (the full fat kind : it's five packages of the standard ones), and let it soften for a few hours at room temperature. Put this in the bowl of an electric mixer, with a cup and a half of sugar , and the grated rind of one orange, and one lemon. Mix this until it looks nice and light and combined- about five minutes. At this point, what I do is add the juice of those two citrus fruits. It gives a bit of taste, not much, but its presence is known. Then, one at a time, beat in five whole, large eggs, and two large egg yolks (did I tell you your arteries would clog?), and then a big tablespoon of vanilla. You will also want to mix up three tablespoons of flour, one teaspoon of salt (my addition, and it makes a difference), and two teaspoons of baking powder, and one of baking soda. These are essential. The cake is so dense, you need a bit of lightening. Mix that in, too, and then finally, one half cup of full fat sour cream.

Still with me? Good. I knew you would be. If you've used an electric mixer for this, it would be a good idea to stir it all up with a spoon or spatula or something, because it's hard to get the stuff combined completely. Pour this all into your pan, and set it on a baking sheet.

Okay, now you're reading this right. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Bake the cake for 12 minutes.

This next step is a bit unorthodox, but it works for me. Turn off the oven. Open the oven door, and let the cake sit for about twenty minutes. Then, resume your baking, but at 200 degrees. Yes, 200 degrees. For an hour. ONE FULL HOUR. What happens during this time is that the eggs, heated to that higher temperature, are beginning to form what is essentially a hard custard, holding all that cheese together. The top of the cake will brown, and inevitably, it will crack. I have read countless articles on how to avoid the crack. Know what? If the crack bothers you, don't make cheese cake. After the hour, open the oven door, but let the cake cool in the oven. It will take a while - perhaps as much as three hours. Then chill it, overnight if you can. And then have a party.

This is plain, unadorned, sinful pleasure. I don't put chocolate, or fruit, or anything else on my cheesecakes anymore. It's about the cheese.

Be indulgent. If you've been good through New Year's and through Lent, you deserve it. So do your friends. Make one. Your life will never be the same