Jackpot
I have been on the hunt for a good NY style cheesecake since Jeddah (years). No, they don’t make cheesecake in Jeddah. There was a Cheesecake Factory; it was not good at all. I made (recently) a Jello instant cheesecake; it was worse by far. Yuck! I finally assembled the “real” Philly cream cheese and made one; it was spectacular! I decided to try again. I did a few things wrong – like I turned off the oven instead of simply lowering the heat. After an hour the cheesecake had obviously not baked up. I survived this calamity. There was a crack on the top. Heavens!! My waterbath! Nope, the crack disappeared as the cake cooled. We didn’t eat it for days – circumstance. It only got better! – the top was shiny- glazed – just like a NY cheesecake should look. No, we are not social distancing so much now. We’re (smartly) vetting our guests. The beer? – Colleen did it – shaken but not stirred, The cheesecake? – heaven on a plate – with cherry sauce!
Cook
We made a no bake cheesecake from a box. Don’t! Ever!! It was artificial and light as whipped cream. The chemicals were good if you like fake stuff. I looked up a New York cheesecake recipe. I used an almond crust. The recipe used cream cheese – a ton! That darned cake weighed 10 pounds. A water bath??? It keeps the cake from cracking. I guess that’s an issue for purists. The second recipe came from “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the food channel. It’s no mystery and it’s well documented on the internet. Darn! (I’d use a stronger expletive!) The result was good. It made me giggle. Not laugh, giggle! Deep fried black eyed peas. It calls for chopped onion to be cooked with the beans before frying. Keep the onion. They crisp up and are delicious in their own right. It’s bad for you. The rule: anything that tastes that good is – bad for you!!
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