Set a course that I don't know

[sovay]

The dominant note of this week has been massive sleeplessness, but yesterday morning the plumber finally came to fix our kitchen sink which had been broken for the last five months and this evening we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. rushthatspeaks and I baked the sixteenth-century pumpkin cheesecake he had been wanting to try for the last two years; it came out much more like a pudding than either of us expected and much less of it was left by the end of the night. nineweaving brought a garland of chocolate turkeys from Burdick's. My father made green beans in a hot dressing of cider vinegar and bacon and my mother's decision not to boil and peel all the chestnuts for the stuffing herself was universally supported. For the first time that anyone can remember, the turkey was done ahead of schedule, but there was no shortage of morsels to be mooched by little cats as soon as I got home. Personally I am planning on a turkey terrific, later. spatch took a picture of me driving impressionistically after dark.

Comments

[gwynnega]

Five months?!?

The meal sounds wonderful. I love that photo.

[sovay]

Five months?!?

We'd tried to get it fixed sooner! It produced water, but not hot water, and the drip eventually turned into a full-fledged spray in all directions except the one the faucet was pointed in. This last occurred over the weekend and may have been what finally kicked the property manager into considering it enough of an emergency to call a plumber for, but the half cold water flat situation was just less and less optimal. (We never lost the hot water in the bathroom, thank God.)

The meal sounds wonderful. I love that photo.

Thank you!

[asakiyume]

Wow! I somehow thought of cheesecake as an invention of some centuries nearer to us--but I guess it's really old!

That's a great ghost/dream driving picture.

[sovay]

Wow! I somehow thought of cheesecake as an invention of some centuries nearer to us--but I guess it's really old!

It has no crust and uses no flour and in some ways resembles a custard without a water bath, but it doesn't come out with the texture of one; perhaps because of the ricotta, it sets as if it has a grain. It was delicious. There are four to five different kinds of dairy in it depending on whether you count the butter beaten in and the melted butter separately. We would use a kitchen torch on the sugar at the very end rather than trusting it to caramelize on its own and otherwise it worked exactly as advertised.

That's a great ghost/dream driving picture.

Thank you.

[asakiyume]

It was delicious. There are four to five different kinds of dairy in it depending on whether you count the butter beaten in and the melted butter separately. --Okay; now I'm clicking on that link.

[sovay]

--Okay; now I'm clicking on that link.

rushthatspeaks also sent me a written version of the recipe:

Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi Pumpkin Cheesecake

1 medium pumpkin/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup ricotta
1 cup mascarpone/cream cheese
7 medium eggs
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ginger
1 cup cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup melted butter
cinnamon sugar to top

Mix pumpkin puree, ricotta, and mascarpone in large bowl until smooth. Whisk eggs until combined, add to bowl, and mix. Add brown sugar. Add cinnamon and ginger. It will be dark-colored. Pour in cream and chopped butter and beat until smooth (get the butter out of lumps).

Add a bit of melted butter to cake or pie tin bottom. Coat the bottom, basically. Pour in batter—if some butter ends up on top, it's fine.

Bake at 350° F for an hour and fifteen minutes. Ready when it's puffed up and just a little wobbly in the center. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over it, turn off the oven, close the oven door, and let it slowly cool for about forty-five minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool the rest of the way. Serve warm (but not hot, or it will be liquid). It will be pudding-soft.

[asakiyume]

YOU ARE A GEM! Many thanks!!

[sovay]

YOU ARE A GEM! Many thanks!!

You're welcome!

We actually let it cool about half the time in the oven, the other half of the time on a rack on the island in my parents' kitchen, and it unmolded from the springform just fine.

[asakiyume]

Good to know--we're having the tall one and his girlfriend over this Sunday. Maybe I'll try this for that occasion!

[rushthatspeaks]

Having now made the thing, I would add to the recipe notes:
-- canned pumpkin is plentiful this time of year, but one can of course roast a whole one and puree the pulp if need be
-- it says you can use cream cheese instead of mascarpone, but I officially Have Doubts, and the cream cheese would have to be room temperature or even slightly heated to have any chance of being beaten in well enough
-- the batter is going to seem ludicrously liquid, as is the cake not just until baking but until well into the cooling in a still-hot oven phase, but it did, in fact, set
-- we had it in a springform cheesecake pan with a piece of foil spread on the oven rack underneath it, and the foil turns out to be crucial, though, interestingly, the few leaks didn't turn out to be butter at all, but rather almost pure pumpkin juice
-- upon storing it in the fridge after the first time eating it, it has softened up a bit, very much to the consistency of pudding, but it hasn't separated, and the flavor remains the same

[asakiyume]

Thank you very much! I especially appreciate the cream cheese note and the aluminum foil note.

... I don't really know how mascarpone differs from cream cheese: my instinct would be to use the latter because that's what I've used in the past (I don't think I've ever actually used mascarpone, though I've seen it sitting next to the cream cheese in the supermarket), but do they taste very different? If I'm going to be doing myself out of the true experience by using cream cheese, I'll use the mascarpone.

[rushthatspeaks]

Cream cheese is more assertive and a bit more sour. Mascarpone is almost liquid and very mild indeed, though the basic notes are pretty much the same as cream cheese.

[asakiyume]

*nodding*

I think I'll try it with mascarpone, as you did.

[asakiyume]

I made this, and I wanted you both to know it came out ~ wonderfully ~

I cooked it in a large ceramic bowl, and it turned out less soft than yours did, I think: somewhere between a cheesecake consistency and a very moist cake-cake consistency, truly wonderful. Although I'd said I'd use mascarpone, in the end I used cream cheese because I didn't see mascarpone in the supermarket (what they had sitting in very similar packaging next to the cream cheese was neufchatel). Anyway, truly lovely treat--thank you!!

[rushthatspeaks]

Oh, lovely! So glad it came out well, and I'm pleased and interested to know the results of using cream cheese.

[minoanmiss]

Woot :)

[sovay]

Woot

*hugs*

[pameladean]

We used to roast our chestnuts in the oven and then burn our fingers peeling them. But they had a tendency to explode from time to time. At this point it's very difficult to find whole chestnuts that aren't moldy, in the stores, and we have resorted to steamed packaged ones, or even to frozen. They are not quite the same, but still sweet and chestnutty enough.

The ancient cheesecake sounds amazing and I loved hearing about your day.

P.

[sovay]

At this point it's very difficult to find whole chestnuts that aren't moldy, in the stores, and we have resorted to steamed packaged ones, or even to frozen. They are not quite the same, but still sweet and chestnutty enough.

I believe the steamed packaged kind were what my mother went with this year. I have memories of past Christmases and Thanksgivings spent peeling chestnuts and certainly did not blame her.

The ancient cheesecake sounds amazing and I loved hearing about your day.

Thank you!

(If your household can safely consume the quantity of dairy required for the sixteenth-century cheesecake, I really recommend it. I kind of can't and it was still worth it.)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, sorry about the continued sleeplessnes! I'm glad that there was still nice food to be enjoyed (and a working sink? Amazing!) ♥

[sovay]

Aw, sorry about the continued sleeplessnes! I'm glad that there was still nice food to be enjoyed (and a working sink? Amazing!)

Thank you! Imagine, a sink that runs hot and cold and doesn't drip when you turn it off or spray out at the sides when you do!

[thisbluespirit]

Imagine, a sink that runs hot and cold and doesn't drip when you turn it off or spray out at the sides when you do!

Oh, gosh! A miracle! XD

[teenybuffalo]

My housemate introduced me to Tasting History with Max Miller, and I enjoy his videos regularly just for the fun of it without actually making any dishes. I'm glad the recipe was good in practice!

[sovay]

My housemate introduced me to Tasting History with Max Miller, and I enjoy his videos regularly just for the fun of it without actually making any dishes. I'm glad the recipe was good in practice!

It was! I have still not seen any of his videos, but I am enjoying his garum T-shirt and his taste in cheesecakes.

[nineweaving]

Fabulous dinner! Thank you for having me.

Nine

[sovay]

Fabulous dinner! Thank you for having me.

Thank you for being there!

[aurumcalendula]

Yay for the sink getting fixed! That sounds like a lovely dinner! (I need to try making that cheesecake at some point)

[sovay]

Yay for the sink getting fixed! That sounds like a lovely dinner! (I need to try making that cheesecake at some point)

Thank you! It was an extremely nice dinner! I highly recommend the cheesecake; it was low-effort and dramatic return. rushthatspeaks has further notes in comments above.