Cracking the Cheesecake Code, featuring Carla Hall
episode
Things Bakers Know: The King Arthur Baking Podcast
42 min
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 5 months ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the history of cheesecake?
The image of a perfectly baked cheesecake sent you back to the waterbed? No wonder you hate cheesecake. Oh my God. From King Arthur Baking Company, this is Things Bakers Know. I'm David Tamarkin, King Arthur's Editorial Director.
And I'm Jessica Badalana, King Arthur's Staff Editor. And we are back today with Season 3. This is our kickoff.
The enhanced season.
The enhanced season. We have added a video component.
Yes. And we are on Substack now. So please follow us there at KingArthurBaking.com. That means you can follow us on Substack. We launched a newsletter to accompany the podcast. Yeah. And the video means you can watch us on YouTube and Spotify. And you can listen everywhere.
Everywhere. I think it's just nice because it's another way for us to engage with our listeners, our viewers. I feel like we've gone pro. You know, we have this nice set.
Yeah.
And for all the people wondering, how would it be? What would it be like if Jessica and David were in the same room?
Yeah. For all the people who are wondering, how old are they? Yeah. You know, now they will know.
Yeah, now, yeah. But let's move on. Today we're talking about something else.
We are. We're talking about something almost as old as us. No, we're talking about something older than us, which is cheesecake. One of America's very favorite desserts. We're starting with what I consider to be a polarizing topic, only because you know that I have feelings, a lot of feelings about cheesecake, which is the subject of today's episode. And you also know that most of my feelings are negative.
Yeah, I do know that.
What are Carla Hall's best tips for making cheesecake?
And I support you. But I'm here to offer a counterpoint for those listeners and viewers now. Welcome. Because I like cheesecake. I like it. I don't love it. I like it. I would say we're in the minority, though, because people... Love cheesecake. I was reporting a story about Wisconsin once, a travel story. And I was going to all these restaurants, you know, like, are these the hot new restaurants? Talking to pastry chefs. And they all told me, they're like, we love working in Wisconsin. We love, you know, the Wisconsin people. But they will not let us take a cheesecake off the menu. Like, they revolt. They revolt.
That doesn't surprise me.
I mean, in a cheese state, like we are in now, Vermont. But I think it's all 50 states.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. People love it. You know, for a while, every dessert menu, even without seeing the dessert menu in a certain period of time, you could be like, I know what's on that dessert menu. It's an apple tart. It's a lava cake. It's a cheesecake. There's sort of a lineup.
And then ice cream.
Ice cream.
Yeah.
And I feel like it's hanging on. But you were telling me, I mean, there was a period of time that... You committed to a cheesecake.
I did. Yes, right. When I was just a baby, 22 years old, I was living in a studio apartment by myself in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, which was not the Fort Greene, Brooklyn of today. It was kind of a sleepy neighborhood then. But there was one restaurant, not just one, but there was one restaurant with huge blinky lights, neon signs, which was, of course, Junior's, which is a very famous restaurant. And it was right around the corner from my apartment. And it beckoned me with that neon sign. And, of course, Junior's is famous for its cheesecake. You know, it's an iconic cheesecake spot. It has a sponge cake in the bottom instead of a graham cracker crust. It's a classic New York-style cheesecake. And I just thought it was... You know what my dad used to say when he was in... Tickets.
I thought it was tickets. That's what that means. That means it's like... Great? It was great, yeah.
How do water baths affect cheesecake baking?
Oh, I love that. I thought it was amazing.
And I actually think... And here's where I'm just going to, you know, be negative again. Like that type of cheesecake that you're describing is actually my least favorite. So the New York cheesecake that you're describing, this one is unusual because of the sponge cake base, but it's like very dense. almost fudgy very tall not that sweet actually and it's extremely cheesy and it's not my favorite style but you know cakes made with cheese i think juniors has perhaps claimed in the past to be the inventor of the cheesecake i don't know i mean i think we've in our research we've seen that's not true
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the history of cheesecake?
0:02–1:38
2
What are Carla Hall's best tips for making cheesecake?
1:38–3:29
3
How do water baths affect cheesecake baking?
3:29–7:09
4
What is the difference between New York-style and Basque cheesecake?
7:09–10:31
5
Why might cheesecake crack during baking?
10:31–13:59
6
What are the common cheesecake variations and styles?
13:59–17:33
7
How can you make a cheesecake without a springform pan?
17:33–20:20
8
What unique cheesecake recipes are discussed in this episode?
20:20–41:56
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Things Bakers Know: The King Arthur Baking Podcast
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This Loaf Changed American Bread, with Chad Robertson
We're in Our Croissant Era, with the Baking School's Elisabeth Berthasavage
Vanilla: Boring or the Best? with Claire Saffitz
Coming Soon - Season Three of Things Bakers Know: The King Arthur Baking Podcast