THIS IS NOT BASQUE BURNT CHEESECAKE

 

Is this the original Basque burnt cheesecake? It's a quesada, not from Basque Country but from nearby Cantabria. High oven temperature gives the cheesecake a deeply browned top. 

This is not your Basque burnt cheesecake, the recipe that’s been trending for a couple years. This one, from Cantabria, may actually be the original. Cantabria is the region on the north coast of Spain, on the Bay of Biscay, that borders Basque Country. Santander, just up the pike from Bilbao, is its capital.

Inland Cantabria has verdant mountain valleys pasturing dairy cattle and nary an olive tree. Hooray for butter! And cream! And, cheese! The cheesecake of Cantabria, called quesada pasiega, is made with fresh cheese curds before they are compacted and aged to become queso pasiego. The cheese, made from cows’ milk, comes from the Valles Pasiegas, the valleys of the Pas and Miera rivers and their tributaries. 

The cheesecake is made with fresh cheese curds. Like the Basque version, it has no crust.

The quesada is good on its own, with fresh fruit or compotes, with sweet mosto wine. It's rich--but not decadent.

The cheesecake, like the more famous Basque version, has no crust. The Cantabrian recipe calls for queso fresco, fresh cheese, and butter instead of cream. Taking a cue from a Spanish blogger, Miriam García of El Invitado de Invierno, I decided to make my own queso fresco. (How-to for making queso fresco follows the cheesecake recipe.) However, if you’re not into cheesemaking, make the cheesecake using creamed cottage cheese in place of the queso fresco. It’s much more like the original than is Philadelphia cream cheese. 

If using queso fresco or cottage cheese, beat the curds with mixer or food processor until they are smooth and creamy. If they are very dry, add a little cream or whey. 

The quesada pasiega is usually baked in a flat square pan and cut into squares for serving. I chose to bake it in a parchment-lined, deep springform pan, making it much like the Basque cheesecake. It bakes at a high temperature, which caramelizes the sugar and egg, giving the “burnt” aspect. Careful, though, It’s not really burnt, but deeply browned.The cake will puff up like a soufflé, but deflate as it cools. Although It may not seem completely set when removed from the oven, the cake will set as it cools.

Cantabrian “Burnt” Cheesecake

Quesada al Estilo de Cantabria

Fresh chees curds and butter for this cheesecake.

3 cups (28 ounces) queso fresco (recipe below) or creamed cottage cheese

¼ teaspoon grated lemon zest

3 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1/3 cup)

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

½ cup flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Line pan with parchment.

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Line a 10-inch springform pan with baking parchment. (To fit a square of parchment into the mold, first fold it in quarters. Pleat or crumple the parchment, unfold it and tuck it into the bottom of the pan. Trim off excess.)

Drain off excess liquid from the cheese. Beat the cheese until creamy and smooth with mixer or in a food processor. Beat in the lemon zest and melted butter. On low speed, beat in the sugar, the eggs one at a time, the flour, cinnamon and salt. Do not over-beat. 

Not burnt! Deep brown.

Pour the cheese batter into the baking pan. Set in the middle of the oven. Bake the cheesecake until browned on top, about 35 minutes. It will not be completely set in the center. Remove and cool on a rack. 

When completely cool, refrigerate the cheesecake, still in the pan, for at least 8 hours. When ready to serve, remove from the springform. Spread open the parchment. Either slice the cake right on the parchment or carefully remove the parchment and place the cake on a platter.

Cheesecake puffs up like a soufflé, deflates as it cools.

Fresh Cheese Curds

Queso Fresco de Vaca

A tiny bit of rennet.

Rennet (cuajo) is an enzyme that causes milk to coagulate, that is, to separate into curds and whey, the first step in cheesemaking. Although there are vegetal and microbial rennets, most cheeses are made with animal rennet. Buy rennet in liquid, tablet or powdered form. In Spain, cuajo can be purchased in tiny jars at the farmacia, drug store. (Junket, cuajada, from which you can make milk pudding, contains rennet, but is not suitable for cheesemaking.) The concentration of the enzyme varies with different presentations of the rennet, so consult the package directions for quantities to use. You will need very little rennet for two quarts of milk. Use non-chlorinated water to dissolve the rennet.

Use pasteurized or raw milk for the cheese. Sterilized (UHT) milk will not work. No additional cultures are needed to make fresh cheese. (If you are into real cheesemaking, you will want to find out about cultures, calcium chloride, acidity, etc.)

Fresh cheese curds.

For the cheesemaking process you will need a method to keep the milk warm. An insulated container such as that used for yogurt-making, a turned-off oven, a container set over hot water (double-boiler). 

After draining, you will have loose, creamy curds, that, beaten smooth, can be used in the cheesecake recipe. Or, dribble them with honey and serve as dessert. Combined with salt and flavored with herbs, they make a good dip or spread for toasts.  If you press out more of the whey and compact the curds, they will make a fresh cheese that can be sliced or crumbled. The whey (suero) can be used in cooking or discarded. (My attempt to use the whey to make requesón/ricotta was not successful.)

Improvised double-boiler.

Makes 32 ounces of fresh curd cheese.

Utensils needed

Large double-boiler or nesting pans

Thermometer 

Colander

Cheesecloth or butter muslin for draining the cheese

Ladle

¼ teaspoon powdered rennet

2 tablespoons non-chlorinated cold water

Few grains of salt

10 cups whole cows’ milk (2½ quarts) 

2 tablespoons plain yogurt, room temperature

In a small bowl combine the rennet powder, cold water and salt. Stir to dissolve. (Use the rennet solution within 30 minutes.)

Place the milk in a pot and set it over a larger pot of boiling water. Place cheese thermometer in the milk. Heat the milk to 110ºF/45ºC. Stir in the rennet solution and the yogurt. Turn off the heat under the pan of water or leave it on low so that the temperature of the milk stays at about 100ºF/38ºC. Leave the milk without stirring for 1 hour 15 minutes until it has coagulated and separated into curds and whey. 

Drain curds in cheesecloth.

Line a colander with cheesecloth or a thin kitchen towel. Place the colander over a deep bowl or pan. Carefully ladle the curds and whey into the colander. Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours or up to 20 hours.

Scrape the curds into a covered container and store refrigerated. (If a more firm cheese is desired, gather the cheesecloth up and squeeze the curds tightly to express as much whey as possible. Salt lightly and store covered and refrigerated.)

Fresh cheese curds are white, sweet. They can be salted and flavored for spreads or squeezed and compacted to make a firmer fresh cheese.

Is Basque Burnt Cheesecake really Basque? Here's another opinion (in Spanish):  The Changeability of Basque-ness.

More about cheesemaking:

Got My Goat (Cheese).

Everything But the Goat.

Catalan Fresh Cheese with Honey.

Where Manchego Cheese Is Coming From.

Land of 100 Cheeses.