450 Year Old Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza

PHOTO CREDITS
Jack-o’-lanterns: William Warby - CC BY 2.0 via Flickr

#tastinghistory #pumpkincheesecake #halloween

[sparklypoof]

"It's BUTTER; you're not going to regret it" - TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN

[hilotakenaka]

"This might be the best thing I've made on this show"
The garlic harvester sauce beef made last week: "We've Been Tricked, We've Been Backstabbed and We've Been Quite Possibly, Bamboozled"

[harukaimai]

9:07 Fun fact, this is actually the corpse of Grauballe Man, a bog body found in Denmark in the 1950s. He’s from around 2000 years ago and he’s actually not a corpse of someone being led astray by the “lights” in the bog, he’s a victim of ergotism. Ergot is a fungus that grows primarily on rye and when consumed causes ergotism, which is basically like a really bad acid trip. Like, seeing ghosts and blood dripping down the walls, kind of acid trip. Anyways, traces of ergot were found in his stomach since his body was so well preserved by the peat bog he was in, and joined by the fact that his throat was slit before death, he’s an example of early Germanic tribe punishment of people who didn’t “fit in” (in this case, people who could see ghosts/spirits). The Roman historian Tacitus (from 1st century CE) talks about these punishments and their crimes, which is how anthropologists figured out why all these bog bodies were basically naked, shaved, wrapped in leather and killed in various ways. It’s fascinating stuff. I forget who, but another anthropologist also suggested that ergotism played in role in the witch trials, since most of the areas of where witches were burned were places where grain was kept damp and low to the ground, so these people being “witches” were actually hallucinations of people with ergotism. It’s still a theory though, but still interesting.

[j.t.leavell]

2 cups (450g) pumpkin
1 cup (240g) ricotta
1 cup (225g) marscapone or cream cheese
7 medium eggs
1 1/4 cup brown sugar (250g)
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp ginger
1 cup (240ml) cream or high fat milk
5 tbsp unsalted butter (70g)
1/4 cup 60ml melted butter
Bit of cinnamon/sugar mix

350° 1 hour 15 minutes
I'm going to try experimenting by adding the crust from the cheese apple pie episode.

Crust

2 cups (240g) flour
2 egg yolks
6 tbsp (85g) butter
1/4 cup (60ml) water
I am leaving out the saffron because I am peasant.

[jonawilliamson]

Hi Max, I made the 450 yr old Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe for my 65th birthday. It was rather delicious and exceptional.

[PineappleLiar]

‘Looks over at the cream cheese, canned pumpkin, and eggs that have been sitting in my apartment not being used.’

I know what we’re doing tonight, boys.

Fun fact: it is believed by the Celts that the head was the seat of the soul, and the taking of the head of particularly prominent adversaries was a mark of honour. They’d, according to Caesar, preserve the heads in pine oil to display when guests of note came by.

[tinawilder-whiting]

I giggled out loud at “It’s butter…you’re not going to regret it”. Improved my mood immediately, as TH always does. And I will absolutely try to make this one:)

[imagitext]

OH MAN! My husband and I made this for Thanksgiving and agreed this was the best pumpkin pie anything we've ever had! We tried it cold first and it was okay. Thirty seconds in the microwave and it was AMAZING. It's like rich liquid fudge but not sickly heavy. Changes we made that might help others trying this recipe: We used 6 large eggs instead of 7 medium because that's what we had. A fine mesh strainer is great for getting the liquid out and canned pumpkin worked fine. Cut down the sugar to only a cup because I didn't want something very sweet. We also used a 9x13 pan. It needed maybe only an hour and was over temp for a cheesecake by the time I thought to check it. Even then the texture was fantastic. We also heated the butter in the pan first then poured the batter in to help make the crust and where the butter helped brown the edges was the best part

[Minandreas]

Being someone that unfortunately has to avoid gluten, this lack of a crust really appeals to me. I think I'm going to try this.

[roflcopterIII]

So if you're ever in Ireland, there's a country life museum in County Mayo that shows some examples of old school carved turnips and other samhain/Halloween paraphernalia. Lots of cool creepy masks as well.

Peat bogs in Ireland are pretty dope. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers and spent a good chunk of their time cutting turf for fuel. Given how the chemical composition of the bogs preserves things, you can find all sorts of stuff. One of my grandfathers found a bog body, which is currently in a museum. My other grandfather found prehistoric Irish elk antlers. Other people have found jewelry, bog butter, and other relics.

[ViennaVampire]

Oh, the legend about Stingy Jack was super fascinating, cause we have a pretty similar legend in Vienna, Austria. One day, a young man who was known for being horribly lazy tried to avoid doing his daily duties by hiding and relaxing in a nearby forest. Then, just as he becomes so hungry, he contemplates going back, the devil appears and offers him a feast in exchange for his soul. The young man agrees and recieves his feast. After he is finished, the devil wants to collect his soul, but the young man just says: "I would pay my due with no hesitation to the devil himself naturally, but how do I even know that you really are the devil? Can you prove it for me? Then I'll give you my soul." The devil's like "WTF?" and asks how he should prove that he is indeed the devil and the young man says: "Turn yourself into a giant, like a century old oak." The devil does so. Then the young man says: "Now, turn yourself tiny, like an acorn." The devil, again, complies. As soon as he turned himself tiny, the young man captures him in his purse in which he also carries a cruzifix, so that the devil can not change back. Then the young man takes the devil to the local blacksmith and asks him to hammer the purse on his anvill. After a while, the devil surrenders and agrees to not collect the young men's soul to hell, not now or ever. So the young man releases him and continues to live out his (lazy) life in peace, having the joy of always remembering how he tricked the devil himself into throwing a feast for him. :)

[jcortese]

This is how thorough this guy is with his production values: he's wearing a pumpkin-colored shirt.

[wolfmac]

Hey Max! I loved the video, but it would be very useful to have the full recipe in the description. Having it in the video timeline is pretty cool to see scale and to get a feeling for the recipe, but I know that I would like to have it fully written out in the future. I do plan to make this though, so thanks for everything you've put out.

For anyone else who wants the full form:

450g Pumpkin Puree
1 Tbs Salt
240g (1 cup) Ricotta
225g (1 cup) Mascarpone
7 Medium Eggs
2 tsp Cinnamon
4 tsp Ginger
240ml (1 cup) Cream
70g (5Tbs) butter

60ml (1/4 cup) Melted Butter for tarte pan

[rokzane]

I had the idea of taking this recipe and turning it into a Mexican style flan (which most commonly contains cream cheese). I also enhanced the pumpkin flavor by putting the pureed pumpkin in a nonstick skillet and cooking it until the majority of the water is driven out of the pumpkin and the pumpkin thickens up and caramelizes a bit. As a flan, this recipe is out of this world!

[wintermute]

Scappi specifying 'very hot' butter in the bottom of the pan makes me think it might be meant to work like a Yorkshire pudding, where the outer layer of the batter basically fries when you pour it into the fat. Leaving the pan in the heated over for ~10 minutes before hand would get you most of the way there. Doing it like that would also give it a more distinct outer layer, sort of like a very thin crust.

Also, if you're not that excited by the cheesecake crust then you should try making a basque cheesecake. They aren't the prettiest cheesecakes in the world, but they're extremely easy compared to most other baked cheesecakes. No crust, no need to worry about getting the baking exactly right, no fussing over tiny air bubbles that might cause it to crack. Tastes amazing too.

[danielm]

“Ricotta and Mascarpone… or use cream cheese, you won’t be able to tell the difference.”

I think some Sicilian grandmother is cursing right now.

[deereating]

My family here in Ky raised these heirloom pumpkins we called 'hog pumpkins' for several generations, then to our great sadness, we lost the seed. Thanks to you, Max, I now know what they were, and can get them again. Never knew they were raised commercially at all or grown outside our family farm.

[xbrandix]

I am SO grateful recipes are written like they currently are and not the messy and strange essay style way they were written in the past.

[onespiceybbw]

First one of your recipes I tried out. I took your advice about halving the milk, or at least I meant to, but somehow ended up putting it all in. My daughter said the cheesecake was delicious, but my mom griped about the sweetness (no surprise there!) and then said "I guess I should have eaten a smaller piece". She's 94 so I guess she's entitled to her appetite and her opinion, but I thank you for the recipe. I plan on making it again for the actual holiday. :)