A thread for "unusual" recipes

[Matthew.Taylor]

Hey all. One thing I always like finding in my forays across the internet, is a recipe that's a little unusual. I still have a fondness for putting a little cayenne pepper in my chocolate chip cookies, and while I love the tried and true stuff, I always enjoy having my horizon's lifted a bit every now and then. I rather like this one I saw on a show called a Taste of History, once.

 

BEN FRANKLIN’S PARMESAN CHEESECAKE.

CRUST INGREDIENTS

1.       1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

2.       ½ cup chopped walnuts

3.       ½ cup parmesan cheese.

4.       2 tablespoons of sugar

5.       1 stick of butter.

STEPS.

1.       Mix first four ingredients together well.

2.       Add melted butter.

3.       Pour into a springform baking pan, and press down against the bottom and up the sides.

4.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5.       Bake crust for 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool.

CAKE INGREDIENTS

1.       2 eggs separated with whites beaten

2.       6 ounces of cream cheese

3.       2 ounces sour cream

4.       ½ cup of sugar

5.       1 ½ cups fresh shredded parmesan cheese (no green bottle stuff)

6.       ½ teaspoon of lemon zest

7.       A good squeeze of lemon juice

STEPS.

1.       Separate eggs, and beat egg whites till well foamy.

2.       Combine cream cheese, sour cream and sugar and mix until just combined.

3.       Add parmesan cheese, lemon zest and juice and mix until just combined.

4.       Fold in egg whites carefully.

5.       Bake at 350 degree for 25 to 30 minutes

6.       You’ll know it’s done when the edges are nice and brown and there’s no wobble in the center of the cake.

7.       Let cool until room temperature, remove from pan and serve.

 

 

What about you guys?

[kayb]

Along that line, this is the absolute best savory cheesecake I have ever had in my life. I keep contending I'm going to make it for a big party, in tiny tart shells. 

[Lisa Shock]

Shouldn't this be in Recipe Gullet?

 

The recipe is clearly a modern fantasy.

 

Graham Crackers originated in about the 1880s, long after Franklin's death.

 

Cream cheese is also a product of the late 1800s and wasn't commercially available until the 1870s. There were recipes for similar cheeses with different names in England starting in the 1500s.

 

Sour cream dates to the first half of the 20th century.

 

White sugar as we know it was not available until the late 1880s. In the 1700s sugar was a brown color and sold in loaves. It was also terrifically expensive and kept under lock and key.

 

Lemons were very expensive and seasonal even when I was a child on the East coast of the US.

 

Ovens of the period did not have thermometers.

 

Also, None of the measurements given above were in use for recipes in Franklin's time, or they had different meanings.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Lisa Shock said:

The recipe is clearly a modern fantasy.

 Elsewhere on the World Wide Web, and it appears in many iterations, it is more accurately titled Ben Franklin “inspired” recipe.  

 

[Matthew.Taylor]

Interesting, I got the recipe from this guy's show.

http://www.atasteofhistory.org/

 

Though I still think it counts as something unusual. Also, I got a copy of the book "The Flavor Bible" in the mail today, and in a section on chocolate, I read a quote from a chef who talked about how he had created three desserts combining Chocolate and corn. One a mixture of soft corn and ganache in three textures,a crunchy corn and hazelnut sorbet, and a corn tuile. How would I go about recreating these?

[Pastrypastmidnight]

5 minutes ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

Interesting, I got the recipe from this guy's show.

http://www.atasteofhistory.org/

 

Though I still think it counts as something unusual. Also, I got a copy of the book "The Flavor Bible" in the mail today, and in a section on chocolate, I read a quote from a chef who talked about how he had created three desserts combining Chocolate and corn. One a mixture of soft corn and ganache in three textures,a crunchy corn and hazelnut sorbet, and a corn tuile. How would I go about recreating these?

That’s a great book. I remember that dessert description—it was Michael Laiskonis, right?

[Matthew.Taylor]

3 hours ago, Pastrypastmidnight said:

That’s a great book. I remember that dessert description—it was Michael Laiskonis, right?

 

Yep, that was him.

[heidih]

In a world with Noma and El Bulli and all that innovation I don't know how "unusial" even has application or definition. 

[AAQuesada]

5 hours ago, Pastrypastmidnight said:

That’s a great book. I remember that dessert description—it was Michael Laiskonis, right?

 

I love Laiskonis, and i'm not really a pastry guy but his technical prowess plus creativity and willingness to give his recipes away for free is really laudatory. He put out pdf's of many of his desserts while he was at LB. I assume they are available somewhere.  

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

The recipe is clearly a modern fantasy.

 

Might be a different Ben Franklin. 😄

 

I don't see anything particularly unusual about the recipe, though. It's just a cheesecake.

Nor is cayenne with chocolate unusual. Chilli and chocolate is a well known pairing.

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Might be a different Ben Franklin. 😄

 It’s likely the right Ben Franklin since there seems to be good evidence that he was a huge fan of Parmesan cheese having been introduced to it in Italy. Citation

However that does seem a weak

 reason to use him as an inspiration for a modern cheesecake. 

[liuzhou]

52 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 It’s likely the right Ben Franklin

 

You mean you've never heard of the Welsh cheese cake master, Ben D. Franklin? Astonishing!

 

His leek and banana cheesecake is legendary among those in the know.

[Lisa Shock]

There used to be a chain of 5-and-dimes in the US called Ben Franklin.

[ElsieD]

I see Thomas Keller has a recipe for Leek Bread Pudding.

[Matthew.Taylor]

14 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

You mean you've never heard of the Welsh cheese cake master, Ben D. Franklin? Astonishing!

 

His leek and banana cheesecake is legendary among those in the know.

Now I have no choice but to try to create that dish.

 

I don't care if you're joking.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I see Thomas Keller has a recipe for Leek Bread Pudding.

 

The recipes are generally called strata but that is so so common - just don't understnd "unusual" in general...

[Lisa Shock]

1 hour ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

Now I have no choice but to try to create that dish.

 

I don't care if you're joking.

Remember that many bread stuffing recipes are essentially savory bread pudding. Maybe Keller serves it in fancy ramekins with every slice of bread arranged beautifully, it's still stuffing.

[Matthew.Taylor]

4 hours ago, heidih said:

 

The recipes are generally called strata but that is so so common - just don't understnd "unusual" in general...

 By unusual, I mean stuff that generally isn't something that most people would think of. Stuff outside the normal thoughts on baking and pastry. Stuff that would make someone who isn't aware of this kind of stuff go "Huh?" Just things that you guys were trying when you were really being creative.