Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Cheesecake flavors


Monica Bhide

Recommended Posts

Honestly, I don't think I'd order it. I might be more interested if the peanut butter layer was maple flavoured instead.

I honestly wouldnt either but everyone has been impressed, as was I (its not overly bacony) and it sells better than my personal favorite "strawberry green peppercorn" and the buzz it has created is worth it. Now what is my next "wow" flavor??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now what is my next "wow" flavor??

Kudzu Blossom... it smells and tastes like a grape lollipop flower. I didn't pay much attention to them during my time in the southeast U.S. Now I wish I could get them to play with. I can picture some interesting mousses, sorbets and sauces. Maybe even a pate de fruit (pate de flower?).

Edited by Tri2Cook (log)

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now what is my next "wow" flavor??

Kudzu Blossom... it smells and tastes like a grape lollipop flower. I didn't pay much attention to them during my time in the southeast U.S. Now I wish I could get them to play with. I can picture some interesting mousses, sorbets and sauces. Maybe even a pate de fruit (pate de flower?).

My whole issue is I am in North Dakota, people dont know food very well. I get sick of people mispronouncing mojito, and tiramisu so that would be a disaster, but where can you get it, and what would you compare it to?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My whole issue is I am in North Dakota, people dont know food very well.  I get sick of people mispronouncing mojito, and tiramisu so that would be a disaster, but where can you get it, and what would you compare it to?

I'm from Winnipeg, so I can relate. Just spell it "kuzu". Many people can't hear the difference between "kudzu" and "kuzu", anyway (I can only sometimes hear it).

Since you're already doing something with green peppercorns, I vote for something with szechuan peppercorns. I'd drive to Bismarck to try it! (Is Bismarck anywhere on the way to Minneapolis?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... put some grease in the crust, layered chocolate cheesecake batter, sprinkled chopped bacon and then a layer of peanut better cheesecake batter. 

Oh... my... now <i>this</i> is food porn! It's going in my "spank bank" :D

(I like to eat grilled maple bacon-peanut butter-cream cheese sandwiches, but never thought of expanding it into cheesecake form!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My whole issue is I am in North Dakota, people dont know food very well.  I get sick of people mispronouncing mojito, and tiramisu so that would be a disaster, but where can you get it, and what would you compare it to?

I'm from Winnipeg, so I can relate. Just spell it "kuzu". Many people can't hear the difference between "kudzu" and "kuzu", anyway (I can only sometimes hear it).

Since you're already doing something with green peppercorns, I vote for something with szechuan peppercorns. I'd drive to Bismarck to try it! (Is Bismarck anywhere on the way to Minneapolis?)

I am 3 hours west of fargo which is where you would go through on your way to Minneapolis, but its worth the trip for good food right?? What with szechuan peppercorns though?

Someone told me to try blueberries and jalapenos, that sounds d-lish at least to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Today was our town's big Chocolate Fantasia fundraiser event. Each year I take my entry and make it bigger and more absurd. In fact, my reputation has grown and it led to a write-up in New Mexico magazine, and I always have lines out to the street by start-up. I say that with all the modesty I can muster since in fact I've never once made a chocolate for this event.

I've been stewing over a certain flavor combination for almost an entire year and finally pulled it off this past week. I'll walk you through it just like my guests did...

gallery_41282_4652_12081.jpg

They were greeted at the door by one of my able assistants. Everyone thought the hazmat suits were a joke, but they really did need them.

gallery_41282_4652_299.jpg

They were then ushered one at a time into a plastic tarp hallway with no lights. I added a sound machine to drown out any noise.

gallery_41282_4652_19532.jpg

This is me heading in with my dessert in hand. I'm very tired at this point - its been a long few weeks culiminating in today, and I'm ready to fall over and sleep for a week.

At this point, the guest has no idea what is going on. They step into a 3 foot square room made out of the tarps. They're handed a cone of food and are told to eat it. The room has just prior been misted with Amoretti hot chocolate edible perfume infused through a humidifier to heighten the aroma. We give them a second to enjoy what they now know is a cheesecake that tastes like chocolate, and then are asked to step out and read the signs on their way...

gallery_41282_4652_14063.jpg

gallery_41282_4652_33107.jpg

That's right - cilantro cheesecake with chocolate air.

gallery_41282_4652_6553.jpg

The cilantro cheesecake stood on its own, but excelled with the chocolate air. Everyone thought they were eating a chocolate cheesecake, but there was no chocolate in the cheesecake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob, you rock! That is so cool. I want to hear more about that cilantro cheesecake but putting them in a room full of chocolate aromafied air? Brilliant! Achatz's aroma pillows or Blumenthal's dry ice aroma bowls taken to another level. Did you get to hear some of the reactions when they found out they hadn't eaten chocolate at all?

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There were so many elements to this dessert. First, I had to elevate the humidity level in the space since our climate is so dry. I recent described it as walking through the woods after a rain (I actually said farting in a shower, but the same idea) where your sense of smell is heightened. Then I had to find the right smell to infuse into the air. Amoretti did that for me with their hot chocolate edible perfume. I felt obliged with all the samples they have sent me to use them - and it was perfect - very intense, but then mellowed/rounded once it entered the humidty stream.

The other fun part was (and this is getting to your question about responses) that we entered them in the front and spit them out the back of our store - going for the birthing effect/time travel effect. So I didn't see too many responses. I did see everyone walking away licking their fingers and lips which was a good sign. A few of my friends came around to whisper to me (keeping the secret) and they couldn't believe it was cilantro. I used 4 tablespoons of cilantro extract and 4 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro in each normal size cheesecake recipe so it was VERY intense - plust the candied cilantro leaf on top. Once they read that it was cilantro, they all recognized the taste immediately and seemed to like it even more since their mind didn't have a chance to tell them it would be gross.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, first of all... thanks a lot. Now I have to clean earl grey off of my computer. Farting in a shower. :laugh:

Second, I'll say it again... this is so cool! I would have never thought to infuse it through a humidifier. That's brilliant. I'm inspired to blatantly rip off your idea (on a smaller scale)... with your permission of course. I'm a polite thief. :biggrin:

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That whole experience must have been just Beautiful. Im in my chair rolling, I happen to like cilantro very much, was it sweetened as well, or just savory? I noticed you noted the candy on top...just curious.

Did anyone rat you out on the other end?

I love the suit by the way, I bet it added to the adrelanine rush people got walking into your cilantro-non chocolate trap!

Alicia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That whole experience must have been just Beautiful.  Im in my chair rolling, I happen to like cilantro very much, was it sweetened as well, or just savory? I noticed you noted the candy on top...just curious. 

Did anyone rat you out on the other end?

I love the suit by the way, I bet it added to the adrelanine rush people got walking into your cilantro-non chocolate trap!

Alicia

Thanks Alicia. The candy was candied cilantro leaves courtesy of Patrick A from the forusm. The recipe was my can't miss sweet cheesecake (Craig Claiborne) with a cilantro punch. Amazingly no one ratted me out. However, yesterday it was the talk of the town. I relish my faux celebrity :)

And while the suits were a joke to add to the experience, they became necessary as the day went along. Both of my assistants air masks were coated in the chocolate air which I'm glad didn't end up in their lungs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob that looks beyond fun!!! You are so amazing!

I make a wonderful avocado cheesecake ..just the standard I guess you could call it NY cheesecake with the addition of a bit of lime and lime rind then at least two nice perfectly ripe not over ripe Hass avocados...I got the idea from an avocado bubble tea I had one time..I kept thinking .."this would be a great cheesecake" when I sipped it and sure enough it is ....the crust is made from sweetened crispy corn tortillas ground up and done like you do with graham crackers...

this always catches folks off guard..I took it for a pot luck at work and everyone was suspicious... but nurses eat EVERYTHING!!! It was gone in moment and now is requested over and over... ..it is a brilliant green (perfect for St Patty's day) the flavor is smooth, sweet, creamy and avocado with a hint of lime to pull it all together...

why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yeah!

I was trying last year to get cilantro into a dessert. Never thought of cheese cake, and my skills werent good enough to pull off the sauce I had in mind.

So happy to read about your cheesecake!

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I don't play around with cheesecake much anymore. I've tried a lot of flavors and I keep coming back to plain, basic cheesecake. If it's done right, it's my favorite.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't play around with cheesecake much anymore. I've tried a lot of flavors and I keep coming back to plain, basic cheesecake. If it's done right, it's my favorite.

I agree thats what I eat most often, nothing can beat simple. I did however do a candied jalapeno blueberry and a candied jalapeno white chocolate which were both quite tasty. Raspberry ginger is also a new one for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...