Kaixo! Welcome back to Foodistory! This week will be a somewhat shorter story than the past 2 weeks since I’ve been swamped with moving the past 2 weeks but it will have the very first recipe! Lo siento!
I’m finally back in San Sebastian, I arrived only a few days ago and have been unpacking and settling in ever since. My parents joined me for the first few days, and it has been an absolute blast.
Mi padres
We’ve been walking around San Sebastian, doing hikes in the surroundings, and of course, plenty of eating and drinking. Some of you might know that I was born in Barcelona. This is because my parents moved there 24 years ago due to the work of my fathers. Ever since their love for Spanish culture and cuisine has been unconditional, the Spanish culture was heavily involved in my upbringing.
We lived in Barcelona for only a couple of years but still, my parents learned a great deal about the Spanish culture and language during that time. And so each time they come back to Spain, memories of 25 years ago come up and they keep repeating how much they love the country, the rhythm, food, and people. Because of their experience in this country, it’s also very convenient to have them since they know way more inside tips than I do!
Tomorrow they will head back to the Netherlands and since I won’t be seeing them for a while I’d like to spend as much as possible time with them. That’s why this Edit won’t be as long as the former ones.
Tarta de Queso
Just before I left the Netherlands, a big reunion was organized. Almost 15 people came over and the plan was to have lunch, do a walk on the beach, and eat fish in the harbor. With such a big group coming I of course felt obliged to make some kind of food for everyone. Something easy, fast, filling, and typical Basque! With the newly bought KitchenAid, the decision was made. I was going to make one of the most viral Basque dishes of the past years: Basque Cheesecake or Tarta de Queso.
Everyone knows the classic New York cheesecake, it’s made of a cookie base and consists of primarily cream cheese. The Basque cheesecake contains three kinds of cheeses:
Cream cheese
Cabrales (Blue cheese)
Smoked cheese
Don’t be surprised by the last two since the amount is very small, however you will taste it. Another difference between the NY style and Basque style is the texture which can be seen by just looking at it. This made the Basque cheesecake go viral. A NY cheesecake is baked at a low temperature for a slightly long time, a Basque cheesecake is baked at a high temperature for a short time.
This results in a soft cake where the top will be slightly burned but the will will be soft, so soft it will be runny. Getting the texture right is the most difficult part of executing a Basque cheesecake. You want it gooey but not too much and you want it caramelized on top but not so much that it becomes dry. Temperature and time are key.
Burned Cheesecake?
Back at Bar Berta the Basque cheesecake was part of the ‘postres’ and it was crazy popular. And although it was nice and we got good feedback from the guests, it wasn’t a classic cheesecake. We baked the cheesecake at such a high temperature that the top would become burned which isn’t as it should be. This I learned during my first visit to San Sebastian by visiting the birthplace of the Basque cheesecake: La Viña.
A big misconception nowadays is that the cheesecake should be burned on top (as showcased above), in my experience this is not the case. As I mentioned before, you want it slightly caramelized. If the cake is burned on top, the cake will become stiff during the cooling down period and it will be dry. I’ve never made or eaten a Basque cheesecake with a black top that’s still gooey on the inside, not in San Sebastian and not in The Netherlands. So don’t trust the hype!
La Historia
It's one of the youngest foods I’ve ever covered in this newsletter. In 1990 chef Santiago Rivera reigned over the kitchen of La Viña which is situated in the middle of Parte Vieja decided to up his patisserie skill by making a new cake every day! Inspired by the New York cheesecake which was already famous at that time he decided to experiment with his version where Basque products would be used.
“On my days off, I would come to work. Everything would be empty, and I could work and do tests in the kitchen,” Santi says. “Pintxos, dishes for the restaurant… among these tests, I tested the cheesecake and would make it now and then, until people started asking for it more and more.”
Chef Santiago Rivera was one of the early adaptors by used foods that weren’t available before 1975. As I told in two Edits ago, it took a long time for certain modern products to find their way to the Basque region due to the strict reign of the Basque region of Franco until he died in 1975. Cream cheese was one of those ingredients that came late and is essential to make any kind of cheesecake. Next to that chef Santiago Rivera spent a couple of years in another gastronomical capital of the world, Paris, to learn more about the art of cooking. These two factors drove him to the creation of the Basque cheesecake.
Recipe Tarta de Queso:
In recent months I’ve been experimenting quite a lot with the Basque cheesecake and I have to say, I haven’t mastered it yet… However, I have a rough idea of what I like in it, the temperature and time and so here it comes:
800 gr cream cheese (I prefer Philidelphia since it’s high in fat)
20 gr cabrales (or any type of other dry blue cheese) (optional)
20 gr smoked cheese (optional)
360 cream
260 sugar
7 eggs
20 gr maizena
1 Orange peel (optional)
Steps:
Preheat oven to 210C degrees
Heat the blue cheese, smoked cheese, and cream in a pan, and let everything melt
Let the pan cool down a little bit
Mix all the ingredients with eachother until it becomes a smooth substance, make sure some air bubbles are in there too.
Prepare a cake pan with baking sheets.
Pour the mix into the cake pan
Put it in the oven for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes open the oven door but leave the cake for 5 more minutes in the oven.
Take it out and let it cool down completely in its mold
Give it a try, it's quite an easy recipe but difficult to master it. Any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate to send me a message or leave a comment. In the meantime, I’ll keep visiting La Viña until I get it right. If you ever visit San Sebastian, and it wasn’t already on your list, this is an absolute must-stop. ¡Hasta la proxima!
Hey César, funny, we had a chat about that a month ago and I searched it today independently from that post. So I got you a small Spanish lesson 😉 Max
https://www.eitb.eus/es/television/programas/a-bocados/videos/detalle/5517316/video-la-receta-tarta-queso-restaurante-la-vina-al-descubierto/