Smuggler Archive
Thread: A serious question of dire importance.
Akiram_Glockem wrote:
Is cheesecake considered pie or cake?
/BestHomerVoice
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Cheesesteak........
Uggggggghghghghghhghghghghg
TomoRainer wrote:
I dunno, I think we're running into a real semantical issue here. Cakes are usually light and fluffy, whereas when I think of pies, I think of solid, meaty (well not usually literal meat, but sometimes) fillings. Cheesecake kinda tends towards the latter, doesn't it?
Yeah, it does, but that leads to the question of why the name cheesecake. Why isn't it called cheesepie?
cake ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kk)
n.
A sweet baked food made of flour, liquid, eggs, and other ingredients, such as raising agents and flavorings.
A flat rounded mass of dough or batter, such as a pancake that is baked or fried.
A flat rounded mass of hashed or chopped food that is baked or fried; a patty.
A shaped or molded piece, as of soap or ice.
A layer or deposit of compacted matter: a cake of grime in the oven.
pie ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p)
n.
A baked food composed of a pastry shell filled with fruit, meat, cheese, or other ingredients, and usually covered with a pastry crust.
A layer cake having cream, custard, or jelly filling.
A whole that can be shared: “That would... enlarge the economic pie by making the most productive use of every investment dollar” (New York Times).
cheese·cake ( P ) Pronunciation Key (chzkk)
n.
A cake made of sweetened cottage cheese or cream cheese, eggs, milk, sugar, and flavorings.
Informal. Photographs of minimally attired women.
But here's my theory. What is the most fundamental difference between a cake, and a pie?
Cakes stand up under their own internal structure, whereas a pie, if taken out of its tin, will collapse, either, immediately, or eventually. So, Cheesecake=cake, even though it has a crust.
TomoRainer wrote:
I dunno, I think we're running into a real semantical issue here. Cakes are usually light and fluffy, whereas when I think of pies, I think of solid, meaty (well not usually literal meat, but sometimes) fillings. Cheesecake kinda tends towards the latter, doesn't it?
Not necisarily true. The best example of light and fluffy cheesecake can be found a greek 24 hour diners. Fluffy, yummy, slices 4 inches high.....
*drools*
The term "Cheese Cake" came about like this:
The dutch invented this taste treat during the very early 17th Century where it was called "de koude pastei van de Kaas" or "Cold Cheese Pie". Adopted by the french in the 18th Century, the "Cold Cheese Pie" became "Pâté en croûte Froid De Fromage",...shortened to simply "Déssert De Fromage" or "Cheese Dessert".
Flash forward to 1875, New York.
French immigrants to the US begin to sell "Dessert De Fromage" in their small bakeries,..displaying them with pastry and cakes. Calling them Cheese Desserts, they became very popular as people began spreading by word of mouth the wonders of this cheese dessert located amongst the cakes of local French bakeries (realize that most "pies" were considered dinner sides vs. desserts by french chefs). By the beginning of the 20th Century,..the Cheese Dessert became the Cheese cake....
And the rest is culinary history.
/CLANG!
I have no idea why its called a cheese cake, but my story was good anyway yes?
