Hi everyone welcome to Tasting History. I'm your host Max Miller, and today we're
gonna be making one of my favorite desserts, a cheesecake,
but not just any cheesecake because just like me 14th century kings also had
great taste. So we're going to be making a 14th century cheesecake called a
sambocade, this time on Tasting History.
Now the recipe we're using today comes from the kitchens of King Richard II
around 1390, and recipe writers at this time were pretty vague about things
so the recipe just says make a crust. Not not too helpful.
What kind of crust did they want? Did they want a hot water crust? Probably not.
Did they want like a fair flour crust which is just like today's pie crust?
Maybe. But I'm gonna be taking maybe a little bit of liberty here and use a
tart crust. It's delicious, it's super easy to make, and most importantly all of
the ingredients in the tart crust would have been available in Richards kitchens.
So let's get started. First you'll need two sticks about 226 grams of cold
butter, 160 grams of icing sugar, 6 large egg yolks, and now keep those 6 egg
whites because those are gonna make an appearance later. 450 grams of plain
flour ,and just a pinch of salt. Now you don't need to write anything down, all of
the ingredients are in the description down below as well as the full recipe,
both the original recipe and the translation I'm using today. Now you can
actually use this tart crust for a modern-day recipe because it's so
delicious but at this point I would put in maybe a little bit of vanilla or
lemon zest or something to kind of give it some flavor. Now I'm not going to use
anything extra because the cheesecake that we're making today has so much
flavor, but it's just not necessary now once you have your ingredients go ahead
and cut the butter into pieces about 1/2 inch and sift in the icing sugar.
Now you gotta sift it in because you'll get clumps otherwise and we don't want
clumps. Now go ahead and beat the sugar and the butter together but start
the mixer on low. Now I've never done this of course but I have heard of
people starting it on high and powdered sugar going absolutely everywhere and
then they're cat running through it and leaving little powdered sugar paw prints
all the way up to the bed. I've never done that, other people. Now once
the sugar starts to become incorporated you can kick it up too high and beat until
smooth, then add the egg yolks and beat on medium until somewhat incorporated.
Now it's probably gonna look a little curdled but that's actually okay, it'll
go away later on. Also, if you are going to be adding any flavor like vanilla now
is the time, probably a teaspoon. That'd be good. Once
the egg is incorporated add in the pinch of salt and your flour, and beat on the
lowest setting for about 20 seconds. You want it to just start to come together
as like a crumbly mixture you don't want it to form a ball. Then you take a piece
of parchment and lay it out onto your workspace, dump the dough onto it, divide
the dough into two piles, set one aside and spread the remaining pile into kind
of an even layered circle. Then place another sheet of parchment over that and
get rolling. Now like I said this tart dough is so easy to work with that's why
I love it. You can just roll it out, it's so forgiving, it never sticks. You don't
have to get it into a perfect circle, and later on if it does kind of crumble away
or anything while you're putting it into the dish you can just patch it up on the
sides. It's the best, I just love it. Now once you roll it to the thickness
that you want between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch
pop it in the fridge and leave it there for about 20 minutes. Now while the dough
chills, preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and go ahead and
smash that Like button. Now that's actually the most important part of the
recipe because to paraphrase Pink Floyd how can you have any cheesecake
if you don't smash that Like button. Now once the buttons been smashed go ahead
and gather up the rest of your ingredients. For the filling you will
need 4 tablespoons of heavy cream, 150 grams of sugar, 2 tablespoons of dried
bread crumbs, and 6 egg whites. I told you they'd be back. Then either 3 tablespoons
of dried elderflower, or 6 tablespoons of fresh elder flower. This is actually the
ingredient that gives the dish its name. Sambocade comes from the Latin "sambucus"
which means elderflower, and lastly the most important ingredient in a cheese
cake the cheese. You'll need 450 grams of either farmer's cheese or ricotta cheese,
or if you want to really impress people go ahead and make your own fresh cheese.
It's actually really easy: here's a link to the video where I walk you through it,
and I'll put it down in the description as well now once everything is gathered.
Assuming it's been 20 minutes you can go ahead and pull the dough out of the
fridge. Now if it hasn't been 20 minutes wait around, or you can check to see if
the parchment sticks. If it sticks keep it in there, if it doesn't stick then
it's good to go. Now I'm using an 8 inch springform pan
for this like cheesecake tin. Now you can use a 9-inch which is more common but
the cheesecake won't be quite as thick. You can also just use a regular pie pan,
anything works. The recipe isn't specific and frankly the springform pan wouldn't
have even existed back then, but it makes it look so nice. So go ahead and line
your tin with the tart dough, then you can put a little design on the top if
you want, and then line it with aluminum foil. Add in some pie weights and blind
bake the crust at 425 Fahrenheit for 10 minutes now you probably think nothing
of the fact that this cheesecake has a crust but you'd be pretty flabbergasted
if you were an ancient Greek athlete. Stick with me here. The first cheesecake
that we know of came from ancient Greece. It was probably a savory version around
2000 BC made on the Isle of Samos. It was the traditional cake for ancient Greek
weddings and it was probably served to athletes at the first Olympic Games in
776 BC. Makes me wonder if Usain Bolt goes to the Cheesecake Factory to load up
on carbs before he competes. I'm gonna say yes... These ancient Greek cheesecakes
would have bared no resemblance to the modern New York style cheesecake. To get
a little closer to our modern dessert we have to look to the recipes of Romans
senator and historian Cato the Elder in his treatise de agricultura he had three
cheesecake recipes including the first recipe known to have a crust. Now
unfortunately for Cato he didn't hire a very good marketing team and so he named
his crusted cheesecake placenta, and that is why you don't see it on a lot of
menus today. But that was probably also the recipe that some plucky young Roman
legion took up to Britannia where in the 14th century a genius of unknown name added
sugar. Sweet, sweet, white gold and that is the Sambocade.
So by now the crush should be done blind baking. Take it out of the oven, remove
the pie weights in the aluminum foil and check the bottom. If it still looks a
little raw, pop it back in without the pie weights for another two or three
minutes Otherwise you're gonna have a soggy bottom, and Mary Berry does not like
a soggy bottom. Once you are happy with your crust go ahead and turn the oven
down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit because that's what we're going to bake our
cheesecake at. Now all the crust cools, it's time to get started on your filling.
Combine the elderflower into the cream, and let it soak for about 10 minutes but
don't relax because while the elderflower soaks you get to strain
cheese, and this takes time. Take a strainer and put the cheese in just a
bit at a time and press it through with the back of a spoon. It should come out
the other side with the consistency of cream cheese. Once the cheese is through
the strainer put it into the stand mixer, and whip on medium for about a minute.
Then add the elderflower cream, and your bread crumbs and whip until incorporated.
With the mixers still running on medium slowly, add the sugar then whip until
smooth. Now it's time for a beating... of the egg whites! Now this is a very
important step because it is the only leavening agent that is going to be in
your cake, the air in the egg whites. So if you don't get enough air in there,
they don't get fluffy enough then the cake is going to be short, and dense and
still delicious but you know a little stodgy. So beat the egg whites past the frothy stage until they form
nice stiff white peaks. Then working quickly but gently fold them into the
cheese mixture until no streaks of white are left. You want to keep as much air in
there as possible so don't over mix it. Then pour the mixture into the crust and
pop it in the oven at 375 for 50 minutes, or until there's just a slight wobble in
the center. I would start checking it at about 45 minutes because ovens vary. It
actually took my oven to 55 minutes so you know it's not a science,
wait it is, nevermind. Now while the cheesecake is in the oven
you should have plenty of time to ponder the question: how did this cheesecake
become that cheesecake, hmm? Now the Sambocade has a crust, it has sugar so
it's a dessert, but it's still not the same as a New York style cheesecake and
that is because of the cheese. Around the time that King Richard was satisfying
his sweet tooth with Sambocade, his soldiers were off in France fighting to
reclaim the lands lost by King John. (That was the bad guy from Robin Hood.) Now the
lovely ladies of Neufchatel en Bray in the north of France realized that
although these English invaders were pillaging their towns, they were also
kind of cute while they did it. Now they couldn't be overt in their affection of
course so they took cheese and molded it into the shape of a heart, the "couer and
de Neufchatel". They'd give the cheese to the soldiers as a covert way to show
their love. Ain't that romantic? The cheese became popular back in England and
stayed popular until it made its way to America where in 1872 William Lawrence
tried his hand at making it himself, but whether on purpose or by accident we
don't know, but he added too much cream and dubbed his new concoction
Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Then in 1929 an immigrant named Arnold Rubin who
already had a sandwich named after him used this Philadelphia Cream Cheese
to make a cheesecake, and that dessert was the first Lindy's New York style
cheesecake. But that's not what we're making. We're making a Sambocade so let's
get back to it. So go ahead and open the oven and if the cheesecake looks baked
along the top and has just a slight wobble to it, that means it's done. Now it
should have puffed up quite a bit but it's going to deflate some. To diminish
the deflation you want to leave it in the oven. Turn the oven off and leave the
door open just a crack while it slowly cools down. Quick tip this actually also
works for custard pies like a pumpkin pie. Just leave the door open, and let it
slowly cool down, and you won't get that unsightly crack along the top. After
about 15 minutes take it out of the oven and let it finish cooling to room
temperature and then you can either serve it plain or garnish it with some
honey, or as I did some fresh berries. So that is the 14th century Sambocade. Now
as I said all of the ingredients are listed down below along with the recipe
as well as links to some of the harder to find ingredients, elderflower in this
case. Now I'm sure you already have but if you haven't hit that Like button,
leave me a comment below and go ahead and subscribe so you can join me next