Let's Talk Cheesecake!

The food that is.

How do you like yours? Plain? Strawberries? Frosting? Do you even like it?

Jeff

Plain, dry New York Style. But I'll happily eat other styles!

[Robin Garr]

I've got to go along with Doug on this. The classic New York style is hard to beat, and gussying it up doesn't necessarily improve it.

Three's a quorum!

[Jenise]

Lemon.

Generally, I also go for the basic New York style. I have to say, though, that the first chocolate dessert I went wild over was a chocolate cheesecake my mom started making back around 1970. I couldn't believe how good that was and (back then) I could eat several large slices and want more. I don't really enjoy foods that are as rich as that, these days, but it would still be wonderful for a couple of bites.

Dorie Greenspan has a perfect cheesecake recipe in her book Baking. I've made it several times with superb results. I agree with Jenise, a hint of lemon, which is in Dorie's recipe. But, she has about six variations, which means a cheesecake for every taste.

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New York style. If you can drop a large piece on your foot without breaking at least one toe it's not NY style.

Chocolate. Either:

Solid chocolate with a chocolate biscuit crust

or

Plain cheesecake (maybe with a hint of lemon) with a chocolate coating on top.

Plain here, but I also like blueberries and cherries. The recipe on the Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese package is pretty good.
BTW - wine match? Cream sherry? Ice wine?

I love plain New Yawk style also, but so many of the places I've had it go TOO dry. Maybe they're trying to make a point. Anyway, when I make mine at home I whip in some melted good white chocolate. It doesn't actually add much in the way of flavor, but it certainly does in the way of texture. It's still dense, and if anything even richer. But it leans more towards "creamy" than "dessicated".

Oh, I also usually bake mine on a shortbread type crust flavored with powdered ginger. I think it's a very nice combination.