This is a recipe for the original New York cheesecake. It’s supposed to be an authentic recipe and I believe that it is.
We’ve made this recipe on numerous occasions and it always satisfied.
This recipe was first published in Esquire Magazine July 1982, in an article titled Chasing Cheesecake written by food writer Jim Villa.[ref]I believe that Jim Villa is a pen name for James Villas, a noted author who has published 15 cookbooks and 4 literary books on gastronomy and has written for Esquire.[/ref] He writes that in 1954 his father so admired the Lidny’s version that he asked his waiter for the recipe, slipping him a $10 dollar bill while telling him that his wife simply “had to have it”. The waiter returned with the details handwritten on a paper napkin.
Villa writes: The cheesecake so be- loved and respected by New Yorkers is suicidally rich, dense, solid, heavy as lead, delicious. The smooth, silky, moist texture is chewy enough that part of every bite sticks to the fork and the roof of the mouth, and the flavor is at once sweet and sour with just the right hint of vanilla and citrus. The light- golden crust is a buttery, sugary pastry that is sheer hell to apply evenly to the spring-form pan in which the cake is correctly baked. Only cheesecake made with cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and heavy cream is true New York cheesecake; any filling containing cottage cheese, pot cheese, ricotta cheese, sour cream, yogurt, fruit, artificial sweetener, or half-and-half is automatically disqualified. The real McCoy does not have a crumb crust, nor is it baked in a loaf pan, mold, or pie plate. It is not light, fluffy, airy, spongy, grainy, or dry, and if the traces of lemon and vanilla are more than barely detectable, the cake is wrong.
Although it has always been permissible to top New York cheesecake with a cherry, blueberry, strawberry, or pineapple glaze, native aficionados eat only the plain version, leaving the others for tourists. The nature of truly great New York cheesecake is such that no matter how weak your appetite or how guilty you feel about consuming some six hundred calories a wedge or how much you fight not to scrape up every messy morsel, you succumb every time.
I totally agree with him.
The original Lindy’s opened on August 20, 1921 and was located at 1626 Broadway, between 49th and 50th Streets. It closed in 1957.
A second location was opened at 1655 Broadway in 1929. This location was acquired in September 1969 by Longchamps Restaurants. They erected a Steak & Brew restaurant, later to become a Beefstake Charlie’s.
Here is the recipe that he posted in the Esquire article.
LINDY’S CHEESECAKE
Pastry:
- 1 cup all-purpose Flour ( 236.6 ml)
- 1/4 cup sugar (59.15 ml)
- 1 tsp. grated lemon rind (4.9 ml)
- Dash vanilla
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 lb. butter, softened (113.4 gr)
Filling:
- 2 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, room temperature (1134 gr)
- 1 3/4 cups sugar (414.05 ml)
- 3 tbsp. flour (44.4 ml)
- 1 1/2 tsp. each grated lemon and orange rind (7.35 ml)
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla (1.225 ml)
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (59.14 ml)
Procedure:
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, lemon rind, and vanilla. Make a well in the center, add egg yolk and butter, and mix with your hands until well blended, adding a little cold water if necessary to make a workable dough. Wrap in plastic or waxed paper and chill one hour in refrigerator.
In another large mixing bowl cream the cheese with an electric mixer, add sugar, flour, lemon and orange rind, and vanilla, and beat well. Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating lightly after each addition. Add heavy cream, beat lightly, and set mixture aside.
Preheat oven to 400°F (204 C). Butter the base and sides of a nine- inch spring-form pan and remove the top from the pan. Roll out about one third of the dough one-eighth-inch thick, fit it over the bottom of the pan, and trim by running a rolling pin over the edges. Bake fifteen minutes, or until golden, then cool. Increase heat to 550°F (288 C). Place the top of the pan over the base. Roll remaining dough one-eighth-inch thick, cut in strips to fit almost to the top of the sides of the pan, and press so that the strips line the sides completely. Fill pan with cheese mixture, bake for ten minutes, reduce heat to 200°F (93C), and continue baking one hour.
To serve, remove the top if the pan very carefully and cut the cake into twelve wedges.
Villa goes on to write: Even the most skeptical of cheesecake lovers consider this recipe definitive. Follow the directions to the letter, suffer, and enjoy.